IMMIGRANTS..their rights and privilages..  

I'm in agreement with you, 100%. I am an American by birth, so I can only imagine how difficult it must be to have to integrate into another society and learn a new language. My feeling is that if people decide to come to the U.S.(or to any other country) for a "better life" and for all that the country has to offer, they should learn to speak the language of the country. In fact, it should be mandatory. The Hispanic population CHOSE to come to the U.S.; nobody forced them to. They should be mandated to enroll in an English as a second language course (they are offered FREE in all major cities at a variety of locations), and they should be required to pass a basic competency exam in English before their visas or green cards are renewed.

Like your parents, and most of the "older generation" immigrants before them, people used to work very hard to integrate into society and to become "American". It was something that they were proud of. Over the years, the U.S. has allowed people to come here to reap all of the benefits of our country, but has allowed them to set up entire neighborhoods where they can live in the U.S. and Mexico (or wherever they came from) both. I don't see this as much with other nationalities in my area, but we do have a huge Hispanic population and a smaller Polish community, both of which are catering to the native languages of the immigrants. In NY City you can add many other nationalities to that. If you go into Chinatown, good luck finding somebody who can speak English!

I feel that it is up to the U.S. Government to set some ground rules here. Enough is enough. If you want to live in America, you must speak OUR language, which is English. We should not allow immigrants to take over entire neighborhoods and communities. We already offer so much in the way of free assistance with benefits and learning the language. Their part is to take advantage of that.

It's a shame when you are forced to learn Spanish in order to survive in your own neighborhood in NY City, isn't it?

Being from Kansas, I did not know this was such a problem. I am thinking it is time for me to learn Spanish, and of course for the Spanish speakers who do business in the US to learn English. I know, willingness to learn and compromise are really necessary for good relationships.

Yes, I think that one should learn the languge of the country they reside in. If one lived on France, don't you think you would need to speak french? People are not going to change everything for you just becuase you don't want to learn their language; it is their country and if you want it to be yours act like.