Both of these are hilarious! If a person lives in America I really think they should learn the language. In all my travels around the world I have never been in a country that tried to cater to all nationalities like we do.
To be a legal citizen living in ANY country, shouldn't you have the ability to communicate well enough in the federal language to be able to take a driver's license test?
@Buell: I assume your travels haven't involved taking driver's exams. Most countries I know of offer tests in many languages. That's right, even in communist China, you can take your test in English.
Diplomacy is built on recipricocity, and if we make a show of removing language options, it will affect our citizens trying to drive overseas.
@Michael: The US does have a language requirement for the citizenship test, but you don't have to be a citizen to drive.
I think this is an issue in which it's easy to let an idea overpower practicality. I'm all in favor of a country standardizing on one (or more) national language(s). But what do you do with refugees who have just arrived, fleeing some horrors at home? Or skilled workers that our companies need to compete?
There are many reasons why people living in America may not be able to speak English, but do need to drive. As someone who tries not to drive unless I absolutely have to, I can attest that living in most of America without a car is nearly impossible to pull off.
I'm guessing this candidate is not willing to completely reorganize the cities and towns of his state to make public transportation a viable option. I'm also guessing he's be unhappy with an increase in fake IDs. Whether his motives stem from racism, nationalism, realpolitik or just plain stupidity, his proposal is impractical and would harm the residents and economy of his state.
I agree with Scott...but want to interject that I believe this is more about pandering to xenophobes for votes than it has to do with practicality and safety.
Not everyone that needs to drive somewhere in the US needs to have learned English. They might even be in the process of learning, either way having these tests in their language only allows them to understand the rules of safe driving. And that benefits all who take the road.
Of the people that visit this "dope-a-lope" blog, I might be one of the few that has actually had a first generation immigrant experience and I can say that growing up I never ONCE heard any of my fellow immigrants say they DIDN'T want to learn English. Matter of fact, most that didn't learn really did themselves a disservice as their children assimilated to American culture, etc. And this experience is no different than it was in the past for every set of popular non-English speaking immigrant group...Italians, Polish, Germans, etc. The main difference now is race, and that is why Richard's title for this entry made sense to me.
But yes, both videos are hilariousoso. (Is that how you spell that?)
Thank you, both. I feel enlightened. I believe there are many good citizens with poor English skills and many poor citizens with good English skills. Now...to begin my stockpile of international driver's licenses...
6 comments:
Both of these are hilarious! If a person lives in America I really think they should learn the language. In all my travels around the world I have never been in a country that tried to cater to all nationalities like we do.
To be a legal citizen living in ANY country, shouldn't you have the ability to communicate well enough in the federal language to be able to take a driver's license test?
@Buell: I assume your travels haven't involved taking driver's exams. Most countries I know of offer tests in many languages. That's right, even in communist China, you can take your test in English.
Diplomacy is built on recipricocity, and if we make a show of removing language options, it will affect our citizens trying to drive overseas.
@Michael: The US does have a language requirement for the citizenship test, but you don't have to be a citizen to drive.
I think this is an issue in which it's easy to let an idea overpower practicality. I'm all in favor of a country standardizing on one (or more) national language(s). But what do you do with refugees who have just arrived, fleeing some horrors at home? Or skilled workers that our companies need to compete?
There are many reasons why people living in America may not be able to speak English, but do need to drive. As someone who tries not to drive unless I absolutely have to, I can attest that living in most of America without a car is nearly impossible to pull off.
I'm guessing this candidate is not willing to completely reorganize the cities and towns of his state to make public transportation a viable option. I'm also guessing he's be unhappy with an increase in fake IDs. Whether his motives stem from racism, nationalism, realpolitik or just plain stupidity, his proposal is impractical and would harm the residents and economy of his state.
That's my way of saying, "haha, funny video."
I agree with Scott...but want to interject that I believe this is more about pandering to xenophobes for votes than it has to do with practicality and safety.
Not everyone that needs to drive somewhere in the US needs to have learned English. They might even be in the process of learning, either way having these tests in their language only allows them to understand the rules of safe driving. And that benefits all who take the road.
Of the people that visit this "dope-a-lope" blog, I might be one of the few that has actually had a first generation immigrant experience and I can say that growing up I never ONCE heard any of my fellow immigrants say they DIDN'T want to learn English. Matter of fact, most that didn't learn really did themselves a disservice as their children assimilated to American culture, etc. And this experience is no different than it was in the past for every set of popular non-English speaking immigrant group...Italians, Polish, Germans, etc. The main difference now is race, and that is why Richard's title for this entry made sense to me.
But yes, both videos are hilariousoso. (Is that how you spell that?)
it's getting heated up in here!!! WOOOO!
Thank you, both. I feel enlightened. I believe there are many good citizens with poor English skills and many poor citizens with good English skills. Now...to begin my stockpile of international driver's licenses...
Post a Comment