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Sarah Palin: Immigrants in U.S. should 'speak American'

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danm999

Member
"I think a lot about the Department of Energy, because energy is my baby: oil and gas and minerals, those things that God has dumped on this part of the Earth for mankind's use instead of us relying on unfriendly foreign nations," she said.

Amazed people who think this way can dress themselves in the morning.
 
Can someone translate the article in Canadian for me? In the spirit of diversity, we should translate it in Australian and British too.

If we did that, those foreigners speaking their unamurrican herpa-derpa languages outside of Gods country might think they're welcome here.
 

gogosox82

Member
Its funny because this quote, like many Sarah Palin quotes, I had to read it three times in order to understand what the hell she is talking about.
 

Nachos

Member
What's "American," Sarah? Drunk sounding English? Because that's all you seem to speak.
According to GAF, it's probably clapping punctuated by an intermittent "YEE-HAW!" every so often. It's like if African clicking languages and Morse code had a deep-fried baby.

You're not wrong, but immigrants sticking with their native language still introduces problems. I'd say a decent solution would be if Spanish was an official language and mandatory subject at school, at least to facilitate communication. I was taught 4 mandatory languages in school specifically because a large minority doesn't speak the native language or only uses it as a second or third language.
I'd actually be all for this, especially as the need for such language fluency is only going to keep increasing.
 
Life imitating art.

tumblr_nau47kPtzb1somw7ho1_500.png

tumblr_nau47kPtzb1somw7ho5_r1_500.png
 

LordOfChaos

Member
You know, I missed having her on TV. I had CNN on when this interview aired, it was the most incomprehensible stream of babble I've heard on TV in a while, and Donald Trump has been all over the TV recently so that's saying something.

Trump/Palin ticket, comedy gods, make it happen.

that way the democrats may also not be so scared of losing, and so nominate Bernie instead of Clinton...
 
I'll just quote myself from the last thread where a white woman said something similar:

That's all well and good, but you have to make hard decisions about official languages and the languages in which services are rendered. For a country as large as the US, it doesn't makes sense to officially recognizes more than 1 or 2 languages. English is 1 and the debate is solely about whether or not Spanish should be an official language.
 

Anjelus_

Junior Member
That's all well and good, but you have to make hard decisions about official languages and the languages in which services are rendered. For a country as large as the US, it doesn't makes sense to officially recognizes more than 1 or 2 languages. English is 1 and the debate is solely about whether or not Spanish should be an official language.


1. Plenty of countries offer services in different languages, it's not that big of a deal.

2. The U.S. federal government will never adopt an official language. Individual states can choose to do so depending on their demographics. Again, not a big deal.
 

Ayt

Banned
That Alaska oil quote. This is what teaching American exceptionalism does to people. Everything we decide to do is inherently correct because America.

Manifest Destiny 2015 style.

I honestly think she knows what she's doing and is pandering to idiots and racists, after seeing how well it has worked for Trump. Taking it up to the Palin level, of course

It is much more likely she is as stupid as she appears to be every time she opens her mouth. Can you give an example of a quote when she actually sounded intelligent?
 
1. Plenty of countries offer services in different languages, it's not that big of a deal.

2. The U.S. federal government will never adopt an official language. Individual states can choose to do so depending on their demographics. Again, not a big deal.

1. The size of the USA?

2. Sure, but they won't go beyond english and spanish for the foreseeable future. That was my point.
 

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
I'm a Scottish immigrant and I refuse to speak anything except Trainspotting and Ramirez from Highlander.
 

WillyFive

Member
You're not wrong, but immigrants sticking with their native language still introduces problems. I'd say a decent solution would be if Spanish was an official language and mandatory subject at school, at least to facilitate communication. I was taught 4 mandatory languages in school specifically because a large minority doesn't speak the native language or only uses it as a second or third language.

Any official language is a bad idea. However, more languages need to be introduced to the public school system, and certainly not as an elective.
 

RDreamer

Member
I honestly think she knows what she's doing and is pandering to idiots and racists, after seeing how well it has worked for Trump. Taking it up to the Palin level, of course

There are certain politicians and pundits I can totally see pandering like fucking crazy and knowing exactly what they're doing.

Palin is not one of them.
 

Linkyn

Member
Any official language is a bad idea. However, more languages need to be introduced to the public school system, and certainly not as an elective.

It doesn't have to be as political as that (I wasn't aware that it is such a dicey topic at the federal level), but being at least bilingual is incredibly useful and ought to help bridge some ethnic or cultural differences.
 

Astral Dog

Member
America is the true nation of God, English being the holy language, of course its understandable she would say that.
 

