DOJ Says Boston Has a Language Problem at the Ballot Box

Why all the concern about the alleged lack of foreign-language voting materials in the election booths in Boston?  The Herald talked to people at the Puerto Rican Festival about the issue and they didn't seem too upset.  My take:

A. Let's grant Puerto Rico independence;
B. People who come here to live should learn English;
C. People who want to be citizens should learn English;
D. People aren't citizens shouldn't vote.

There's no problem here.  The Declaration of Independence is in English; the Constitution is in English; and the laws are in English.  The ballots should be in English.  See where I'm going with this?  Learn English.

Comments

[Tim]

I know quite a few people who are:
a. Senior
b. Immigrants (typically parents of recent immigrants)
c. Have difficulties with the language (ask your parents if it would be easy for them to learn a completely new language at their age)
d. Love this country and would love to vote, can't because Boston is run by a clique of corrupted
plutocrats.

An interesting trivia is that these folks tend to vote republican (my observations), having escaped
from countries ran down by clique of corrupted plutocrats, not unlike Boston.

You are entitled to your opinion, it is a free country (and your blog) after all, but the lawsuit is
merited.

[carpundit]

I'm sorry - plutocrats? Rich people? Boston is run by rich people? THAT'S why the immigrants can't read English? Because they're poor?

Maybe we could give them all a million dollars and a copy of the Communist Manifesto in their native tongue when they get off the boat.

It's America. Learn English.

[Dante]

Naturalized Americans have to pass an English test to receive their citizenship. I understand that the test is a joke in most people's eyes, but I think it should be taken seriously.

Tim, the notion that non-English-speaking immigrants vote Republican is an interesting observation that is supported by virtually no statistics. There are a couple of small, vanishing cliques of immigrants who vote Republican - Cubans and Vietnamese, mostly - but overall Republicans would benefit greatly from less immigration.

While it is factually correct that it is difficult to learn another language at an advanced age, it's a bit convenient to argue that one should enjoy the benefits of being American, but not having to bother to learn English. Especially if one subsequently demands that public services and privileges should be delivered in a language other than English, at tax-payer expense.

[bigfordfan]

I'm not from Boston, but do agree with CP's post.
The US brings immigrants from all over the globe, and they speak many different languages, far too many for the government to accomodate each group. There have to be standards for every society and one of them is a common language. English has been the language of the land for over 200 years.

I live in New York and many imigrants work hard to have a working knowledge of English. For many of them it's a matter of pride and a wish to move up the social ladder. I've known people from Africa, Asia, Europe and Central America.

To give one group special language assistance is only leaving the door open to anarchy and confusion.
How many of the diverse native tongues of our imigrant society do you supose we can fit on ballots and other government documents? Who should pay the bill? Here's an idea, if you don't want to learn English, you can pay a document fee for translated documents.

The funny thing is that growing up in New York City I knew a lot of people from Puerto Rico, and they all spoke English. And I've been to San Juan Puerto Rico and everyone who owns a shop or works in a resteraunt speaks fluent almost unaccented English.

Tim, do you suppose we should make the language of the land Spanish, Mandarin, Japanese or Farsi?

[Tim]

Bigfordfan, I do not believe we should have a second or third official language, English is enough.
If you read my post, I was arguing for a certain class of disenfranchised immigrants, namely
elderly and/or handicapped people, for whom learning the laguage is a difficult task. Most of those
folks are eager to vote but find it hard because of lack of information, voter education or simply properly translated ballots.

As long as the country admits these people in, we should accomodate their legitimate needs.

The question at why are we admitting and educating them at the expense of the taxpayers is
different, and should be solved on a federal level, not Boston

[womanofthelaw]

I was watching the classic masterpiece of a movie, "Born in East L.A." last night, and while watching it, I was thinking that we as a country are still, or are again, very conservative with regard to immigration issues. I am not sure how I feel about the issue of voting, but I'm uncomfortable with the blanket statement, "You're in America. Speak English."

My favorite anecdote occurred in a T station in Boston. I was getting on at Harvard Square, and there was an ethnic musical performance going on. I can't recall exactly what it was - Latino, or Asian, something not "American." An older white male, who had the appearance of, ahem, one without a permanent residence, got on the train behind me and muttered to a black female, "Can't understand a damned word. They're in America now, and they should be speaking American!" Indeed.

And how wonderful it is that we can go to many countries and not have to worry about learning foreign languages in order to get by.

[Dante]

womanofthelaw is on to something very important here:

"And how wonderful it is that we can go to many countries and not have to worry about learning foreign languages in order to get by."

The dominant position of English throughout most of the world is pretty much the last competitive edge America still has and it is incredibly foolish to squander it in a desire to "accomodate [immigrants'] legitimate needs."

[carpundit]

BigFordFan is right that society needs a common language; here it's English.

Womanofthelaw's point that we travel w/o speaking the language is a fair one, but misplaced here I think. The issue isn't travel there, but moving there to live. My cousin just moved his family to Mexico for a year - to learn Spanish. Take the hint, immigrants.

Tim, you're right that we need to solve the immigration problem nationally. Like defense, offense, civil rights, and the environment, it's one of the few problems that need national solutions.

[jo]

My grandparents and your grandparents had to learn it to survive here. No one changed to accomodate the immigrant waves of the 1800's and early 1900's. It's America, the language is English. Wanna move here? Learn the language. To me it's pretty simple.

[Tim]

English, ehh. I was talking to someone yesterday and he mentioned that he put his shawty in a new benz on iced out dubs. I challenge you to translate this.

Or, I can give you another passage from a commercial lease I was signing recently, I read it may be 20 times and still don't know what it was about. Hopefully my lawyer does.

So your grandparents would have been mighty confused by what English should they learn, the street talk, the lawyers lingo, the spanglish, the bostonian version, ebonics perhaps, all are valid
dialects.

[carpundit]

Professional "language" isn't really a language, but a special use of one. Medicine, law, engineering, programming and the like all have special terms and phrases that are meaningless to outsiders. I think that isn't relevant here.

I don't know what Spanglish is, so I won't comment.

Ebonics is a perversion of English, used by people who either can't or don't care to speak properly. No one should learn that.

"Bostonian" is merely an accent.

But to the extent you call these dialects, you only undermine your own position - that we should accomodate them. We shouldn't. Standard English should be the official language of government and voters should learn to read it.