Well, keep in mind that in some states, Spanish was spoken by its residents before English was.Something has been eating at me recently (I've had to make a fair amount of customer service phone calls. What's annoying is you invariably have to navigatr past the "Spanish speaking" options and disclaimer in Spanish.
I have to admit that I am at aloss as to why every other immigrant to the U.S. has to learb English except for the Latin cultures where we go the distance to provide "Spanish speaking" alternatives in our signs and services. I have nothing against, Latin American immigrants in general. I think that as a culture they contribute substantially to the general U.S. population. I've always founf those that I have encountered to be hard workers with good traditional values for the most part in my experience of course.
So, why is it that they are afforded this second level of communication and signage while nothing is done for any of the other multitude of immigrants? (Like, Muslim or Slovic populations doe instance) My grandparents immigrated from, Germany. Not only did they make learning, English a priority they enjoyed no alternative second form of communication. I just don't understand why the Spanish speaking folks are so special as compared to all other immigrants to the U.S. They still represent a minority" in the states, no? So what is the big difference? One thing that led to my posting is that in an interview a "Spanish" politician was amazed that the interviewer came from, L.A. and didn't speak Spanish!! Apparently, according to some Latin Americans, all Americans should also speak Spanish now a days. What's up with that? English, is still the official U.S. language, no? And it has been since the country was formed in 1776 and every other culrure that immigrated to the states had to learn English and were not afforded the same accommodations the Spanish speaking fiks are abd that they now seem to feel that speaking only English in the U.S. is a failure on our part as English speaking citizens.
Is there some kind of valid reason for this practice?
HBJ