Eighth grade Spanish with Miss Perna was one of the highlights of an otherwise pedestrian public education. About all I recall is that soccer is futbol.
Ever hear the joke about the two Irish guys who studied for and take the citizenship test together? Both pass and Patrick’s ceremony is Thursday, and Danny’s is on Friday. They agree to meet for lunch on Thursday after Patrick’s ceremony but Patrick doesn’t show. Danny calls up Patty and says, ‘Hey I thought we was going to pray for me like we did for you and den have lunch?’ To which Patty says, ’Go back to your country, ya leprechaun!’
Every immigrant group that ever came here left a bad situation behind, fought hard to get here and then? Wants the door shut behind them...
...it’s the American way
Curious about the rare, mysterious and beautiful 1951 Wheaties Premium Photos?
Derek Jeter already has that team on the right track. This isn’t a brilliant move but it is hardly a foolish one either. The ability to communicate on a baseball team (and in life) is important. Spanish is widely spoken in the game and on planet earth. Things can get lost in translation sometimes - better to work it out in two languages and get it right. And I’m sure most players are for it; perhaps there’s some resistance from others. By the way, with the demographics of Miami this also can’t hurt from a public relations standpoint. If you are trying to build a fan base there, endearing yourself to the local community - the people who buy tickets, show up and drive real revenue - isn’t all that foolish, either.
From a business perspective, in the macro sense, I’d imagine everything is going according to plan for Jeter: lower payroll and leverage out minority ownership to gain majority control of the team. I’d be willing to bet the Marlins books were a complete mess from the Loria years, too - that guy was as shady as it gets. This is a billion dollar venture. The winning will come. This is year one. Did anyone expect this team to win a WS this year? Next year? After the tragic passing of Jose Fernandez, this team wasn’t going to get there as constructed and with Giancarlo Stanton’s contract the chances of improving were severely limited. So you have an 80 win team for 5 years and then dismantle?
I think the Marlins picked the right course of action. They don’t have the resources of the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers and may never have them. They’ll have to get it done another way - with prudent deals, good drafting and a plethora of international signings. Hence the Spanish.
Well thought out points for sure.
The whole key is communication, and frankly, i don't see how it's possible to have better communication using two languages. In my opinion, communication normally works best when it's done in one language, which is why most countries have an official language.
Back to baseball...What if there's a fly ball hit in the gap in the outfield and two outfielders are running for the ball. Are they going to think about which language should they use as to who should catch the ball, and who should get out of the way? The hesitation just with this could cause serious injury, that could have possibly been avoided just communicating in English.
Perhaps my example is "off base" and the communication on the field will stay in English. However in my view, that would make my point even stronger. Off the field, the Spanish speaking players have agents and a whole assortment of other ways to communicate and conduct business effectively.
To sum up...Spanish speaking players have been in MLB for a long time now. This is nothing new. It just seems to me like a situation that wasn't broke, but Jeter decided to fix it.
Back in 1962, during the Mets first (and possibly most futile) season, ownership had stocked up on two kinds of players: Has-beens and never-weres. The 1962 Mets were a perfectly awful team. You could not have set out deliberately to create a team so misbegotten.
Playing center field for the Mets was an old-timer, Richie Ashburn—close to the end of his career, but still with some baseball skills. Richie Ashburn had a problem—Elio Chacon, the Mets shortstop.
You see, every time a batter would pop up a ball to short center field, Richie Ashburn would run for the ball. He then did exactly what he’d been taught to do since childhood: He shouted “I Got It! I Got It!” indicating that he could and would catch the ball.
Inevitably, right after Ashburn yelled “I got it!” he would be crashed into by Mets shortstop Chacon, who was running for the ball himself. The ball would land untouched in the grass, and the batter would usually end up on second base.
Ashburn was beside himself. What the hell was wrong with Chacon, anyway? Was he deaf?
No, Chacon wasn’t deaf. He was simply from Venezuela and had never learned to speak much English.
Ashburn sought out a bilingual teammate who agreed to act as intermediary. After talking it over with Chacon, the teammate told Ashburn that the Spanish phrase for “I got it” was “Yo La Tengo!” If Ashburn shouted that, the teammate said, Chacon would happily give way.
