From an outsider's perspective born and raised in Europe this seems pretty cool but I cant imagine how can I immigrate to the US.
For lingual reasons or other reasons?
Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
21–30 of 203 posts
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#22I grew up in one of these households. My grandmother didn’t speak English so my dad mandated Hindi be spoken in the household.
I think it was a net positive in my life. I pick up phrases and sounds from new languages pretty easily. I didn’t do great in my English classes in HS but am a pretty good writer now.
From an assimilation pov, I think it’s pretty important to grow up speaking whatever language you do alongside English. I don’t have the data but I know ESL kids have a hard time in early schooling here in California.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you referencing the stabbings or the riot?
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.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#24Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#25Strange wording, why don't they just write... "Almost half of Californians don't speak English at home"?
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.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#26I’d be curious to know what percentage of people in California speak no English at all.
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.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#27[flagged]
this is a Rorschach test result from the commentor -- not at all related in any literal sense.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#28[flagged]
Can you explain exactly what you’re “all for”? Because of the handful of interpretations of your post, several are downright psychotic.
A well-intended interpretation is: the parent comment advocates for a society where there is substantial language diversity even within smaller geographic regions.
This makes sense from many perspectives, because forcing people to speak the same language no matter the context is not only hostile to immigrants but also to native minorities. E.g., in the North of Scandinavia (where I reside), many people don't like that the language that has to be spoken is traditionally (less now than historically) dictated by the South.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#29Given that the US doest not have an official language, this rings a weird bell. Had the been England or any other country with an official language, it would have been something. In particular with the history of California and the proximity to Mexico, the opposite (that more than 50% speaks english) should be the story.
The UK does not have an official language.
Correct. It’s the defacto.
Indeed, there’s even no official version of English unlike, say, French and Dutch.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#30Earlier 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.
Don't assume their vocal support for Palestine is actual support for Palestine.
The Irish are very, very good at PR (and being highly defensive when being criticised). It's the only place I've lived or visited that I've experienced real xenophobia, and homophobic attacks (yet they bang on about legalising gay marriage and opinion polls on the support of it - this is my point exactly).
Also with their housing crisis, the tides have turned, and they're not so pro-immigration/pro-refugee now.