On the article about language... well its a non issue. By the third generation the non-English will be eradicated from a community. Did you know the Dutch and German speaking press produced more papers in the Mid-West than English press from 1890-1919. Ther were more people in New York speaking dialects of the Irish language than English. end of story moot point.
English absorbs all competitors. Once a Germanic language, English has added over 20,000 French words in addition to the thousands of Latin, Celtic, Nordic, Italian, and Native American words that are all now standard English and in common use. No doubt Spanish words are increasingly being adopted. I definitely hear a lot of Spanglish being spoken in the Southwest US these days. Not a damn thing we can do about it. Nor should we want to. English is rapidly becoming the International Language exactly because of its evolutionary nature. The language adopts any word that is useful. It gives English more capability of expression than any other language. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. The ridiculous French keep trying to keep that dying language "pure" by ridding it of all Americanisms like "weekend" that have crept in. They are failing miserably at it. Enjoy your grande cappucinos on the way to the hacienda, Amigos. Ciao.
i am not convinced english will absorb spanish, as the spanish speaking population grows and spreads their language. maybe the US will become more like canada and have places like montreal where large groups of people speaking different languages coexist. that doesnt cause me any problems. i like spanish. certainly i think we can accept that we all will not always speak the same language. we do not want to be like france for sure. the french monitor their culture closely and defensively, and make up new words like "ordinateur" so their citizens will not use english words like computer. they are afraid of the natural evolution of language. we shouldnt be. the world changes, cultures spread and intermingle. no big deal. that isnt to say if i need to open a bank account i will not avoid the bank with the tellers who speak spanish better than english. i will go where things are easiest for me, because even though i understand some spanish, i would rather not be doing business in it. i do not want to have to get tech support from a support guy who speaks poor english. but i also dont need to force him to accomodate me when i could just take my business elsewhere. the one thing i do know is that a "learn english or go home" attitude is ridiculous , and that people who think way do not understand how freedom works. live and let live.
I think Martin's right. Spanish-speaking demographics are becoming more and more significant every year. It's not a slippery slope, where we'll have road signs in six languages, because there won't be six languages that have large enough demographics to support it. For a third language to arise, say Mandarin Chinese, they'd have to have an explosion in population in this country. I doubt we'll end up with five languages all holding 15-20% demographics in this country. And to quote SabanFan's BOW... If you don't like seeing road signs, just look away or ignore los signos, at least the Spanish portion. And for what it's worth, large portions of BellSouth's customer service are located in Baton Rouge and elsewhere throughout the state.
