Obama wrong on us speaking Spanish
I would like to address comments Barack Obama made that "all of our students should learn Spanish" and that he was embarrassed that we didn't learn the languages people learn in Europe.
When a language is declared the official language of a country - ours is English, by the way - it is because that is then the language in which government documents must be published. When other languages are included it becomes more expensive for the government and businesses to publish their necessary materials.
Europeans learn more than one language because they live closer to many other countries, and it is to their benefit to speak the language if they travel there.
English has long been accepted as the international language. This is why so many other countries learn English.
I took two years of German in high school and two terms in college. This is a requirement for anyone attending college. If I traveled to Germany I'd be able to get along in it. I'd also do quite well in Ireland, England, Scotland and all the countries for whom English is a requirement because of its status as an international language.
When my father started kindergarten in 1921 he spoke only German because his parents were German immigrants and it was the only language spoken in his home. Teachers back then had students from many nationalities and they taught them all the language of our country.
My father and his sister went on to speak and write English with beautiful fluency and never demanded that anyone speak to them in German.
Speaking just English is not like saying that we're too arrogant to learn other languages. We just happen to already speak this dominant language. People don't learn English because they're bowing down to America - it's because it's spoken everywhere.
In an interesting twist of reverse discrimination, job ads often advertise that you must speak both Spanish and English to apply. I'm assuming that contrary to what Obama said in his speech, the customers of these businesses aren't learning English. So in a country where English is the official language, I can't get work unless I learn Spanish!
Obama's criticism of our nation's desire to have people here speak English is just another way to bash the people he says he wants so badly to lead.
Paula Coughlan
Elburn