WHY should every American be required to learn Spanish as has been sugested by OBAMA, this is AMERICA??????

Question

I asked this same question in a different format earlier today and got 13 answers that i did not see because YA removed the question and said it was not a question...........

Answer 1

First off he didn't say anyone should be required to learn Spanish. He was promoting teaching foreign languages in schools, and saying that they should be a required part of the curriculum.

Personally, I don't mind if most Americans don't bother to learn a 2nd language. They don't bother now, and I constantly have an advantage in every single job am at or even interview at, because I have a useful and valuable skill.

Not only that, but I can also travel to other countries and speak easily with locals and get around and find the best stuff that tourists have no idea about.

Even in my own country, I get in to places and accepted by communities because of my ability to ingratiate myself in their native tongue.

I also read literature and poetry in their native language and can appreciate the art of lierature to a higher degree.

It has also opened up my spatial thinking because of the different grammatical structures that different languages use, forces you to think differently.

So please, DO NOT LEARN SPANISH, FRENCH, CHINESE, OR ARABIC, so that I can continue on heads and shoulders above the rest of you ignorant fools.

Answer 2

So that you will not be an embarrassment to him.

You must learn to live up to HIS standards. You know the standards of a Harvard lawyer type guy.

What has not been pointed out is: He DOES NOT speak Spanish!

Update for mo above;

Obama: “Make sure your child can speak Spanish” World Magazine

Answer 3

Everyone should learn spanish? That's obscene.

Answer 4

Obama is dumb.

Answer 5

That's strange, I saw the Youtube clip myself and he clearly did not propose requiring anyone to do anything, he said American children SHOULD be bilingual.  "Should" means that he's stating his opinion on the matter, not putting forth a policy that would require bilingual education and his education proposals do not include plans for requiring bilingual education.  The irony here is that you're up in arms about it, but evidently your own understanding of English is so poor, you can't differentiate between what is clearly a suggestion, and what is a policy proposal.

Answer 6

I wasn't aware that he said that.

Here's an idea - This is America.  Our Constitution is in ENGLISH.  Everyone wanting to live here needs to learn to speak ENGLISH.  Is learning to speak Spanish your view?  If so, leave.  Just move to another country.  We don't need you.  In fact, if you speak Spanish, move to Mexico.  You'd disappear if you so much as HINTED they should learn to speak English.  Be careful who you vote for.  Hitler rose to power in a free election.

Answer 7

We should not have to learn anything.. the  Mexicans came to our country, not us to theirs.. let them learn English... AND OBAMA IS AN IDIOT!

Answer 8

While everyone should not necessarily have to learn Spanish, it is a good idea that we learn more than one language. I think our schools should start teaching another "major" language, like Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Bengali, Portugese, Russian, Japanese, German, etc. Or at least we should be teaching our kids Latin which is a gateway into learning many other languages.

Yes, we live in America, but most other countries make an effort to learn more than one language. Even other English speaking countries are ahead of us on this. Why is that? Well because then they don't seem like arrogant idiots who think everyone else on the entire planet should just learn their "very superior" language. When in fact, if you study languages you'd learn that English is not a very sophisticated language, which is why we have so many words from other languages especially Latin in place of our own words. (Did you ever wonder why we have so many "exceptions" to our rules? It's because we've had to borrow so many words from other languages! During the Renaissance when books were being translated into English from other languages, they had to use Latin and other language substitutions because of a lack of sophisticated vocabulary in English.)

By the way, I'm not an Obama fan, so please don't think I'm defending him. It just so happens that I agree we should be teaching foreign languages to our young children. But even though we know that languages are learned best from preschool through 5th grade, the vast majority of school districts don't offer foreign language until high school when it's almost too late already. How backward is that?

I think there are areas of the US where it makes sense to learn Spanish. If you live in southern Florida you might need it to survive, and southern California??? But I still think a variety of languages should be offered, maybe each elementary school in a district could offer a different language... then it wouldn't cost as much.

Just my opinion.

Answer 9

welcome to usa now speak english or go back  to where you came from and take obama with you

Answer 10

Can you please point out when Obama said this?  I think you are fibbing.

Answer 11

In case folks aren't aware there are Spanish people throughout the country and more than 50 Spanish speaking countries in the world. There's nothing wrong with learning a second language. It will certainly raise someones employ-ability and intellect.

There was a foreign bank job advertised once that paid extremely well assuming I could speak Spanish. I couldn't.  I certainly wished I did. It paid $20K more than what I was earning at the time. A Puerto Rican guy got it. FYI Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the U.S. and the residents are U.S. citizens. Hence Spanish is the primary language.

Also in Business a second language can be extremely useful.

Many of my Spanish speaking friends have excelled in their careers due to their Spanish speaking abilities. A Spanish car salesperson I know loved his Spanish speaking customers. He made more money than the other salespeople.

Coke, Pepsi and Dr Pepper all have plants in Mexico and Columbia to name a few with non-English speaking managers and employees. Nissan gets their motors and transmissions from Mexico. It's certainly good for a career.

Also the Sun does not rise and set with America. Hasn't for a long time. Repeat after me boys and girls: Global! Global!

Answer 12

They should not. I'm still upset that Congress did not vote to make English the official language of America. That is one of the dumbest things they could have done. This is America and we should have an official language and it should be English. Learning another language should be voluntary and NOT MANDATORY.

sorry Rick, I answered it the 1st time too. They are deleting too many questions/answers now just because some thin skinned person doesn't agree.

Answer 13

If you only want to speak English, go back to England. We Americans will continue to learn and grow.