[Toilet & Bowels]

Originally Posted by Glice

the language of the dog-fuckers.

funnily enough the only woman i've ever known of who fucked a dog was spanish

[Genteel Death]

All speaking the same language surly improves racial relations amongst people?

[Genteel Death]

That's not to say that you can't still speak your own (as if). There should be a standard global language for everyone and it should be one, not two, so as not make things more confusing and complicated.

[knox]

Originally Posted by Magic Wheel Memory

I called you an asshole because you implied that I'm racist. That's a serious thing to say about someone you know so little about. Nothing I have said on this board gives you any reason to believe I am racist.

I did not imply that at all.

I asked if you used that old trick racists use, but I did not say you were a racist. Slightly xenophobe, maybe.

[Keeping It Simple]

The universal language of the world is English.

[Glice]

Actually, English is the 3rd most spoken language; I think it's more appropriate to say it's very close to being a global lingua franca, and even so, that's not appropriate for every territory - just the developed West and capitalist East-Asia, Large parts of Africa and the Indian sub-continent.

[Glice]

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

funnily enough the only woman i've ever known of who fucked a dog was spanish

Ha! Brilliant.

[Rob Instigator]

all the dogfuckers on the net are white goth chicks with no self-esteem and father-abandonment issues

[GeneticKiss]

I don't really have an opinion on Alabama's driver's ed tests, but I can tell you this--as someone who works in retail, it can be really fucking annoying to try to sell stuff to couples or groups of people where only one of them can speak English (let alone fluent English), and they're prattling away to each other in a language you can't understand.

I say Esperanto needs to be implemented ASAP. The idea was that it was supposed to be everyone's second language, not replace all the languages of the world. Everything that is public (media, publications, signs) would be in Esperanto, so there'd be no need for everything to be printed in 3 or 4 different languages. If you were in a foreign country, you could still communicate without needing to learn the local language. And there'd be no need for diplomats to learn 10 different languages.

In this day and age of a global economy, communication is of utmost importance. But no, we have to have arrogant, lazy fucks who think, "Why should I have to learn something new? Why can't you just learn to do things my way?"

[Glice]

Esperanto wouldn't mitigate laziness though - rather, it'd create yet more Euro-centrism to lingua francas. It's much easier for Europeans to learn than, say, the Chinese. As a synthetic language, it doesn't offer non-European people much until it's long established and widely-used. By which time, it'd probably have gone through pidgin, creole and patois forms, and then whole new languages spring, and you're back at square one. Cynical, I realise, but I don't hold any stock with Esperanto - might just as well get the UN to impose we all learn Mandarin.

[Rob Instigator]

exactly. the chinos and esperanto do not mix

[pbradley]

"Esperanto" must be the worst name for anything ever. Proper nouns so horrible are reserved for SUVs.

[demonrail666]

never trust a language that sounds like a hot beverage

[knox]

Originally Posted by GeneticKiss

I don't really have an opinion on Alabama's driver's ed tests, but I can tell you this--as someone who works in retail, it can be really fucking annoying to try to sell stuff to couples or groups of people where only one of them can speak English (let alone fluent English), and they're prattling away to each other in a language you can't understand.

I say Esperanto needs to be implemented ASAP. The idea was that it was supposed to be everyone's second language, not replace all the languages of the world. Everything that is public (media, publications, signs) would be in Esperanto, so there'd be no need for everything to be printed in 3 or 4 different languages. If you were in a foreign country, you could still communicate without needing to learn the local language. And there'd be no need for diplomats to learn 10 different languages.

In this day and age of a global economy, communication is of utmost importance. But no, we have to have arrogant, lazy fucks who think, "Why should I have to learn something new? Why can't you just learn to do things my way?"

well, that's funny.

[Toilet & Bowels]

everyone should just learn chinese, english, arabic, & spanish

[Magic Wheel Memory]

Originally Posted by knox

I did not imply that at all.

I asked if you used that old trick racists use, but I did not say you were a racist. Slightly xenophobe, maybe.

There's nothing xenophobic about anything I've said, either. Do you think that belieiving in an "official language" goes hand in hand with xenophobia? Consider this:

1. My mother is an immigrant who lived in this country for 40 years before becoming a citizen.

2. My father's father was an immigrant with very little money, who went to night school to learn English.

3. Instead of owning a home in New Jersey, where I can build equity and have some space and a nice yard, I pay rent to live in a tiny apartment in Manhattan. Why would I choose that if I didn't want to be around immigrants?

4. I share this tiny apartment with my girlfriend, who immigrated here from Asia and learned to speak English.

5. For 11 year, I have worked in a company where I have been one of the only Americans. My superiors and my peers in this company have come from about 20 different countries and represent almost every race. They all speak English.

You'd have a pretty tough time making a case that I'm a xenophobe. And yet I believe in an official language. It is not a contradiction. I even think you'd be surprised how many American immigrants, who didn't originally speak English, believe in English as an official language. I understand there are practical limitations for some people, such as money for English classes, etc. As someone posted earlier, maybe the government could sponsor this for people in need. The point is that if people don't have the desire to be able to communicate with other Americans, then I don't think they should live here.

[pbradley]

I apologize if you've answered this earlier but what punishments would have in place for those who do not speak English? Deportation?

If refusing to communicate with other Americans is a deportable offense, should sign language be mandatory? Should this be put more broadly as to deport asocial personalities?

Here, in California, Spanish is very commonly used to the point that refusing to learn Spanish could be a greater indication of refusing to communicate with other Americans than of the other way around. That seems like a weak intention to base law upon.

[automatic bzooty]

i wish i was gay so i could piss off the homophobes - kurtis cobainus

i wish i was bilingual so i could piss off people who don't like that sort of thing - me

[samuel]

Originally Posted by space

I think that the message may be lost here...

nobody is saying that you MUST "speak english or die", however, if you cannot read the street signs, or pass a test regarding the local laws, in English, should you be on the road?

although I do not feel that people should be "forced" to speak english, certain responbilibities certainly require it in the locality which you CHOOSE to live.

should the Alabama Department of Transportation be forced to spend money on a Mandarin Chinese version of the driving test, or say, jungle pygmy, on the chance that a speaker of such would like to drive?

This is the end of the argument.

[pbradley]

In parts of the country which have a high population of people who speak a language other than English, street signs and tests should should include the language.

Public safety should not be the stage for exclusionary race politics.

Alabama does not have a sizable Chinese or pygmy population.