Dubious, Ashburn approached Chacon. “Yo La Tengo?” he asked.
“Si, si,” nodded Chacon, who had been feeling a bit frustrated himself. “Yo La Tengo!”
It was only a few days later that another pop fly was floated out to center field. Ashburn, trotting for the ball, yelled out. “Yo La Tengo! Yo La Tengo!” Chacon, who had been headed for the ball, pulled up short and gestured for Ashburn to make the catch.
Ashburn relaxed and settled under the ball. Only to be crashed into by Mets left fielder Frank Thomas, who didn’t speak Spanish.
The ball landed for a double.
My kids both learned Spanish in school. They both speak it nicely. I work globally so my conversional Spanish and Chinese ( both main dialects) come in handy. In truth my kids would have been better off learning Mandarin or Cantonese.
m
Walker Proof Digital Album Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Derek Jeter already has that team on the right track. This isn’t a brilliant move but it is hardly a foolish one either. The ability to communicate on a baseball team (and in life) is important. Spanish is widely spoken in the game and on planet earth. Things can get lost in translation sometimes - better to work it out in two languages and get it right. And I’m sure most players are for it; perhaps there’s some resistance from others. By the way, with the demographics of Miami this also can’t hurt from a public relations standpoint. If you are trying to build a fan base there, endearing yourself to the local community - the people who buy tickets, show up and drive real revenue - isn’t all that foolish, either.
From a business perspective, in the macro sense, I’d imagine everything is going according to plan for Jeter: lower payroll and leverage out minority ownership to gain majority control of the team. I’d be willing to bet the Marlins books were a complete mess from the Loria years, too - that guy was as shady as it gets. This is a billion dollar venture. The winning will come. This is year one. Did anyone expect this team to win a WS this year? Next year? After the tragic passing of Jose Fernandez, this team wasn’t going to get there as constructed and with Giancarlo Stanton’s contract the chances of improving were severely limited. So you have an 80 win team for 5 years and then dismantle?
I think the Marlins picked the right course of action. They don’t have the resources of the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers and may never have them. They’ll have to get it done another way - with prudent deals, good drafting and a plethora of international signings. Hence the Spanish.
Well thought out points for sure.
The whole key is communication, and frankly, i don't see how it's possible to have better communication using two languages. In my opinion, communication normally works best when it's done in one language, which is why most countries have an official language.
Back to baseball...What if there's a fly ball hit in the gap in the outfield and two outfielders are running for the ball. Are they going to think about which language should they use as to who should catch the ball, and who should get out of the way? The hesitation just with this could cause serious injury, that could have possibly been avoided just communicating in English.
Perhaps my example is "off base" and the communication on the field will stay in English. However in my view, that would make my point even stronger. Off the field, the Spanish speaking players have agents and a whole assortment of other ways to communicate and conduct business effectively.
To sum up...Spanish speaking players have been in MLB for a long time now. This is nothing new. It just seems to me like a situation that wasn't broke, but Jeter decided to fix it.
Back in 1962, during the Mets first (and possibly most futile) season, ownership had stocked up on two kinds of players: Has-beens and never-weres. The 1962 Mets were a perfectly awful team. You could not have set out deliberately to create a team so misbegotten.
Playing center field for the Mets was an old-timer, Richie Ashburn—close to the end of his career, but still with some baseball skills. Richie Ashburn had a problem—Elio Chacon, the Mets shortstop.
You see, every time a batter would pop up a ball to short center field, Richie Ashburn would run for the ball. He then did exactly what he’d been taught to do since childhood: He shouted “I Got It! I Got It!” indicating that he could and would catch the ball.
Inevitably, right after Ashburn yelled “I got it!” he would be crashed into by Mets shortstop Chacon, who was running for the ball himself. The ball would land untouched in the grass, and the batter would usually end up on second base.
Ashburn was beside himself. What the hell was wrong with Chacon, anyway? Was he deaf?
No, Chacon wasn’t deaf. He was simply from Venezuela and had never learned to speak much English.
Ashburn sought out a bilingual teammate who agreed to act as intermediary. After talking it over with Chacon, the teammate told Ashburn that the Spanish phrase for “I got it” was “Yo La Tengo!” If Ashburn shouted that, the teammate said, Chacon would happily give way.
