YouTube - Barack Obama: Your Children Should Learn To Speak Spanish

Funny that Obama would compare America to europe like your typical liberal. Is he that stupid to realize the reason Europe speaks so many different languages is because by train you can travel through 4 different countries which all speak different language in a matter of less than 8 hours? Most countries in Europe are the size on most American states.

I remember getting on a train at 12am in Vicenza Italy and waking up at Munich Germany at 6 am after traveling through 3 countries.

You will also notice that as usual Obama sounds like an idiot without his teleprompter telling him what to say.

Screw him! There no reason why our children should have to speak Spanish. I'm an American and we speak English....can't understand what I'm saying? Not my problem!

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

The sound isn't working on the computer I'm using, so I have to ask: Does he mean that he wants American children to learn more languages? If so, one can make an argument in favour of that. Or does he mean that they should learn it to make the Hispanic/Latino (what's the difference, BTW?) immigrants feel more welcome? That's just a cop out. He should be providing ways for these people to learn English, which I suspect would be more difficult. "Welcome to America, now speak English" is a phrase that has come in for ridicule, but I think it's valid.

You know I'm gonna' have to go with Obama on this one.

I should preface this by saying that I think it was stupid for him to say that our children should learn to speak Spanish. That suggests that he think immigrants only come from Spanish speaking countries.

But, he raises an excellent point. Most Europeans I've met do speak more than one language and, almost invariably, one of those languages is English. Europeans can come here and get through the day pretty readily. An American in Portugal or France, let's say, would have a far more difficult time.

I travel a lot in Canada on business. In areas like Montreal and Quebec City, French is the "first language". From a business perspective, it would benefit me to be able to speak French. I can speak some, but want to be more proficient. Hence, my Rosetta Stone is on the way.

I agree with Obama that speaking more than language is a good thing, and I wonder why so many Americans bristle at the suggestion...

I think many Americans 'bristle' and the thought being forced to learn another language, which I don't think is what Obama is suggesting. (can't watch with sound)

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I am a liberal, a classical liberal. Classical liberalism is liberalism, but the current collectivists have captured that designation in the United States. In Europe they are glad enough to call themselves socialists. But no one in America wants to be called socialist and admit what they are.

Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance, Perseverance

I had a illegal show up for a interview a few weeks back. "No speak the English good" was his first words. I asked him if he understood get the "FUCK OUT" of my office? Funny though, he got the message real quick.

Before I threw his app out I notice he had a SS number and DL number but filled the app out in Spanish.

I called the local INS office. Some tired sounding woman answered and told me to come in and file a report. I thought it was their job to file a report not mine.

He starts off by saying that people are wanting English only in America and then says that he agrees that immigrants should learn English. Then he says that "instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, they'll learn English, you need to worry about whether your child can speak Spanish". Then he goes on to say that every child should speak more than one language.

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

So...all he said is that he wants more American children to be bilingual? That sounds reasonable, although I'd love to hear how he plans to bring that about.

Edit: Having read Mrs.M's post, all I can say is fuuuuck. Claiming that immigrants will learn English anyway is a nice way of avoiding taking responsibility for the public education system. Immigrants do not automatically learn English and that's a problem that is passed on through the generations.

Agreed, it sounds very reasonable. Hopefully he'll leave that choice to the children and/or their parents though.

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I am a liberal, a classical liberal. Classical liberalism is liberalism, but the current collectivists have captured that designation in the United States. In Europe they are glad enough to call themselves socialists. But no one in America wants to be called socialist and admit what they are.

Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self-Reliance, Perseverance

No doubt he stole the SS number! When my late husband was on trip to Mexico many years ago, the maid or someone with access to his room, stole his birth certificate. No doubt it was used illegally after that.
I love it when they come into the bar and cause trouble and then act like they can't understand me when I tell them to get out. I found the magic words are "five-o" and suddenly they say "No five-o!" and they leave!!!

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

I love how people go back and forth on Obama. First he's too black, then too exotic, then too white and conventional, now he's too exotic again.

I agree with Steve. From a business standpoint, learning another language is amazing. I'm very fortunate to be fluent in French as well.

It's not just a European thing to learn a second language, it's kind of everywhere really. I have a couple of the pastiest white friends you've ever seen and they can carry on in Japanese, it's hilarious, but it's a gift to have.

At first he said that kids should speak Spanish and then later said they should be bilingual. I don't know about high schools throughout the nation but in my area, kids must take a second language in order to get the TOPS program. My daughter took Spanish, my niece took Latin and another niece took French and none of them can speak those languages today!

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"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOO HOO, What a Ride!"

I don't know what the TOPS programme is, but your example is the kind of thing I was thinking of. I've met a lot of intelligent people from many (well, several) different countries who emerge from years of studying a foreign language at school with little or no lasting ability.

That's not true, at least in my experience. Some first genertation immigrants have a hard time learning the language, but their children will learn English, whether they like it or not! Kids just pick it up without even thinking about it.

Yeah, them damned imm-e-gants, not to learn speak language! Get outa country!

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"Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases."

-Thomas Jefferson