I came to the USA from France in 1953, after a twelve-year stay in Argentina. When I arrived (legally, BTW) I already knew how to read and speak English. Immigrants have a DUTY to speak the language of the host country. If they do not know English when they arrive, they should learn it within five years…or get the hell out of MY country!
1. It is not the duty of Americans to communicate in the native language of the immigrant. Nowhere else in the world do governments allow this.
2. Why only Spanish? This is exclusionary of other languages, technically selective and illegal, and gives Hispanophones preferential treatment. Where is the advertisement in Urdu? Tagalog? Mandarin? !Xhosa?
To add to the offense, what passes for Castilian in US advertising is “Spanglish,” a bloody-awful hybrid code infected with English, Afro-Caribbean terminology and BorderMex. Trust me: I worked as a court interpreter, and had to go though several layers of code to communicate the message to and from the court. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra is spinning in his grave.
Yes – exclusionary foreign language advertising is offensive, and leads me to selectively boycott the supplier of the product or service. ENGLISH FIRST!
J-P. A. Maldonado
Chandler