User1608

Banned
Hi Sarah, this undocumented alien can speak with sense and actually formulate a coherent thought and sentence, unlike you. Perhaps you should learn to speak English. Also, American? Lmao.
 

Anjelus_

Junior Member
1. The size of the USA?

2. Sure, but they won't go beyond english and spanish for the foreseeable future. That was my point.



1. No, countries the size of individual states in the USA. The USA doesn't need to adopt an official language, like I said. States do so at their discretion.

2. States can and do adopt whatever official language they feel is appropriate. Hawaiian is an official language in Hawaii, for example.
 

Zeus Molecules

illegal immigrants are stealing our air
I do think that an actual argument could be made that as part of immigration reform anyone seeking US citizenship should speak at least conversational English unless circumstances make that impossible and be able to read English to a certain level as well since it would help them live a better life in the US and assimilate easier overall.

Currently the US approach to this requirement is

"Literacy and education: The applicant must possess the ability to understand, speak, read, and write basic English. Certain older applicants may receive an exemption from this requirement if their residence is of long standing. Applicants must also demonstrate knowledge of U.S. history, politics, and government. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) administers an examination to applicants that they must pass to qualify for naturalization. Applicants may take the exam more than once if required."

and not for nothing it makes sense to me as is.

Of course Palin is an idiot and the Republicans overall refusing to have an ounce of nuance in their approach to policy means that this concept will get intertwined in their anti immigrant drivel.
 

Muzy72

Banned
According to GAF, it's probably clapping punctuated by an intermittent "YEE-HAW!" every so often. It's like if African clicking languages and Morse code had a deep-fried baby.


I'd actually be all for this, especially as the need for such language fluency is only going to keep increasing.
Where does the whole clapping joke come from anyway?

Also, Trump-Palin 2016 plz.
 

Anjelus_

Junior Member
For the record, I do think it's important for immigrants to learn English. As someone who's taken the time to learn other languages, I think you have to be at least somewhat apathetic to not take the time yourself to learn the language of the country you're moving into.

There are immigrants in the U.S. who shut themselves up in their communities and don't make an effort to learn English. I've met a lot of them. There's also immigrants who make only the most minor attempt to learn English and give up.

But I also think they're a minority. English is actually a particularly hard language to learn. There's a perception that it's easy because we don't have gender or case, but the generational mishmash we have going on instead has actually made us a damned complicated case... BUT, I don't know. Part of me wants to say it's too much to ask to expect most of them to get past a B1/B2 level; part of me recognizes they're literally surrounded by English media and English speakers with a level of immersion that many language learners can only dream of.

BUT... Americans do need to cut some slack. Especially the monolinguals. Learning a language is damned hard work. The best most people here do is a few required semesters of Spanish/French that leave them barely equipped to order a cup of tea somewhere.
 
For the record, I do think it's important for immigrants to learn English. As someone who's taken the time to learn other languages, I think you have to be at least somewhat apathetic to not take the time yourself to learn the language of the country you're moving into.

There are immigrants in the U.S. who shut themselves up in their communities and don't make an effort to learn English. I've met a lot of them. There's also immigrants who make only the most minor attempt to learn English and give up.

But I also think they're a minority. English is actually a particularly hard language to learn. There's a perception that it's easy because we don't have gender or case, but the generational mishmash we have going on instead has actually made us a damned complicated case... BUT, I don't know. Part of me wants to say it's too much to ask to expect most of them to get past a B1/B2 level; part of me recognizes they're literally surrounded by English media and English speakers with a level of immersion that many language learners can only dream of.

BUT... Americans do need to cut some slack. Especially the monolinguals. Learning a language is damned hard work. The best most people here do is a few required semesters of Spanish/French that leave them barely equipped to order a cup of tea somewhere.

We all know that's not what this is really about. Trump criticized Bush for just displaying the fact that he's bilingual and answering questions in Spanish.

That's bordering on some dangerous territory.
 

Anjelus_

Junior Member
We all know that's not what this is really about. Trump criticized Bush for just displaying the fact that he's bilingual and answering questions in Spanish.

That's bordering on some dangerous territory.



Well yea, I don't disagree. In fact I miss the days when we had presidents who took pride in speaking two or more languages.
 
We all know that's not what this is really about. Trump criticized Bush for just displaying the fact that he's bilingual and answering questions in Spanish.

That's bordering on some dangerous territory.

Jeb being slammed for speaking Spanish is poetic justice due to George Dubya's campaign staff slamming John Kerry for knowing French

IMO, the more languages one speaks, the better
 
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