We feel that all people living in America should have a basic understanding of English. The numbers of people that don’t speak the language continues to rise. “…nearly 50 million Americans spoke a language other than English at home in 2004—nearly one-fifth of all U.S. residents age 5 or older” (www.prb.org). We don’t think they have to be fluent; they just need to know basic English. The LPGA thinks the same way too “We want to help our athletes as best we can succeed off the golf course as well as on it.” (www.deseretnews.com). We have two reasons, first emergency situations, and second self sufficiency. Our first reason is for use in emergency situations. People need to be able to communicate effectively in case of an accident or a crime. Examples would be such things as a heart attack or stroke, burglaries, murders or traffic accidents. In all of these cases it is important to be able to effectively communicate with authorities, especially in medical situations where time is of the essence. People able to translate may not available. The second reason for a basic knowledge of English is for self sufficiency. They need to be able to shop for necessities such as food and clothing. It will also help keep them from being taken advantage of. The more English they know, the harder it will be for someone to convince them to do something they don’t understand. They may feel the person is trying to help them when in reality they are taking advantage of their lack of understanding.
http://www.prb.org/Articles/2006/IntheNewsSpeakingEnglishintheUnitedStates.aspx
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700254131,00.html
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I like what you wrote and I do agree with what you wrote. however for arguments sake lets pretend I don't. Isn't that why so many people are hiring multi-language individuals. If everyone in America spoke English then we would lose a great bilingual economy. Lets keep those here that do not speak English and boost our economy.
ReplyDeleteI definelty think that in emergency situations it is important to be able to communcate quickly and effectively. If there is one englsih speaker and one Chinese speaker IN AMERICA, it will be very difficult for the chinese to explain the situation and by the time the american figures out what he is trying to say it may possbily be too late. the person he was trying to get help for may very well be alreayd dead.
ReplyDeleteVery good point in regards to the emergency situations; I never even really thought of that. But, Ravi had mentioned something that I also did not think about, the use of translators. The use of translators would be eliminated,so there would be job losses and the economy would be hurt even more. Also, there are books that can be used for basic every day English words and can be used for emergency situations.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a safety issue. Precious seconds can be lost in an emergancy situation. I know that where I work, we can not hire production workers that do not read or speak english as they must be able to read work instructions for the parts they are making. We can not afford to hire translators for each non-english speaking employees. I have not problem having them go to school to learn to speak and write english, but there are many times it is a must and can make the difference between life and death.
ReplyDeleteThis is from group 3 by the way.
ReplyDeleteI think that you guys pointed out a lot of great things. But from my point of view it seems like a lot of athletes can hardly speak English when they are playing in America. But thats just what I have heard! I really liked how you pointed out for medical reasons it would be safer! That is very true.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your group. You pointed out a lot of good things about this arguement. Using a translater can get tricky in some situations specially emergancy ones. I could not imagine the worry that could go through someones head knowing that there is miscommunication going on while a loved one could be in trouble
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