SCHWARZENEGGER: 'Drastic' advice for Latinos

Sacramento Bee ^ | 6/14/7 | Kevin Yamamura

[Redcloak]

My grandfather came to the US speaking Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. And he listened to the radio as many hours as he could to learn English. He never spoke Spanish, his native language, outside of his home. And by the time we started school, he banned the speaking of Spanish all together. We were Americans. We would speak English.

Assimilate. That was the goal of the immigrants in my grandfather’s day.

My Great-grandmother spoke Armenian, Turkish, and Russian when they arrived here. The first neighborhood they moved into in NYC was a Jewish neighborhood, so she learned Yiddish next rather than demand that the locals pick of of her languages. She learned English, of course, and as East L.A. became more and more Mexican, she learned Spanish. She assimilated.

My Grandmother and her siblings all originally had Armenian names. A teacher at their school decided that they'd never succeed in the US with foreign names. She gave all of them new, English names. They assimilated. Today, MALDEF would be screaming if any teacher who did such a thing with a Spanish speaking student. CAIR would issue a fatwah if it were done with an Arabic speaking student!

[aculeus]

"It's that simple. You've got to learn English," he said. "I know this sounds odd and this is the politically incorrect thing to say and I'm going to get myself in trouble. But I know that when I came to this country, I very rarely spoke German to anyone."

Conan has spoken.

[hsalaw]

Assimilate. That was the goal of the immigrants in my grandfather’s day.

True. My grandparents came from Germany as adults, speaking no English. My father started first grade in 1915 speaking only German. He learned English because those at school spoke nothing else; my grandfather learned English on the job; and my grandmother learned English from both of them. They never spoke German outside the house because they wanted to be AMERICANS. And AMERICANS spoke English.

[EnigmaticAnomaly]

"My wife is a school teacher in a fairly heavily Hispanic district. She took an ESL (English as a Second Language) certification course in order to get a bonus at work and presumably communicate with her kids in Spanish. On the first day of class, and without any hint of irony, the teacher said “Today is the last day that we will speak to each other in English - from now on Spanish only. The best way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it.”

That is not an ESL class then...ESL classes are for instructing non-native English speakers to speak English. If that is the truth, then this instructor needs to be fired for teaching the wrong language...

[trimom]

I still recall going to tour the White House during the Kennedy administration. My grandparents were with us. We were all dressed in Sunday best, grampap with his tie and a hat, of course!

He wept as we walked through the White House. I was holding his hand. He told me what a great country this was, that a farmer born in another country could walk through the house of the leader of the Free World.

[EDINVA]

He’s in a position to address this issue, but like Bill Cosby will be shunned by those who need most to hear the message.

Nonetheless, wtg, Arnold.

[cake_crumb]

Well, he’s right. After all, it’s not like there are a lot of Austrian TV stations here in the US (LANGUAGISM!!) and Arnie speaks English very well.

[SJSAMPLE]

Have they scheduled his re-education counseling, yet?

[SF Republican]

My grandparents came from Germany as adults, speaking no English. My father started first grade in 1915 speaking only German. He learned English And yet many here and now demand the first generation speak English, they refuse to allow them one generation as your family was. By the way my Mother said when she was a little girl in Texas they still had German newspapers in their town.

[rottndog]

The broken clock is right twice a day...

[hsalaw]

The first generation to come here never assimilates entirely, I think. My grandparents spoke German at home, kept their German traditions and customs, and socialized primarily with their German-immigrant friends. But they insisted that their children become Americans all the way; they never allowed them to think of themselves as “German-Americans,” but solely as Americans because America was the dream. That’s why they came: so their children would have a better life as AMERICANS in this country than they would have had as Germans in the old country.

[Fawn]

Now he stepped in it.

[SF Republican]

so their children would have a better life as AMERICANS
- Probably the same reason they are coming now. I do wish there was a fence and they would not come illegal, but I cannot (personally) find too much fault with people willing to risk their lives for the American Dream.

[BillyBoy]

Uh-oh. Arnold accidentally said something intelligent. He tends to do that from time to time. Expect him to apologize profusely next week after some liberal is “offended” by his comments.

[doorgunner69]

Never happen. As some illegal high school kid was quoted saying when asked about learning English: “We don’t want your lousy language!”

[Inspectorette]

The best boss I ever worked for had escaped from China when the Communists took over. He arrived here penniless, and worked as a janitor while he put himself through University of Oregon.

He became an American citizen, and eventually worked his way up to vice-president of Engineering at our company. He once told me that whenever he had to travel outside the United States, upon his return here his first impulse was to kiss the ground. This is what I call a great American.

[BenLurkin]

"It’s that simple. I know this sounds odd and this is the politically incorrect thing to say and I’m going to get myself in trouble. You’ve got to learn English."

Somebody needs to say it. And it might as well be Arnold someone else on the left.

[pillut48]

“And it might as well be Arnold someone else on the left.”

---

Since Ah-nold is basically a RINO, that’s funny. :-)

[pillut48]

What? He didn’t sneak into the country and protest in the streets flying the flag of China above an upside down American flag demanding entitlements and rights and worship and demanding that everyone learn Chinese instead of him speaking English???

Kewl. Kudos to your boss. :-)

[Yaelle]

Because you have so many Latinos, as I see at the Capitol in Sacramento, there are so many Latinos who speak Spanish all the time, they speak to each other in Spanish.

Note how he had to go to Sacramento to see this. I guess once the maids leave at 3 pm, there is no Spanish in Brentwood? Too bad he doesn't go anywhere else in L.A., because he'd see that servicepeople and cashiers now routinely speak Spanish and only Spanish to their Hispanic customers and coworkers, only breaking into a few words of English if they absolutely have to.