Is Speaking Spanish Anti-American?

Barack Obama's famous howler

During his campaign for the Presidency, Obama said this, in response to the English-only ballot measures circulating:

“I don’t understand when people are going around worrying about, we need to have English only. They want to pass a law, we just, we want English only. Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English, I agree with that. But understand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, they’ll learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.”
Si Ud. quiere escuchar esta información en español, marque el 2.

Has that question ever been posed to you while placing a customer service-related call to your Cable Company, or God forbid, the Bank? What was your reaction? Were you indifferent? Did your blood boil? Were you tempted to send another soon-to-be-unanswered letter to your Congressperson reflecting your displeasure? Or did you have a little fun and press 2?

Americans are increasingly choosing sides on the official-language-of-this-country debate. Should English be considered the only language with which to do business in this country, or is there room for other tongues in our society? I mean, besides Spanish, people in this country also speak French, Portuguese, German, Arab, Swahili, Urdu, Farsi, various Indian dialects, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, and Thai. However, these never seem to be included on the chopping block of languages an increasing number of Americans wish to banish.
Why do you suppose this is? Is it because these cable companies, banks, cell phone stores, and customer service centers are trying to stick-it to English-only Americans? Or are these companies leading the charge as good Capitalist Americans and reaching out to serve another segment of their market?

I bank on the latter, and so do these companies with a Spanish-speaking presence in their customer service departments. After all, as of 1998, the United States has the fifth largest Hispanic population in the world, which amounts to about 30 million people (the exact number depending on how Hispanics are counted). Of them, two-thirds trace their roots to Mexico, and 86 percent say Spanish is their first language.

Of course, the telephone option to speak Spanish is to serve the Spanish-speaking clientele, not promote a political Philosophy. And last I checked, Apple iPhones and Hewlett-Packard laptops aren’t only sold in the United States; some schlemiel in Buenos Aires might be getting his hands on an iPad right this very second; or, he might be calling his broker to enroll in a mutual fund issued by Bank of America or Wells Fargo; he might even be trying to find out the status of his mail-in rebate from that MP3 player he bought at the local Wal-Mart in Buenos Aires.
Even though we aren’t in Argentina, we still live in the U.S. where a large contingent of the population is Spanish-speaking; and let’s face it; sooner or later you might need to call Apple’s customer service because of a functionality problem in your iPhone. The need for product satisfaction seems to transcend international borders; this country just seems to be a large trade zone serving as an end-point for these disgruntled customers/immigrants. If anybody should be to blame for pressing #2, it should be HP or Samsung, not the Spanish-speakers themselves. God Bless Multi-National Corporations.

Where does that leave us when it comes to DMV publications, or other government-issued documents? It doesn’t leave us anywhere; US Government publications are actually printed in nearly a hundred different languages. This isn’t just for homeland purposes, though; we have embassies and territories all over the world. Thus, there is a real need for us to have documents transcribed in other languages in order to assist allies, ambassadors, government employees abroad as well as expatriated Americans all around the globe.

As for my state of California, it simply makes sense to include Spanish-language documents, publications, and televised gubernatorial debates. California alone has 5.5 million people who speak Spanish at home. Other states with high Spanish-speaking populations include Texas (3.4 million), New York (1.8 million), and Florida (1.5 million).

Things that make no sense in the English-Only movement

People are under the impression that the United States' official language is English; and as such, English should be the only language spoken in official government communique. Voting instructions, street signs, and toll-free customer service support centers should all be English-only. However, if you took the time to research the demographics and factoids about our nation, you will soon discover that there is no official language. Because the Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, and the little tablet that the Statue of Liberty is holding is written in English doesn't propel this language into the realm of default language mandate.

Why the sudden push for English-only, anyway? Could it be an environment of fear promoted by the Age of Terror? Where anything not red, white and blue and smelling like apple pie and Chevy is equated to being foreign and dangerous, simply because of cultural misunderstandings? Who sets the standard for what is our “culture”, anyway? I know several folks of Mexican ancestry who can trace their family back to before the Bear Flag days; before California became annexed by the Manifest Destiny of James Monroe in 1848 they can trace actual family members who were living here under land-grant status from Spain. And, to all of you out there who are studying International law, you know that when area is ceded through annexation to another sovereign nation, than that sovereign nation has the duty to judicially enforce all land grants and contracts in existence in the annexed nation. Hence, California TO THIS DAY is still enforcing Mexican land-grants.
I can’t trace my own family back to Poland before 1924.

So, what’s everyone’s problem, anyway?

According to the mindset of a certain segment of Americans, learning Spanish is akin to siding with illegal immigration and/or south-of-the-border drug cartels. However, I am here to tell you that enriching your life and mind by learning the second-most spoken language in the US, and the 4th most spoken worldwide, is in no way related to political issues and anti-American sentiments. Whether or not Spanish is the language spoken by the Juárez or Sinaloa Cartels is another topic; what we have there is an interstate commerce issue with the Federal government once again injecting its meaty paws into business transactions in order to “protect” us.

“I don’t understand when people are going around worrying about, we need to have English only. They want to pass a law, we just, we want English only. Now, I agree that immigrants should learn English, I agree with that. But understand this, instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English, they’ll learn English, you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish.”
I couldn’t believe how much flak the guy took. Radio shows, talking heads, and alphabet channels alike chorused a show of disdain for his speech. But what, exactly, was the outrage?

Does your partisan belief interfere with your opinion? Lamentably, the truth is many of us have certain ideological allegiances which are manifested in our present-day Republican/Democrat political landscape. But whether or not we are Republican, Democrat, Tea-Bagger, or Independent exhibits little or no weight to this discussion about whether or not you can speak Spanish.

The only real problem in this English-only movement is not the fact that it is a discussion of talking points and partisan bickering and wrought with endless political boredom. It is the fact that millions of Americans are actively trying to curtail the use of another language. Political philosophy notwithstanding, why limit yourself to enrichment and profit? Millions of people are here, in this country, and they are not going anywhere. Do business with them! About 5.8 percent of the people who use the Internet speak Spanish, making it the 4th most-spoken language in the Internet community, following English (51.3 percent), Japanese (8.1 percent), and German (5.9 percent). Close behind is Chinese, with 5.4 percent, followed by French with 3.9 percent.

See the real value here? Take politics out of the equation, and bon voyage.

Mahalo.