Dubious, Ashburn approached Chacon. “Yo La Tengo?” he asked.
“Si, si,” nodded Chacon, who had been feeling a bit frustrated himself. “Yo La Tengo!”
It was only a few days later that another pop fly was floated out to center field. Ashburn, trotting for the ball, yelled out. “Yo La Tengo! Yo La Tengo!” Chacon, who had been headed for the ball, pulled up short and gestured for Ashburn to make the catch.
Ashburn relaxed and settled under the ball. Only to be crashed into by Mets left fielder Frank Thomas, who didn’t speak Spanish.
The ball landed for a double.
Good story. I hadn't heard that one before. Thanks for the post.
Ashburn hated that one season he played for the Mets. If i'm remembering right, he was offered a contract for the next season but decided to quit baseball rather than going through another dreadful season of losing.
Ashburn then became a long time announcer for the Phillies. In all the years I listened to Ashburn, I don't recall him ever talking about that 1962 season with the Mets.
Derek Jeter already has that team on the right track. This isn’t a brilliant move but it is hardly a foolish one either. The ability to communicate on a baseball team (and in life) is important. Spanish is widely spoken in the game and on planet earth. Things can get lost in translation sometimes - better to work it out in two languages and get it right. And I’m sure most players are for it; perhaps there’s some resistance from others. By the way, with the demographics of Miami this also can’t hurt from a public relations standpoint. If you are trying to build a fan base there, endearing yourself to the local community - the people who buy tickets, show up and drive real revenue - isn’t all that foolish, either.
From a business perspective, in the macro sense, I’d imagine everything is going according to plan for Jeter: lower payroll and leverage out minority ownership to gain majority control of the team. I’d be willing to bet the Marlins books were a complete mess from the Loria years, too - that guy was as shady as it gets. This is a billion dollar venture. The winning will come. This is year one. Did anyone expect this team to win a WS this year? Next year? After the tragic passing of Jose Fernandez, this team wasn’t going to get there as constructed and with Giancarlo Stanton’s contract the chances of improving were severely limited. So you have an 80 win team for 5 years and then dismantle?
I think the Marlins picked the right course of action. They don’t have the resources of the Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers and may never have them. They’ll have to get it done another way - with prudent deals, good drafting and a plethora of international signings. Hence the Spanish.
Well thought out points for sure.
The whole key is communication, and frankly, i don't see how it's possible to have better communication using two languages. In my opinion, communication normally works best when it's done in one language, which is why most countries have an official language.
Back to baseball...What if there's a fly ball hit in the gap in the outfield and two outfielders are running for the ball. Are they going to think about which language should they use as to who should catch the ball, and who should get out of the way? The hesitation just with this could cause serious injury, that could have possibly been avoided just communicating in English.
Perhaps my example is "off base" and the communication on the field will stay in English. However in my view, that would make my point even stronger. Off the field, the Spanish speaking players have agents and a whole assortment of other ways to communicate and conduct business effectively.
To sum up...Spanish speaking players have been in MLB for a long time now. This is nothing new. It just seems to me like a situation that wasn't broke, but Jeter decided to fix it.
Back in 1962, during the Mets first (and possibly most futile) season, ownership had stocked up on two kinds of players: Has-beens and never-weres. The 1962 Mets were a perfectly awful team. You could not have set out deliberately to create a team so misbegotten.
Playing center field for the Mets was an old-timer, Richie Ashburn—close to the end of his career, but still with some baseball skills. Richie Ashburn had a problem—Elio Chacon, the Mets shortstop.
You see, every time a batter would pop up a ball to short center field, Richie Ashburn would run for the ball. He then did exactly what he’d been taught to do since childhood: He shouted “I Got It! I Got It!” indicating that he could and would catch the ball.
Inevitably, right after Ashburn yelled “I got it!” he would be crashed into by Mets shortstop Chacon, who was running for the ball himself. The ball would land untouched in the grass, and the batter would usually end up on second base.
Ashburn was beside himself. What the hell was wrong with Chacon, anyway? Was he deaf?
No, Chacon wasn’t deaf. He was simply from Venezuela and had never learned to speak much English.
