Aug. 1st, 2007
Assimilate or get the hell out?
Aug. 1st, 2007 12:22 pmNews reports another of the periodic spasms against multi-lingual culture -- in this case, against posting official signs in Spanish as well as in English.
Funny ancestral connection here. My Mennonite ancestors came over from Germany around 1700. I have, in a drawer downstairs, a New Testament printed in New York in the 1850s. In German.
I recall parental tales that my great-grandmother on that side never spoke a word of English. She understood it, but would not speak it. This would be in the 1880s or later.
I'm prepared to give Hispanics (Hmong, Sudanese, whatever) a few more generations to file off their rough edges and fit the mold.
Funny ancestral connection here. My Mennonite ancestors came over from Germany around 1700. I have, in a drawer downstairs, a New Testament printed in New York in the 1850s. In German.
I recall parental tales that my great-grandmother on that side never spoke a word of English. She understood it, but would not speak it. This would be in the 1880s or later.
I'm prepared to give Hispanics (Hmong, Sudanese, whatever) a few more generations to file off their rough edges and fit the mold.