5 responses

• todd Feb 28, 2008
   

  Why is it "pandering", amanda?

   
• todd Feb 28, 2008
   

  I'm particularly interested to see the way in which politicians try to deal with the increasingly bilingual nature of our society. I see real challenges in the years ahead.

   
• amanda Feb 28, 2008
   

  todd: I can't decide how I feel about it frankly. I assume it's an honest attempt to connect with Spanish speaking constituents and that's totally respectable. Personally I've felt conflicted before about native English speaking Americans attempting to communicate in Spanish with those who speak it natively. Mostly, I feel like it's just an attempt to communicate in a way that makes the other person more comfortable. However, there _is_ this message in the mainstream that says "You must learn English if you want to live in America." The pandering verbiage really was just intentionally belligerent.

   
• todd Feb 28, 2008
   

  Intentionally belligerent is nice. Under the heading of "population is destiny" my favorite statistic in this area is that 24% of all babies born in the US last year were born to Spanish-speaking mothers. Huge parts of the US are now effectively bilingual and some are dominant-Spanish. I can understand that that makes some English-speakers uncomfortable, but them's the facts.

   
• amanda Feb 28, 2008
   

  babel fishes for everyone!