Back in the old days, those days when todays Nativists grandparents were coming off boats

[WCGreen]

in New York, there were neighborhoods where the people from Russia, Germany, Italy, and Poland, among the many who came, all set up shop in areas of the great big cities...

Here in Cleveland, there is still vestige of Slavic Village, Little Italy, The Angle area that was where 90% of the Irish settled in.

Back in the old days, those days when todays Nativists grandparents were coming off boats
Thousands of people gave support to thousands of more people as the assimilation slowly worked so that the sons and daughters of the sons and daughters moved far away from the neighborhood and left most of the culture behind.

Now these folks are all up in arms about having to put up with opening a product and seeing the instructions written in four, five or maybe even ten languages. They think this is because of the wide spread dilution of English as the dominate language her in the of country, America, the U S of A.

But they do not even realize that most of the stuff this stuff is shipped around the world and it is just easier to print all that stuff at the source than change the labeling once the product reaches the end point of sale.

I cannot believe people get so upset about this.

We all know it is planted by people who want the proles fighting amongst themselves in order to distract everyone from what is really happening and that is the race to the bottom.

By race to the bottom I mean the lower classes in all countries are losing ground that their parents and grandparents sacrificed so much to get ahead.

Anyway, that is just my take on all this bullshit. We should be banding together instead, we are fighting over inane shit like directions being spelled out in a couple of different languages.

[elleng]

1. They ARE foolish and stupid,

but keep in mind that animosity against 'the other' has been around and common forever. Brits were anti-Irish, 'black-Irish' were anti some-Irish, Irish were anti-Jewish, etc etc etc. Its part of nature, I suspect, tho I agree that these days, lots of it is planted and fueled for 'political' reasons.

[trof]

5. Time once again for "The Merry Minuet" lyrics:

They're rioting in Africa. They're starving in Spain.
There's hurricanes in Florida, and Texas needs rain.
The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.
The French hate the Germans,
the Germans hate the Poles.

Italians hate Yugoslavs, South Africans hate the Dutch.
And I don't like anybody very much!
But we can be tranquil and thankful and proud,
for man's been endowed with a mushroom-shaped cloud.
And we know for certain that some lovely day,
someone will set the spark off... and we will all be blown away.

They're rioting in Africa. There's strife in Iran.
What nature doesn't do to us... will be done by our fellow man.

[elleng]

6. You got it, trof.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Sometimes people who immigrate here see the country they've adopted in a different light...

They want to be entirely American, and shed all the habits of the old country. This includes speaking English, and not allowing their children to speak the old language...

This could be part of their objection to having directions printed out in a couple of different languages.



But I do think what you've said is largely true as well...Nothing like being distracted from the true issues. We all lose when that happens...

[Gormy Cuss]

11. While that's a good point for discussion, the OP is focused on native-born Nativists

not immigrants trying to assimilate as fast as possible. The new immigrants are trying to eradicate their foreignness in the hope that they will be treated as 'real' Americans while the Nativists are trying to make it more difficult for immigrants to become American.

In early great waves of immigration many European immigrants never became fluent in spoken English (never mind proficient at written English) yet English persisted as our primary language. Adoption of English as a primary language happens with the first born generation regardless of whether the parents speak it at home. American-born Nativists don't really care about language. It's just an excuse for shutting the door to new immigration.

As the OP noted, the Nativists are also ignoring that the other languages are used for marketing products and services to a broader audience whether that be in the U.S. or abroad. It's just a good business practice.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

13. Ah, you're right, my dear Gormy Cuss...

Thank you.

[getdown]

3. many folks prefer fighting over inane shit

for some reason

[madrchsod]

4. ikea uses pictures for instructions but....

in a way i think we are banding together today. within a few seconds we can see what is happening just about anyplace in the world. we can communicate with people who we do not know but we may discover a common bond. every time google translator pops up on my screen i realize what a perfect tool it is to actually understand what someone is writing in a language i could never have the time to understand.

i get distracted by the shiny objects but being an old guy i`ve seen those objects before. i tend not to get discouraged because i`ve seen tougher times and better times but god knows i`d never want to go back. the future is unknown and that is what is exciting.

