Disadvantages of speaking no or little english in the US

Jesse   Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:56 pm GMT
<<In America if you are not in an unionized job then its political on who raises in the ladder. As a result, many minorities / immigrants do not make it far in America. This is just one reason upon many why many cannot prosper.>>

This is total bullshit. As a minority and an immigrant, that's the most offensive thing I've ever heard. In your ignorance and arrogance you're assigning all of us people of color to the manual labor pool based on some half-assed notion you have about how we fit into the scheme of things here in the US. We are executives, CEOs, business owners, and yes, some of us are laborers, but it's mainly a language and education issue when that happens.

The USA is not a perfect meritacracy but it's closer to one than many other places I've worked. I speak English with an accent. I learned it when I was in my late teens so I'll probably always have an accent that gives me away as an immgrant. But I do pretty well. I have cousins that speak no English and most of them struggle financially. I also know one person who speaks very little English and makes far more money than I do. He owns a house painting company and he employees about 30 people. I know another guy who is from Afghanistan who doesn't speak English... he imports rice and other Mediterranian type food from the middle east and India and sells it to stores that cater to the immigrant community. He's a millionaire but his children who run his business are fluent in English. He could not do it alone without knowing English. But those two guys are the exception. By far, most people who don't speak any English are poor and work in low paying jobs like cleaning lady, car wash worker, picking fruit etc. It has nothing to do with unions, politics or or the color of our skin or anything like that. If you can't speak English in the USA with few exceptions, you're not going to get a great job. Period.
Jesse   Mon Jul 14, 2008 9:58 pm GMT
<<In America if you are not in an unionized job then its political on who raises in the ladder. As a result, many minorities / immigrants do not make it far in America. This is just one reason upon many why many cannot prosper.>>

This is total bullshit. As a minority and an immigrant, that's the most offensive thing I've ever heard. In your ignorance and arrogance you're assigning all of us people of color to the manual labor pool based on some half-assed notion you have about how we fit into the scheme of things here in the US. You need to get yourself educated before you start with that tired shit. We are executives, CEOs, business owners, and yes, some of us are laborers, but it's mainly a language and education issue when that happens.

The USA is not a perfect meritacracy but it's closer to one than many other places I've worked. I speak English with an accent. I learned it when I was in my late teens so I'll probably always have an accent that gives me away as an immgrant. But I do pretty well. I have cousins that speak no English and most of them struggle financially. I also know one person who speaks very little English and makes far more money than I do. He owns a house painting company and he employees about 30 people. I know another guy who is from Afghanistan who doesn't speak English... he imports rice and other Mediterranian type food from the middle east and India and sells it to stores that cater to the immigrant community. He's a millionaire but his children who run his business are fluent in English. He could not do it alone without knowing English. But those two guys are the exception. By far, most people who don't speak any English are poor and work in low paying jobs like cleaning lady, car wash worker, picking fruit etc. It has nothing to do with unions, politics or or the color of our skin or anything like that. If you can't speak English in the USA with few exceptions, you're not going to get a great job. Period.
Jesse   Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:02 pm GMT
Sorry about that. I didn't mean to post the same thing twice.
Wintereis   Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:50 pm GMT
<<The early European immigrants were too lazy to learn the Native American languages.>>

See, now that does illustrate that Anglophones are lazy. To think, we could have at least learned the 150 Native American (in Canada and the U.S.) languages while we were conquering them. It would only be fair. I think it wouldn't have been all that beneficial to actually except them all as the national language. That many languages has a tendency to play hell with any attempt at nationalism.

<<You wish them dead? That seems rather extreme.>>

You are right K.T. if we killed the Waltons we would have to kill all the rest of the morally and ethically bankrupt corporate families in the U.S. Not only would that be messy . . . something akin to the French Revolution, but then we wouldn't have Paris Hilton to make fun of any more.
BadJack   Tue Jul 15, 2008 5:46 am GMT
**but then we wouldn't have Paris Hilton to make fun of any more.**

I need her for my nightly whack-fest time where I wear a donkey mask and wwatch her video over and over.
JohnnyC   Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:36 pm GMT
<<It's not "right" that you have to learn English in the US to maximize your career.>>

Right or not, it behooves one to do so.
Wintereis   Thu Jul 17, 2008 6:43 pm GMT
<<It's not "right" that you have to learn English in the US to maximize your career.>>

That is ridiculous. If I were living in France and wanted to maximize my career, I would have to learn French. The same goes for any nation and its lingua franca.
JohnnyC   Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:26 am GMT
<<<<It's not "right" that you have to learn English in the US to maximize your career.>>

That is ridiculous. If I were living in France and wanted to maximize my career, I would have to learn French. The same goes for any nation and its lingua franca.>>

Ah, but Wintereis, there you go again using logic and reason and referring to real life situations. The PC crowd, just like their opponents on the religious right, does not let facts or reality stand in the way of dogma.
KOROLEVA   Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:28 am GMT
<<That is ridiculous. If I were living in France and wanted to maximize my career, I would have to learn French. The same goes for any nation and its lingua franca.>>

No yoúre wrong there. It's quite possible to be a high ranking executive or something.
Mister play   Mon Jul 21, 2008 7:51 am GMT
If you don't speak english or you understand it less! you can't follow the new technology
JohnnyC   Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:36 pm GMT
<<No yoúre wrong there. It's quite possible to be a high ranking executive or something>>

Yeah, Wintereis, I'm sure you could still get an "or something" job. I think they'd let you work in a small shop selling t-shirts near the intersection of Rue Clignancourt and Blvd de Rochechouart. Besides, French isn't really taken seriously by the French is it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_policy_in_France
Guest   Thu Jul 24, 2008 2:36 pm GMT
<< <<In America if you are not in an unionized job then its political on who raises in the ladder. As a result, 'many' minorities / immigrants do not make it far in America. This is just one reason upon many why 'many' cannot prosper.>>

This is total bullshit. As a minority and an immigrant, that's the most offensive thing I've ever heard. >>

'Many' can easily be a few tens of thousands out of millions. I wonder what the assessment would have been if the words 'nearly all' were used rather than 'many'.