We're one of these households (Greek + Latvian at home). We love California :)
Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
91–100 of 203 posts
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#92Earlier 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…
> large Vietnamese community
Because they don’t need to, they’re large and it doesn’t culturally offer them anything. The kids and outside community wanting their business bend to their needs.
My grandparents hood had FOB Hungarian, Pole, Slovak, Ukranian, Russian, Latvian and probably half a dozen others. They didn’t need English to exist and we’re probably richer they didn’t pine to mimic WASP orthodoxy.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#93I 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 alongsid…
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The wellness of the nation can be taken into consideration once that nation takes the wellness of its people into consideration.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#94Earlier quoted context omitted.
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" ?
If I lived in another country for 50 years I would absolutely learn the local vernacular.
In fact, I’ve done so with much fewer than 50 years under my belt.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only interpretation I can see is in support of Great Replacement.
Ooh, this is my first time seeing white nationalism ideology referenced on hacker news. (And to clarify, I do not remotely support the ideology... Just curious as to what types of people use this site)
I see you've not been here too long. If you want to see a lot more of it, turn on the "showdead" option in your profile that will show you all the comments from people too red in the eyes with mad ideologies to realize they have been shadowbanned.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
Learning one language is hard. Only 46% of American native English speakers have above a 6th grade reading level. 20% are functionally illiterate. https://www.barbarabush.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/BBFou...
Most of Europe speaks at least two, and most of Switzerland 3. I think this might be an effect of the American education system.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#97We're one of these households (Greek + Latvian at home). We love California :)
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Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
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I'm not OP, but the answer is obviously both. Multilingual helps brain develop in new ways, and better personal development helps all nations.
I sometimes wish my childhood environment were conducive to holding onto a second language. I took Spanish in high school but because there was nobody around to speak it with I lost it entirely.
I’m now working on acquiring a second language I might actually get some usage out of, but nothing can parallel learning secondary languages early on.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#99Whenever 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.
It's quite easy to integrate into a culture when the culture itself is relatively young, and by virtue, relatively shallow in comparison to older cultures.
It also helps that most Americans are not direct, so we can all pretend to get along. Whereas in other cultures, like Dutch, Oceaniac, Egyptian, etc., it would be made plain when someone has a problem with you.
These are either positives or negatives depending on one's values, and incentives.
Re: Almost half of Californians speak a non-English language at home
#100I 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 alongsid…
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Do you eat tacos, sushi, omelettes, or fettuccine? Do you practice kanban, yoga, zen? Where do you think these words come from?