Barack Obama said, "You need to make sure your child can speak Spanish". Do you believe in this change?

Question

Obama's moto is "Change We Can Believe In". Is this really something you can believe a presidential candidate would say?

I believe in the freedom of speech and Americans do it in English. We can choose to learn second languages and not just Spanish.

YouTube video of Obama's comments in Powder Springs, GA this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZprtPat1Vk

Notice that the majority of people on the stage behind Obama, did not clap in agreement to his statement about forcing the Spanish language on our children.

More information at

http://www.alipac.us/article-3347--0-0.html

and

http://www.alipac.us/ftopic-123170-0.html

Answer 1

Thank you so much for a great great question and for putting up the link to hear the speech, I think he is right.

Answer 2

I am a retired electrical contractor and I speak American English fluently, German fluently, Spanish fairly fluently, and Mandarin Chinese poorly. Can't say it helped worth a darn. Well except for the Spanish listening to the Illegals working for the General plan on how to steal my tools. I think Barack Hussein Obama is completely full of himself! He is so full of it his shirt collars are turning brown.

Answer 3

McCain = 08 President of the United States

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　│▒│▒|▒│▒│ Spread

┌┴─┴─┐-┘─┘ ●●Peace ●●

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McCain 08

Answer 4

No, our fathers came from many countrys and all of them learned english, because america was founded by england, basically. If the mexicans want to come to our country, i suggest they can fluently speak english. If i go to their country, they aren't going to change their language to english. So why should we?

btw. the only people who like obama are hippy dumbass college kids who think they know everything about politics. Take the man who was a POW for many years..... i think he knows what hes doing. Not some muslim black dude who completely came out of nowhere.

Answer 5

Did you not bother to watch the video before posting the link?  You're misrepresenting what he said.  He said that Immigrants should and will learn English but that Americans should work to become bilingual as well.  Spanish was simply an example and a natural one when you consider how prevalent it is here.  

BTW, the people behind him were clapping.  Watch the video again.

Answer 6

si se puede

Answer 7

You sure do. and IF YOU LOOK INTO WHAT HE'S SAYING YOUR GOING TO SEE every  ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BECOME AN AMERICAN WITHIN A YEAR. Think you can't find a job now we'll be run out of our country.

Why you ask. Think about this last year I called a company in Michigan and they said if you want to hear it in English press 1, in Spanish Press 2.

Last week I called the same place They said If you want to hear this in Spanish press 1, if you want it in Arabic press 2, if you want it in English press 3.

So now IN the UNITED STATES I'M THE MINORITY. we ARE NO LONGER AMERICANS FIRST WE HAVE BECOME THE LAST.

Answer 8

Speaking as a teacher learning a second language when you are young is the ideal time to do it.  (ask anyone who's learnt a second language as an adult).

It  greatly improves our understanding of our first language, makes us more musically aware, opens up many other cultures for study and travel and allows you to communicate with more people around the world.

However some people will reduce this to a political illogical argument (that Spanish will replace English as the US’s first language) and ignore the benefit it would have to our children's education.

Answer 9

better than telling people to stay in iraq to die fighting a war.

Answer 10

I feel that everyone needs to learn to speak proper English,, before any other language

Press 1 for English

Press 2 for Broken English

Answer 11

He can't even formulate a straight sentence in correct English. He should stick to his Swahili and speechwriters.

Answer 12

I don't feel we should obligate our children to learn spanish since our native tongue here is english however I must agree that it is helpful to learn and it would be beneficial and rewarding to the child in the future.I leave that decision though, up to the parents.. not the president.

Answer 13

Heck no! English is our country's language. If you live here and are a citizen, there is no reason you should not be able to speak english. Therefore we should not be forced to learn spanish for illegals who don't even take the time to learn to speak english for themselves.

Answer 14

Obama didn't just say children need to learn Spanish only. He mentioned other languages in the very next sentence. The point is that he thinks it's beneficial for kids to learn other languages. What's so objectionable about that? It's not like he's saying Spanish needs to *replace* English. And if you've ever studied language learning, you know that it's much, much easier for children. Learning a second language as an adult is ridiculously difficult.

