John Rocker is ba-a-a-ack! This time, he's speaking about the English-only movement, as evidenced on his website. This is just ridiculous. In America, we have the choice to speak English or not. Isn't that what America is all about?

It makes me so sad when hot men are bigoted idiots. What a waste of a hot man. There is a part of me that would wish that anyone coming to our country would like to assimilate into our society, including learning the English language. I do believe it is very benefitial for all Americans to officially speak one language, but I also understand the difficulty of learning English, not only from an acedemic standpoint, but also from the standpoint of immigrants having available time to learn English. We, the native-born folks of this nation, take for granted the fact that we all speak English. It is incredibly difficult to learn English. If I am not mistaken, only Russian is more difficult. I don't know if there could be a fair comparison to Asian languages. I do know that the English language has the most vocabulary words of any language on the planet. For all its quirks, I love English. I think it is the most effective language in which to communicate. We have a word for every nuance of emotion and activity. It really is an exceptional language. With that aside, the very fact that everyone is a bit different in America is what keeps this nation so interesting. I love the diversity of this nation, and I believe it is our strongest asset. I would never want anyone to ditch their native culture and adopt a Wonder Bread culture. But I also see the value of having everyone on the same page when it comes to communication. English is the most efficent vehicle to this unison. I also feel badly for immigrants that do not speak such a common language, yet they see everything being catered to the Spanish and Chinese speaking immigrants. In Chicago, there is also the Polish that are catered to, which is unfair to those from Serbia, or Portugal or Nigeria. The point is, if we want to be fair to ALL groups coming to our country, we need for everyone to literally be reading from the same page...in English. I say this as a man that speaks fluent English and Spanish, and wishing for enough time to learn French.

Juan Rocker es un hijo de puta!

English ain't all that. It has a large vocabulary because it -- actually we English speakers -- borrowed words from other languages. That said, there is nothing you can say in one language, any language, that you can't say in another. It might take you more words, but it can be done. One language is not richer than another.

Russian is not the hardest language to learn for an English speaker. Determining the hardest is a bit subjective in that some people are better at learning languages than others, but generally of the major languages Arabic is the hardest for a monolingual native speaker of English to learn. But, hey, it can't be all that hard. Any three-year-old on the streets of Cairo can do it.

English is the lingua franca of the US, and all the political debates take place in it. Any immigrant knows that. And, they also know that to get ahead (whatever that means) one must have a good command of English.

Very well said!

This dude epitomizes the word Redneck

Actually there are quite a few things that you can say in many different languages that do not translate well into English - or any other language; but I believe that is at least partly because of cultural differences. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf's hypothesis of linguistic relativism holds that the language we speak both affects and reflects our view of the world.

Just as artists have more words to describe the various details of their profession, where someone without artistic experience would simply identify a particular item as "paint", the artist calls it "oil paint", "acrylic paint", or "watercolor". This does not mean that these two individuals see two different things, nor does it mean that the artist would be confused by the idea that oil paint and acrylic paint are related.

No, I wouldn't say one language is 'richer' than another, but many have developed very specialised vocabularies to deal with specific situations. This is one reason why French was the language of Diplomacy for so many centuries, why German and Latin were the languages of Science, and why English may be the language of Engeineering and Technology.

Although I certainly don't consider myself an expert, I am finding Chinese to be the most difficult language I have attempted to learn; much more difficult than basic conversational Russian. And though I doubt if I would be cosidered fluent, I had litlle difficulty learning French, Spanish, and Italian, probably because they are all related (and I freely admit that I tend to mix up words occasionally between those three).

R

More evidence that he needs to go to college somewhere:

"This campaign, as I have said before, is not to demean or degrade other cultures of nationalities, but instead to bolster American nationalism"

Err...okay, where to start. Nationalism is generally seen as a concept that dates back to the French Revolution, when the idea of a unique French identity was central to the Revolution. And it was a blood filled, violent revolution.

And let's take a look at the kinds of things that have come from the idea of nationalism, shall we? World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, most of the conflicts of the nineteenth century.....

Should I continue? The general consensus among scholars is that nationalism has brought more HARM than GOOD.

WHY this man would want to BOLSTER it is beyond me. Shows that his educational level isn't quite what it needs to be if he plans to comment on the state of the world.

I am ashamed to admit I almost understand his convoluted thinking. Maybe it's because I was born in Indiana. I think he can safely cross the Miss Congeniality award off of his list. There is a way to express yourself, then there is the John Rocker way. Oh well, I'm sure he has an appeal to the white trash segment of the population. It is funny to read that quote...thanks for the post, SoFlaSpartan.

French became the language of diplomacy because European royalty and the upper classes had it in common at the time diplomacy was invented. Latin became the language of academia and science because of the Roman Catholic Church's influence in academia. (Most if not all universities were run by the church.) German came to fore after Latin lost a lot of its luster among German academicians courtesy of Martin Luther. English is the language of engineering, technology and commerce because of the powerhouse that the US became in the 20th century.

It's all about money and power, not anything inherent in the languages.

Sapir-Whorf are often brought up, but it's a chicken/egg problem. Does language influence one's thought processes, or is language altered to fit the thought processes?

The answers are yes and yes.

I believe our ability of thought far outspans the potential to express it in language. There are many times when feelings, thought, or ideas cannot be expressed in words (hence the saying "I can't find words to describe it). As well as how much of our expressions are carried on the non-verbal part of communications--such as gestures or actions....sometimes something as simple as the way you touch another person can express a thought words can never convey.

sorry....off track now....

Whenever I can't find the words to say something I just play a REM song for the person. Then they get it.