Ashburn sought out a bilingual teammate who agreed to act as intermediary. After talking it over with Chacon, the teammate told Ashburn that the Spanish phrase for “I got it” was “Yo La Tengo!” If Ashburn shouted that, the teammate said, Chacon would happily give way.
Dubious, Ashburn approached Chacon. “Yo La Tengo?” he asked.
“Si, si,” nodded Chacon, who had been feeling a bit frustrated himself. “Yo La Tengo!”
It was only a few days later that another pop fly was floated out to center field. Ashburn, trotting for the ball, yelled out. “Yo La Tengo! Yo La Tengo!” Chacon, who had been headed for the ball, pulled up short and gestured for Ashburn to make the catch.
Ashburn relaxed and settled under the ball. Only to be crashed into by Mets left fielder Frank Thomas, who didn’t speak Spanish.
The ball landed for a double.
Good story. I hadn't heard that one before. Thanks for the post.
Ashburn hated that one season he played for the Mets. If i'm remembering right, he was offered a contract for the next season but decided to quit baseball rather than going through another dreadful season of losing.
Ashburn then became a long time announcer for the Phillies. In all the years I listened to Ashburn, I don't recall him ever talking about that 1962 season with the Mets.
One thing I have noticed through the years, as well as my friends in retail, that our foreign friends may have trouble with English, but they sure learn our currency system quite fast. A lady I know who was a cashier in the local market commented to me many times how communication among the foreign customers was difficult, but they knew the proper change from a $20.00 bill. If they don't already, I wonder will Jeter and other administrators have to learn Spanish as well?
Successful transactions:Tookybandit. "Everyone is equal, some are more equal than others".
The pearl clutching here is something to behold. 'Murica, y'all.
For what it's worth, the United States of America doesn't have an official language at the federal level, although 32 states have declared English to be one, or the only, official language.
I'm sure this is shocking to nobody, but I have zero problem with Jeter requiring his players to learn some Spanish. As others have noted and anyone who knows anything about baseball, the Latin influence on baseball has been part of the game for a long, long time. Should Latin players learn English? Yes, I think they should. But it hurts nothing to have English-speaking players learn a bit of the 4th most-spoken language on the planet (English is 2nd). It will undoubtedly lead to better communication on the field and in the dugout.
As far as learning a second language in school, I'm all for that, too. As a businessman, knowing Spanish will be of great benefit to me. It broadens my reach and will surely enhance my income. Yes, many of my clients know English or at least passable English, but I become more of an asset to them if I can speak to them in the language they are most comfortable with.
eta: English is either the 1st or 2nd most-spoken language on the planet (flip-flopping with Mandarin Chinese), depending on which site is used for reference. Some combine 1st and 2nd spoken languages to come up with a total.
@TNP777 said:
The pearl clutching here is something to behold. 'Murica, y'all.
For what it's worth, the United States of America doesn't have an official language at the federal level, although 32 states have declared English to be one, or the only, official language.
I'm sure this is shocking to nobody, but I have zero problem with Jeter requiring his players to learn some Spanish. As others have noted and anyone who knows anything about baseball, the Latin influence on baseball has been part of the game for a long, long time. Should Latin players learn English? Yes, I think they should. But it hurts nothing to have English-speaking players learn a bit of the 4th most-spoken language on the planet (English is 2nd). It will undoubtedly lead to better communication on the field and in the dugout.
As far as learning a second language in school, I'm all for that, too. As a businessman, knowing Spanish will be of great benefit to me. It broadens my reach and will surely enhance my income. Yes, many of my clients know English or at least passable English, but I become more of an asset to them if I can speak to them in the language they are most comfortable with.
<<< For what it's worth, the United States of America doesn't have an official language at the federal level, although 32 states have declared English to be one, or the only, official language. >>>
You are correct about that, but let's be honest, we all clearly know that English is the defacto official language of the United States.
@TNP777 said:
The pearl clutching here is something to behold. 'Murica, y'all.
For what it's worth, the United States of America doesn't have an official language at the federal level, although 32 states have declared English to be one, or the only, official language.