And he didn't say Spanish should be "forced" on children. It was just a suggestion, not a policy statement. There's no indication he plans to sign anything related to this idea into law.

Please actually pay attention before resorting to some knee-jerk, xenophobic critique.

Answer 15

I can't stand obama!

He should really use his big ears to fly far far away from here!

Answer 16

This better not be enforced. An American has a right NOT to be a fluent speaker of Spanish. Too many English-speaking people can barely speak English. Obama should start thinking about how to better the usage of our national language instead of worrying about who can speak Spanish.

Answer 17

actually Best Answer On Its Way, spanish is nowhere near the most used languge in the world i'd say the most used would be mandarin chinese and the second would be english

Answer 18

we do need to know spanish becuz its like the most used language in the world and alot jobs need you to speak spanish so i agree with him!

Answer 19

omg i hate the idea of that. i already take spanish and i cheat!

Answer 20

Did anyone even listen to this>  The points Obama made were:

1.  Every immigrant should learn English

2.  Every native English speaker should be taught a second language - among them Spanish

3.  All over the rest of the world, especially in Europe, most people are bi-lingual

4.  Why should America be behind the rest of the world in this regard?

How on Earth can anyone find this objectionable?

Answer 21

My personal opinion is if you come to MY country and are too lazy to learn OUR language than you need to go back to where you came from..  If I go to Mexico, they are not going to learn to speak English for me so why the h**l should I have to learn to speak their language..they are in MY country..most of them ILLEGALLY..and our children have more to learn in school than foreign languages.. It's ok if our kids can't add 2 +2 as long as they can speak spanish...

Answer 22

No way America is to liberal when it comes to Immigrants we should never change or adapt to them. They should adapt to the country. there should Be no Spanish, Italian Greek or any other language on any buildings billboards or anything else. Job requirements should be you must speak fluent English no exceptions. Our tax paying dollars should fund English is a second language classes . when come here you should already be prepared to speak English. I am against Immigration in any form they should closed the borders and immigration for 20 yrs until the country can economically rebound.

Answer 23

Yes, children should learn at least one language other than their own, anywhere in the world. Whether Spanish or French or Chinese or (for non-Englishspeaking countries) English, I don't care so much, but the more languages they learn as children, the better a chance they have as grown-ups to have a good job, and isn't a child's future worth everything we can give them?

If it takes a politician enforcing it to make this happen, I can only applaud said politician, and I would be saying this too if it were McCain who said it!

Answer 24

Obama sucks. What an idiot.

Answer 25

OBAMA is a dumb jerk.  I don't have to do a d**n thing I don't want to do.  The only reason I took a foreign language is to graduate college.  If people want to come here, they need to know how to speak English.  If not, s***w 'em.  I don't want to know what they are saying anyway.

Answer 26

why not Italian or french is English still used as official language in America?

Answer 27

I am all for learning a foreign language but not for the reason Obama implies.  If an immigrant wants to come to my country legally they are welcome and can use my language, much the same way I use theirs when I visit a foreign country.  The US doesn't demand that Mexico change their culture/language to accommodate us yet somehow the ACLU and liberals think we are stepping on immigrants rights because we are proud of our country and want them to speak our language?! Ugh!

Answer 28

If he is elected President, we will probably have to learn arabic.

Answer 29

Listen hear Mr. thecatchit G, you should stop twisting his words. The gist of what said is that children should learn a second language or even a third if possible because of all of the different cultures that are present in the U.S. Spanish is used a lot all over the U.S. and especially in the western  part of the country, so what's objectionable about that? It is relatively easy for a child to learn a second language but very hard for an adult. Get real.......

Answer 30

We certainly should not be FORCED to learn Spanish, any more than we should be FORCED to learn gynecology.  Spanish is not a core subject like reading, writing and arithmetic.  Unfortunately, some Americans don't even bother to learn those.

However, it seems pretty silly that any American in his/her right mind would balk at the idea of learning to speak the language of a major neighboring country and the current source of a large portion of our immigrants.  Spanish means more to the modern world than Latin did 50 years ago, when it was required in many schools other than just the medical and theological schools, and not just as a matter of law.  It was, and still is, recognized as the base language from many other languages were derived, including Spanish.