I voted today, in how many languages?

[Scribbler1]

To tell you the truth I forgot what this was originally about until I looked again. But that's my fault.

[Chris]

Quote by: Nono I do agree with Scribbler about being able to understand English. How can you exercise your rights and perform your duties as a citizen if you don't speak the language? Trouble is, I don't think the US has an official language. Maybe it should adopt one (Lao? Icelandic? Ebonix?).

I tend to agree as well. The problem is that the millions of Mexicans and other Latin groups have a whole system in place here in the US whereby they can go from birth to death and not have to speak a single word of English. They have translators in hospitals, they have "For English Press or say one, Para Espanol marque numero dos" in automated voicemail systems for every bank, credit card, and service out there from cable TV to the IRS and also calling unemployment offices. They also have everything in english and spanish from Pringles chips in the grocery store to the play kitchen set I just bought my daughter for Christmas complete with a full set of Spanish instructions. They have about 30 channels entirely in Spanish including commericals.

So making it easier for these immigrants is actually harming them.

[Chris]

Quote by: Zealot Who prints the ballots and pays for them Chris? You and me right? If the ballots call for additional languages, will they not cost more? That is what I mean. Zealot

OK but I would think printing an additional paragraphs worth of characters on a ballot would not be much more higher than the cost of printing the ballot to begin with.

Or unless maybe you are talking about printing those voter info magazines that come in the mail about a few weeks before hand. I would think John Kerry's Name in Spanish is still "John Kerry"

[Chris]

Quote by: CoffeeSaint Street signs are basically pictographs, once you get a little bit of training in the code: red octagon means "Stop;" forget the word. Then there are warning labels: how much does one need to know besides, "Danger!" If we want people to understand phrases like, "Do not ingest," that's a whole other level of fluency above street signs.

What about this sign? or this one?

really though I agree with your post. Its a bit worrying when we give licences out to people like its candy. in the UK its probably 10 times harder to get a DL than it is here in the US.

[CoffeeSaint]

Quote by: |Chris| What about this sign? or this one? really though I agree with your post. Its a bit worrying when we give licences out to people like its candy. in the UK its probably 10 times harder to get a DL than it is here in the US.

"No left turn" is the same level of fluency as "stop;" an immigrant in the country a week (and making an effort to learn) would know "no" and "left." If you can't figure it out from that, you shouldn't be driving. For the parking one, the guy's car gets towed, he'll learn what the sign says. Most (not all -- how long until you learned what "yield" meant in school?) street signs that are required for safe driving are simplified to the point off idiocy, and considering most drivers, that's a good thing.

Speaking to the fact that everything is in two languages now, why the heck do you all care? I only want smart people to vote; I couldn't care less what language they speak. Yes, I want them to care about the country, but speaking English is not a requirement for that. The factor attracting illegal immigrants to the country is not the Spanish on the ballot; I don't believe anybody sitting in Mexico is thinking, "Hey, I'd like to go vote in America -- but only if the ballot is in Spanish." When Spanish is given as an option on the phone and whatnot, that's the market, and you know it.

And it would be "Juan Kerry."

[Nono]

The question is citizenship, Coff, not the market. It's possible to live and work in the US without taking out citizenship, so you can have all the internal unilingual networks you want. But when you can't understand the language of political discourse -- the language in which the law is written -- you have no business becoming a citizen.
Naturally the authorities of an immigrant country like the US have a duty to help immigrants acquire that knowledge.