Me gustó mucho leer las páginas web con respecto al asunto en cuestión,
el debate sobre English Only.
My mother tongue is English; my second
language is German which was also spoken in the home of my childhood, and
my third language is Spanish which is spoken in the barrio where I grew
up as an adolescent - I speak French too. I am a Californian by birth -
Angelino Fernandino (my mother's family has been in the SW for almost
200 years, and though we are of strictly Nordic/Celtic/Gallic origin we
include naturalized citizens of Mexico amongst our ancestors) - and thus
take great pride in the rich cultural heritage bequeathed to us in the
Southwest by the Spaniards and Mexicans who came before, but what is
more, their progeny has never left us and these have been and continue to
be augmented by Latinos of every stripe whose immigration keeps that
culture alive and vibrant; it is this that is at the core of what makes
California the cultural marvel that it is. Their numbers, though, are
not yet fully reflected in voter participation, certainly not at the time
of the vote to make English the official language of the state.
I would
venture to make a demographic guess that the majority of the voters who
voted to pass that measure were not native Californians but gringos who
had immigrated here from other US states (whom I consider of foreign
origin just as much as the immigrant from Egypt or Laos). I spoke out
against this ill-advised measure at every opportunity, but mine is just
one voice.
English, of course, is a marvelous language of profound
cultural significance, and it is truly a wonder how it has become the
lingua franca of business and trade worldwide in such a relatively short
span of time.
I advocate that everyone who wants to go far in American
society speak and write it well. Truth is, most North Americans, aiming
to take full advantage of this land of opportunity, already know this,
and as a result, English will surely retain its prominence - and thus
English speakers ought not to feel threatened by the widespread
collateral use of Spanish. On the contrary, they should embrace it, for
the world has definitely grown smaller and the emerging markets of Latin
America beckon.
There are many European traits that North Americans
should wisely reject, but the one of learning a second language early in
life makes more sense here to-day than ever before, and that language is
Spanish.