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Nezza says her Spanish rendition of U.S. anthem at Dodger Stadium was against team’s wishes

It would just be realistic, wouldn't it? Acknowledging that a percentage of Americans have Spanish as their first language?
The 'equal status' thing is negotiable, culturally, but there's lots of negotiability around language in Canada. In Vancouver there's neighbourhoods with Mandarin street signs, and others with Punjabi, and they're not just for show. There are people in those neighbourhoods who only speak Mandarin (or Cantonese) or Punjabi.
 
And this makes sense.

Unfortunately, the nativism that underlies our history and our culture rears its ugly head far too frequently - and has far too many adherents - for us to do the same. Making life a bit easier and more convenient for "others" is perceived by too many as catering to non-northern-European Americans. We act like spoiled and entitled brats, and, at this point, they are the ones in charge.
 


I am not Francophone!

I began working in Montreal in 1972 as Trudeau (Pierre) called in the army in the FLQ "crisis".

I spoke not one word of French. I was "immersed" as they say. To this day true Francophones shake their heads at my "French" which is now mixed with Hindi and Mandarin.

True, I often wander into Mandarin or Cantonese when I try to speak French. Just been in the Vancouver melting pot too long
 


Simply doling business in Vancouver you find yourself wandering into the main languages and dialects.

You just pick it up and naturally say thank you in Mandarin or Hindi without thinking.

White is fast becoming a minority in BC. "English" is changing.
 
Decades ago, our kids' pediatrician said learning a 2nd (or 3rd) language was easiest/most successful for young children. Their ability to produce things such as the trilled "R" (found in a number of languages) is greater. Also, they tend not to experience the self-consciousness older children have when trying to form unfamiliar sounds etc.

Our nephew, who grew up in Sweden, started learning English in the 3rd grade. (It was a requirement.) Later, around the 8th-grade or so, he had the opportunity to undertake learning a second foreign language as part of his schooling.

That the US doesn't follow common sense and teach foreign languages in elementary school has always frustrated me.

That English is one of the most difficult languages for a non-native-speaker to acquire seems not to be known or appreciated by many Americans. We refuse to learn Spanish or an Asian language, yet we insist "others" in this country should somehow acquire near-unaccented and near-flawless English - and do so quickly, so as not to inconvenience any of us.

Yes, we're entitled, spoiled brats in so many areas.
 
In our neck of the woods, we've picked up a ton of Spanglish and O'odham loan words.
 
Hamish Howl said:
In our neck of the woods, we've picked up a ton of Spanglish and O'odham loan words.
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I embrace differences.

As I age however there are simply too many words to remember so I end up speaking all of them within an English framework. No, I am not always understood. But "Dumbkopf" is universal
 
Taylor said:
What do you think?
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You People didn't seem to be upset by it at the time.

Here, we have tons of flags. American flags, Mexican flags, we used to have loads of Canadian flags before Trump pissed them off (we now have neither their flags nor their company, thank you very much), even the occasional Guatemalan flag. Amazingly enough, we managed to survive this for 140 years.
 

That is genuinely nice to hear.
 
that's why the European's start a second language in primary school.
 
Individual said:
Not a thing.
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You have posted an awful lot for someone not making an affirmative point, Individual. If you find that the singing of the United States' National Anthem in Spanish is distasteful or offensive to you for some reason, you can just say that and give your reasons why if you have any beyond visceral, reflexive prejudice. No need to be weird.
 
Felis Leo said:
You have posted an awful lot for someone not making an affirmative point, Individual.

If you find singing the United States' national anthem in Spanish is distasteful or offensive to you for some reason, you can just say it. No need to be weird.
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The only point I was making is that an employer has a right to define the job you're hired to do, which the thread title clearly states was not done. But that seems to be becoming the norm in the U.S. today.
 
"Pretty coo that there's an official Spanish version commissioned by FDR."


That, I did not know.

MAGAs. sit the **** down.
 
Which again, sure beats marching through the streets, burning cars and waving Canadian flags over the wreckage. Some people are just smarter in how they choose to protest.
 

Sing the Spanish version in memory of Fernando.

Nickyjo said:
And she sang it in the city whose official name was El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora Reina de Los Angeles. How dare she?
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And in a stadium in Chavez Ravine — where Mexican-American families lost their land so construction could take place.

(My father’s personal protest was to always say Chavez Ravine and never Dodger Stadium.)
 
Fearandloathing said:
I am not Francophone!
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Oops!
Fearandloathing said:
I began working in Montreal in 1972 as Trudeau (Pierre) called in the army in the FLQ "crisis".
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I guess I misremember a previous exchange.
At my age, if it happened more than twenty minutes ago, uh, what were we talking about?
It's gotten pretty cosmopolitan, Vancouver has. Always was pretty diverse but it's gotten really broad. Couple years ago we were standing on the sidewalk on Commercial Drive, which used to be all Italian and Greek shops and eateries, and counted 5 different ethnic restaurants in the block across the street.
Seems to have had quite a Middle Eastern influence added to the mix, too.
 

Commercial Drive has been ever changing for all the time I've been here.

But now it's Kits, the former pot neighborhood. We still have pot, but restaurants from countries I've never heard of.

A few years ago I had no idea what was Ramen. Now it's fast food
 
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