Reply #17: not understanding

[m berst]

Growing up in Detroit, then working in San Francisco, and traveling in Europe I don't ever remember one time in over 40 some years ever being annoyed or disturbed by someone speaking a language other than English. I can't imagine being upset about it.

The English language in the United States has been turned into such an aggressive and dominating propaganda tool, that I actually relax and feel less annoyed when I hear people speaking another language.

As far as the "they ought to learn English" statements I hear, my observation is that for adults it is difficult to learn a second language, so many people who arrived here as adults never become proficient in English. Nor would I ever become fluent in Russian were I to move to Russia at my age. The children of immigrants to the United States, however, are so anxious to learn English that I doubt that it could be prevented. The struggle for immigrant families is not to get their children to assimilate. but rather to get them to remmeber and honor any of their parent's culture including the language.

I have a great-grandfather, and two great-grandmothers who arrived here without being able to speak English and who never learned English very well. I am certain that they were met with a lot of hostility and suspicion, but I am glad that they had the courage to struggle in a foreign culture and dedicate their lives to a better future in a free country for their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

It is primarily people who are deeply and sincerely dedicated to sacrificing themselves for the benefit of others - their children - and who have a lot of courage and vision, who immigrate to a new and strange country. They bring with them culture and traditions from other places that can only enrich and revitalize our culture and our communities.

I can't for the life of me figure out what people around me are saying half the time even if they do speak English. Example - "They hate us for our freedoms." That is in English, but what the Hell does it mean? How about "gay agenda" or "feminazi" or "pro-life" or "environmental whacko" or "reverse racism" or "illegal aliens" or "islamofascist" or "weapons of mass destruction" - can someone translate those for me?