Jughead
VIP Member
That's just it, in many cases it does eliminate the need to learn English. While I lived in South Phoenix many years ago, I routinely had difficulty in obtaining service in English in my own neighborhood. This was an area that had a large Hispanic American population. When I went to a flea market for instance, many times, I was not able to effectively communicate with the seller as he/she did not speak any English. Same for fast food restaurants. I learned that many of these Hispanic Americans were born in the US, but their folks returned to Mexico when they were just infants, so they were schooled in Mexico and never had a chance to learn English. It would be expected that when many of them decide to move back to the US when they are of legal age, that they would voluntarily enroll in English language classes so they can integrate into American society, but alas many of them never bother. I would encourage them to move into a neighborhood where there are few Hispanics, this way they would have no choice but to enroll in English language classes. Knowing English then becomes a necessity for their day-to-day lives.What irks me are newcomers who deliberately move into specific ethnic neighborhoods where their language is common, thus eliminating the need to learn English.
It shouldn't "irk" you. It is what has always happened with immigrant groups in our country, and it is not as a means of "eliminating the need to learn English."