Being Multilingual

[earthfriendly]

"Partly because everyone who I have ever loved in this obscure language of mine, has loved me unconditionally."


https://medium.com/@skinnylatte/split-l ... f16b1cd19f

[Strong Eagle]

What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Tri-lingual.

What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Bilingual.

What do you call a person who speaks one language? American.

[earthfriendly]

Lol, SE. I was excited when the third (I know, I know, picky mom, no school seems to fit) school they enrolled in offered Spanish language option at the elementary level. They are just passing time and told me many kids dislike the class. I think maybe due to the teacher. I am just glad they get some exposure though.

I encourage them to pick up any second language. Of their choice. No takers. I am the only enthusiast in this family.

[sundaymorningstaple]

What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Tri-lingual.

What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Bilingual.

What do you call a person who speaks one language? American.

And if you walk into any Wal-Mart you will soon learn that that one language better be Spanish or you cannot get a job there.

[Strong Eagle]

Ken, if anyone in Texas speaks two languages, it is most likely a native Spanish speaker that speaks English as well. As of 2014, there are about 27 million people in Texas. Of that number about 35 percent or 9.45 million speak a language other than English in the home. 10.4 million identify as Hispanic. Department of Homeland Security estimates that there are 1.7 million illegals in Texas, which means about 8.7 million legal Hispanics, most of whom are citizens. Not surprising, given the proximity of Mexico and the history of Texas.

What's my point? Simply that the USA has no 'official' language, and with good reason. In Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California there are millions of Hispanic US citizens, a large number of whom speak Spanish as their first language.

I'd like to see the USA adopt Singapore like language policies, setting English as the language of government, and formalizing 3 or 4 more languages for signage, documents, etc.

[sundaymorningstaple]

My sister was a good example of that. Spanish was a requirement of the Florida Board of corrections. She had to learn Spanish in order to get a job as a Parole Officer there. They retired a couple of years ago now. But yeah, Florida is much like Texas in that respect. Oddly, I ran into the Spanish to get a job at Wal-Mart in Maryland in my home town of <10,000 population. When I left there weren't any Spanish speaking folks there at all. Heck we only had one Indian family and one Jewish family there. :-/

Times have changed. Not necessarily for the better it seems.

[the lynx]

I've met many parents (here in Asia) who institutionalised multilingualism at home. Probably it helps when you already have English as medium of instruction - you just need to add the national language, Malay and the mother tongue (as many dialects as possible). Not hard actually. Children actually pick up languages well in naturally-spoken environment.

[nakatago]

I'd like to see the USA adopt Singapore like language policies, setting English as the language of government, and formalizing 3 or 4 more languages for signage, documents, etc.

The right wingnuts would go nuttier...

...although President Trump would send away all the rapists.

[American]

Who says Spanish is not an official language? Also have you ever seen how many languages there are on voting cards and DMV tests in California? Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, I'm sure there are a few others...

[nakatago]

Who says Spanish is not an official language? Also have you ever seen how many languages there are on voting cards and DMV tests in California? Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Korean, I'm sure there are a few others...

Used, but most probably not official.

Having additional languages just means the local government agencies are more accommodating of the immigrant population. It does not necessarily mean it's policy.

[x9200]

After almost 15y in Singapore I consider myself zero-lingual.

[nakatago]

After almost 15y in Singapore I consider myself zero-lingual.

[ecureilx]

After almost 15y in Singapore I consider myself zero-lingual.

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:D