Now, which language to pick? As I see it, in worldwide acceptance English is by far first with Mandarin Chinese and Spanish on second and third place. And I heard Mandarin is not the easiest one to learn. At least not for person with some European language background.

From the worldwide usage point, in the second tier would be languages like German, Russian, Arabic, French or Latin (and some other too) which are widely known in more then one country.

Or you could pick language if you feel affinity to culture of that nation… If you ever go to visit relatives in Old Country, they will be happy to chat with you. And remember, you cannot take for granted that everyone is fluent in English.

“Obama didn´t get the point: there is no “English-only” movement.”

Or we are all missing the point. J. Goldberg argued it was a misdirection game. I agree. He changed the subject on us by bringing up another one that had the word ‘language’ in it… but no logical connection to the first topic.

He gave the example so switching in ‘math’ (instead of second language) to see his point. Example, we don’t need to worry about them learning English, we need to worry about us learning ‘math’. No logical connection. But, not really any different than switching the subject to us learning foreign languages… from the real issue of our concern about immigrants learning English.

Well said. Printing things in multiple languages, time spent listening to voice menus in multiple languages, hiring translators, etc, all cost money. Economically one language makes more sense than many.

It should be obvious that if the world could speak in one tongue, all people would be able to truly understand each other, and maybe have a real shot at “coming together”, as the one-worlders like to gush about. Instead of fostering that concept, we have the elite pushing the “multicultural” agenda, that ultimately only serves to highlight our differences and unwittingly keep the old resentments and prejudices alive. It is a sad reality of human nature that we often distrust and fear that which is different.

The way I see it, the concept of multiculturalism (MC) can be used as an example of how out of touch the elite are from the lives of everyday Americans.

For the elite, MC is going to hear that educated foreign guest speaker at the University, the one with the charming accent and interesting outfit; and then going to have sushi at the latest “in” spot downtown. And when they return home to their gated community or doorman pre-war luxury high-rise, their kids can practice their French with the children of a diplomat from some exotic locale, who speak English better than they do.

For the average guy or gal, MC is driving home from a business trip a few states over, and having your car beak down in a strange neighborhood, where everyone is talking rapid fire in a language you don’t understand. And some guys in the back keep shaking their heads and laughing disturbingly, every time you ask the mechanic to please explain more slowly what’s wrong, and how much it will cost to fix.