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Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home

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Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home

#51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know but my wife used to play mahjong in SF Chinatown and almost no one spoke English, including some people who had been in the US for over 30 years. It was a bit surprising.

The next town over from me have a large Vietnamese community, the older generation frequently only speak Vietnamese, relying on their children and grandchildren to help them navigate in society, doctors appointments, interacting with the government and all those things. I'm continuously surprised that someone would refuse to learn the language of a country they lived in for almost 50 years... Like WHY? Seems rather r…

Not just rude, but self-defeating. You lose access to a lot of jobs and consumer opportunities by not speaking the local language.

Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because speaking a language other than English at home doesn’t mean that they don’t speak English at home.

The article doesn't hint at that at all so I don't think that is the reason.

What do you mean it "doesn't hint at that"? You're discussing the words that convey exactly that information? It's verbatim from the first paragraph in the article.

> Nearly half of all Californians speak a language other than English at home, data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows.

Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home

#54

Whenever I see Europeans railing about the destruction of their cultures by small number of immigrants, I want to point to California and be like “you’re doing it wrong.” Pretty much within one generation, everyone here is bilingual, fully integrated, we all enjoy each others company, culture and food etc.

Often the people railing about that problem point out that in their country integration doesn’t work smoothly but politicians avoid addressing the problem.

Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because speaking a language other than English at home doesn’t mean that they don’t speak English at home.

The article doesn't hint at that at all so I don't think that is the reason.

The article also doesn't specify the opposite ... why do you think that is not the reason?

Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know but my wife used to play mahjong in SF Chinatown and almost no one spoke English, including some people who had been in the US for over 30 years. It was a bit surprising.

The next town over from me have a large Vietnamese community, the older generation frequently only speak Vietnamese, relying on their children and grandchildren to help them navigate in society, doctors appointments, interacting with the government and all those things. I'm continuously surprised that someone would refuse to learn the language of a country they lived in for almost 50 years... Like WHY? Seems rather r…

have you tried to learn Vietnamese !? it is really different.. also, someone told me that in South East Asia, like many places, there is a lot of difference between educated people there and uneducated people there.. an illiterate in their own language, has to learn English or else be "rude" ?

Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home

#58
post #2

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The US and Europe are very different in terms of actual immigration in terms of population. The US has immigrants from many different nations and cultures that actually are less stratified. Europe on the other hand has a more homogeneous immigrant population which is the cause for more friction. All this to say, Europe i headed into a different direction than the US for the reasons stated above.

The US has also had like 120+ years of various waves of mass immigration.

Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home

#59
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Riots. Nothing is known yet about the attack and its motives, but we know the motives for the riots.

Among all the countries in Europe, I expected Ireland to be the last to harbour anti-Muslim, anti-refugee sentiment with all their very vocal support for Palestine.

I expect there is no country in the world with no anti-immigrant sentiment.

The Palestine thing IMO is mostly Irish people identifying with a weak country being bullied by a strong neighbour, which is unsurprising given Ireland's history

Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home

#60

Whenever I see Europeans railing about the destruction of their cultures by small number of immigrants, I want to point to California and be like “you’re doing it wrong.” Pretty much within one generation, everyone here is bilingual, fully integrated, we all enjoy each others company, culture and food etc.

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