[hfojvt]

7. Das verstehe ich nicht. Ich bin ein Berliner.

in New York gab es Nachbarschaften, wo die Leute von Russland, von Deutschland, von Italien und von Polen, unter den vielen, die kamen, alles Einstellungsgeschäft in den Bereichen der großen großen Städte…

Hier in Cleveland, gibt es noch Spur des Slavic-Dorfs, wenig Italien, der Winkelbereich, der war, wo 90% der Iren innen vereinbarte. Ziehen Sie sich früher, jene Tage zurück, als heutige Nativistsgroßeltern weg Boote kamen Tausende von Leuten gaben den Tausenden von mehr Leuten Unterstützung, während die Assimilation langsam arbeitete, damit die Söhne und die Töchter der Söhne und die Töchter weit entferntes von der Nachbarschaft und am weitesten links liegendes der Kultur nach verschoben.

Jetzt sind diese Völker alle oben in den Armen über das Müssen das Öffnen eines Produktes und das Sehen der Anweisungen dulden, die in vier, in fünf oder möglicherweise sogar in 10 Sprachen geschrieben werden. Sie denken, dass dieses wegen der breiten Verbreitungsverdünnung von Englisch als die beherrschensprache sie in des Landes, Amerika, das U S von A. ist. Aber sie nicht sogar stellen fest, dass die meisten des Materials dieses Material um die Welt versendet wird und es gerade einfacher ist, ganzes Material an der Quelle als zu drucken dieses ändern die Produktreichweiten einmal beschriften den Endpunkt des Verkaufs.

Ich kann nicht glauben, dass Leute erhalten, also über dieses umkippen Sie. Alle wir wissen, dass es von den Leuten gepflanzt wird, die die proles wünschen, die unter selbst kämpfen, um abzulenken jeder von, was wirklich geschieht und das das Rennen zur Unterseite ist. Durch Rennen zur Unterseite bedeute ich, dass die Unterklassen in allen Ländern Boden verlieren, der ihre Eltern und Großeltern soviel geopfert, um voran zu erhalten. Sowieso ist das gerade mein Nehmen auf diesem ganzem Bullshit.

Wir sollten zusammen anstatt mit einem Band versehen, wir kämpfen über inane Scheiße wie den Richtungen, die heraus in ein paar verschiedenen Sprachen buchstabiert werden.

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/

[provis99]

9. Ich bin ein Berliner? You are a jelly doughnut?

[hfojvt]

10. well they always tell me

"you are what you eat"

[REP]

8. I don't get it

I love those multilingual things. I like seeing how much of the other languages I can understand. It's knowledge I may never use, but more knowledge never hurts.

Then again, my ancestors got off the boat in 1605 from Wales (people with a weird language fetish)

[WCGreen]

12. My mom's family dates back to the 1600's and my dad to the early 1800's...

[REP]

17. My paternal grandfather - 1917, Russian and illegal!

Had to enter Canada and then cross into the US when no one was looking!

[WCGreen]

18. My mother's ancestor was an indentured serant from Ireland...

[Texasgal]

14. My heritage is Swedish and Norweigian

My grandmother spoke Swedish around the family to keep our heritage in tact. I never remember her speaking English actually.

I also don't recall it being such a big issue! The people at the grocery store used to love when Grandma came in and spoke her native language!

I think it's important for us not to lose sight of our roots.

[treestar]

15. It is pretty idiotic

to worry about English. People all over the world learn it, so it's actually spreading. I'd love to see stats on that.

[jwirr]

16. Those grandparents you are talking about are no longer with us. My German ancestors are two

generations from me and I am 70 years old. The generations back then worked hard to learn English but they came from Europe and were used to other languages. I think it is the lack of other languages that makes people upset. We have gone a long time with just English.

[WCGreen]

19. good point