Discussion: Illegal Immigration and Other Citizenship Issues

I am you have to know some English to try and become a citizen and if you have lived in America for the 8 years it takes to become a citizen and don't know English I don't think you can rightfully call yourself a citizen

 

I was also born in England and became an American Citizen so i am not ignorant to foreigners struggles

 

wait, so illegals are being allowed to stay?

 

If they really think that making English the OFFICIAL language of the United States will serve as a unifying thing, they're delusional. I find it ironic that Bush is pushing for this when he can barely speak English himself, actually. I love how when the approval ratings are low or there's things going on that Bush doesn't want people to pay attention to (like the things happening in Iraq) that he and his cronies drudge up non-issues like gay marriage and immigration for people to fixate on instead.

jag

 

I think english should be the official language, and should be a requirement for obtaining citizenship. If I have pass out from a stroke or something, then the potential good samaritain should be able to call an ambulance in English.

 

I wish you had learned english before you became a citizen.

 

Illegals are not being "allowed" anything.
the idea of deporting all of them was a pipe dream for some, and a distraction for all, it was NEVER going to happen, they are going to put some triple walls on some sections of the border (rolleyes infity) in the end, things will stay the same.

 

Aren't there more important things than what language the country decides to make official?

 

I agree.

 

Also, what exactly are the requirements to becoming a citizen? WHat are the tests? How does a foreigner become a citizen?

 

Yeah, I wondering that too?

In Canada you must speak English or French if you want to become a citizen.

 

I think it is important to learn the language of the country in which you wish to live. And i think if immigrants actually submerse themselves in our culture, they are bound to pick stuff up. I hear it all the time: if you are in a foreign country, especially for a long period of time, you naturally pick up the language. I can see how this wouldn't always happen (i.e. mexican immigrants settling into heavily-populated mexican areas where they could get by without learning much English), but overall i don't think it would be too hard for immigrants to learn English if given enough time and with special programs to help them learn it.

If i wanted to live in a foreign country (which i have thought about), i would WANT to learn the language. Overall it would make things a lot easier for me. But i would want to be allowed time to learn it, and not have to live up to impossible standards to become a legal citizen. What are Americas standards and requirements for becoming a legal citizen? I am very curious. I will look it up when i have more time.

However, the difficulty of learning a new language depends in part on the individuals particular abilities, whether they already speak multiple languages, what language they are coming from, etc.

Whether this would be truly "unifying"... i dont know.

 

Yes, the citizens of the States will become unified when English is the official language

 

what culture

 

Ha. Yeah, the unification thing is ridiculous. I think people should eventually learn enough of the language to get by in the country in which they living, but i don't think we need to call English the "official language" of america and force everyone to become fluent. I support cultural diversity.

I don't want America to turn into a super-isolated, close-minded, egotistic country. Oh, wait...

 

Bout time IMO

 

in my opinion this is one step closer to a USA where even the legal immigrants are treated as second class citizens because they speak "funny".. "Oh, Jesus of Nazareth! Go learn some english, you ****ing Brit"

 

you know, hang out around mostly english speakers in order to pick up the language. I guess they wouldn't really have to submerse themselves in white culture to do that... but at least try to associate with english speakers enough to pick up some english. Spending all your time in a community dominated by your own nationality makes it easier to get by without learning the country's language.

 

hell this was a no-brainer...u should learn-speak english if u live in america

 

I meant that the culture of America is about having different languages, different nationalities and different people with only one thing in common. They all are American.

Making USA a nation of one language is actually destroying what the USA stands for. The entire world, but even better

 

Also in my opinion, they are doing this because they don't want to have spanish as the top languge to be speak

 

Good point. a lot of times when Americans talk to people who don't speak English fluently, they think of them as being stupid. I don't know if there is any way around this. Most immigrants wouldn't be able to learn the language completely fluently unless they are very young and coming over with their parents and grow up around english speakers.

People need to be sympathetic to those who do not know the language 100% and try to communicate as best they can. It doesn't hurt for Americans to pick up a little spanish too.

 

I thought bush was giving them amnesty?