An interesting interchange

Mr. Bustamante: I read these eloquent passages by Luis Sanchez and Rafaela Castro concerning the speaking of Spanish and how long the language has been around in certain parts of what is now the United States. I too feel the same way about my mother tongue and I speak it well and often. My question is, what does this have to do with the "English Only" policy??
No one is trying to keep anybody from speaking whatever language they wish to speak. Hey, if someone wants to speak Spanish, then by all means speak it. But let's conduct our nation's business in English, there is no need to spend tax dollars making forms, etc.. for all the languages spoken in this country. For crying out loud, the country is letting you come in here, the least you can do is learn the language and assimilate.
Yes, speak Spanish at home all you want, but then don't send the kids to school and expect bi-lingual education.
Fredrik at Rimfire One

Fredrik,
I agree with you in most everything except in the expenditure of money for forms, public information materials, etc. I work for a government agency. We have found immensely cost effective to produce our literature in other languages and to hire bilingual personnel. We must deal with our customers and if they don't understand our language then they must find their own translators.
Fine! you would say.
Unfortunately, since we don't know the language how do we know if the translator is telling them/us the truth? Recently we had several cases of fraud in California with a group of Cambodians. Fraud has happened many other times. We are powerless to stop it unless we control the interview. That costs money.
I think private industry -the epitome of cost effectiveness- has shown the way very smartly. AT&T, Coca-Cola, Bank of America, etc. etc. have all of their literature in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Russian and several other languages. They have found it to be good business sense to communicate with their customers in whatever language is appropriate. We are doing likewise.
And, as for the language learning, rest assured that there are very few immigrants in this country who eventually do not learn the language, however haltingly. Some exceptions are the very old and other, handicapped people. Everyone else learns it.
As for the assimilation issue, it is very difficult for the first generation immigrant to fully assimilate into such a different culture. Hoewever, the subsequent generation is fully American and, often times, does not even speak the old world's tongue.
Let's not make a mountain out of a mole hill and let's continue showing the understanding and compassion for which this country has been justly recognized around the world.
And let's stop this inferiority complex about the language, behaving as if we were in France. English is not about to disappear from this country. If anything it may be aptly supplemented by other languages which will give us, Americans, a wealth of knowledge and diversity no other country has.
Adelante y no se preocupe. Alles is gute.
JB