Originally Posted By: the G-man
I think the difference that concerns people today is that there isn't the same slow "work[ing] their way into larger American culture." Instead, there seems to be a demand that the culture has to adapt, not the immigrants.


That may be a matter of perception also. If you're walking into a Target or Best Buy and notice Spanish signs, and circulars and friendly salespeople talking to a customer in Spanish, that's just business trying to maximize their profits by trying to tap into that immigrant non-English speaking market, not because anyone "demanded" to be spoken to in Spanish.

Not to say there aren't advocates that demand to be catered to in Spanish or other languages, I just think it's not as prevalent or responsible for a lot of what you see out there. From what I see out there, a lot of it is just a voluntary attempt to tap into a market.

And in my experience, the only people who get offended by another language being spoken or printed are people who aren't used to being around other languages. It's like an affront to them for some reason due to unfamiliarity. If it were replacing English that would be one thing, but if it's just an attempt by business to try to separate 1st generation immigrants from their money more easily.

And it's not just Spanish. Go to the Chinese area of town and you may yet hear some Chinese. Go to the Indian part of town and you may read Indian signs and so forth. It's sort of paranoid IMO to think these people are plotting to usurp English. All they're doing is speaking in he manner they are accustomed to. They will eventually assimilate and when they do, they may still converse this way with other newer immigrants. Like I say, it's not a threat, it's just people being themselves.