Quote:
Originally Posted by dknv
I don't consider those who have learned (or are learning) to read and speak English as uneducated or ignorant. But I'm still fighting my annoyance when I see where our government is spending money on bilingual support (press 1 for English, para en espanol presione el numero ocho).
|
I don't really have a problem with some bilingual support being made available. . . I spent three years in Korea after having learned the language and still ran in to a few spots where I was glad to find someone near who me spoke a little English. Sometimes its nice to have the option available in order to avoid mistakes, especially when it comes to some sort of official or business matter.
The only thing that gets my goat is when I see parents with 8 year-old kids that were born here and are translating for them, because they haven't bothered to learn the language at all.
I understand that it can be difficult for an adult to learn a second language, but in only a year and a half I reached a level of proficiency in Korean that allowed me to live there as a citizen, and it irks me to be unable to communicate in English with people that have been here for years.
Hell, my wife has only taken a single, free ESL class at the community college and she does really well with English, because she's put the effort in to listening, practicing, and retaining what she hears.
All that being said, it does kinda bum me out when I'm going through private and state job descriptions and see so many listings that say they prefer bilingual (English and Spanish) applicants. All the Spanish that I learned in high school was flushed when I learned Korean. I only have room in my head for two languages, and I kinda need to retain Korean.