I'm sure this is shocking to nobody, but I have zero problem with Jeter requiring his players to learn some Spanish. As others have noted and anyone who knows anything about baseball, the Latin influence on baseball has been part of the game for a long, long time. Should Latin players learn English? Yes, I think they should. But it hurts nothing to have English-speaking players learn a bit of the 4th most-spoken language on the planet (English is 2nd). It will undoubtedly lead to better communication on the field and in the dugout.
As far as learning a second language in school, I'm all for that, too. As a businessman, knowing Spanish will be of great benefit to me. It broadens my reach and will surely enhance my income. Yes, many of my clients know English or at least passable English, but I become more of an asset to them if I can speak to them in the language they are most comfortable with.
<<< For what it's worth, the United States of America doesn't have an official language at the federal level, although 32 states have declared English to be one, or the only, official language. >>>
You are correct about that, but let's be honest, we all clearly know that English is the defacto official language of the United States.
The only way Chinese could be #1 is if they based it on number of people. Based on anything else English would surely be #1.
@stevek said:
You are correct about that, but let's be honest, we all clearly know that English is the defacto official language of the United States.
Fair enough. I agree with you on that.
I just find it amusing and somewhat disconcerting that some here are so outraged that Jeter wants the members of the organization he runs to learn a language that a significant portion of the world's population speaks (edited to add:) and a huge portion of professional baseball players speak. According to SABR, data in 2016 showed that 63.7% of the league was white, while 27.4% was Latino. I'd say Jeter is on to something.
@stevek said:
You are correct about that, but let's be honest, we all clearly know that English is the defacto official language of the United States.
Fair enough. I agree with you on that.
I just find it amusing and somewhat disconcerting that some here are so outraged that Jeter wants the members of the organization he runs to learn a language that a significant portion of the world's population speaks. According to SABR, data in 2016 showed that 63.7% of the league was white, while 27.4% was Latino. I'd say Jeter is on to something.
@bronco2078 said:
stevek and dimeman are the chief pearl clutchers around here. They are always swooning and catching the vapors like a pair of old ladies
“Son, only a pimp in a Louisiana whore-house carries pearl-handled revolvers. These are ivory.”
@stevek said:
You are correct about that, but let's be honest, we all clearly know that English is the defacto official language of the United States.
Fair enough. I agree with you on that.
I just find it amusing and somewhat disconcerting that some here are so outraged that Jeter wants the members of the organization he runs to learn a language that a significant portion of the world's population speaks (edited to add:) and a huge portion of professional baseball players speak. According to SABR, data in 2016 showed that 63.7% of the league was white, while 27.4% was Latino. I'd say Jeter is on to something.
Geordie, i always respect your opinion and viewpoint.
But I'd say that Jeter is out of his mind.
If any player wishes to learn Spanish, i would agree that would be all well and good. However to force them to do it...plain and simple, just a very bad idea.
Look for Jeter to rescind this order, sometime in the future, possibly the near future.
tommyrusty you do realize that you have your facts incorrect right? Illegal immigration peaked in 2007 and has decreased since then. For all the moaning about illegal immigration from a certain portion of the population, there was a net decrease in illegal immigrants under the last president. A large inflow of illegal immigrants came during the 2000-2007 period.
From 2000 to 2010 we added 14 million new immigrants, both legal and illegal and as of 2010 had almost 40 million immigrants in the US. Legal immigration out strips illegal immigration by a wide margin and accounts for why some feel that America is changing. Those wishing to stem the tide of that change would be far wiser to look at legal immigration rather than the flow of illegal immigrants into the country.
There are no negatives to learning a foreign language even for older Americans. Many of our founding fathers spoke and wrote multiple languages. Sad, but not surprising, to see some people on this board having such a disdain for the benefits of a well rounded education.
@sportscardstop said:
So an employer can try to force you to stand for the national anthem, but then can't force you to learn spanish?
An employer can force you to do whatever he or she feels like. It's up to you to decide whether you want to work for that employer. It's that simple.
Employer is the key word. Some jamoke that watches you work can't force you to stand though . The jamoke can't fire you its not up to the jamoke whether you keep your job. No one cares what the jamoke thinks unless he is willing to boycott.
Does "well" mean getting our butts kicked by other countries in math and English ???
Nothing wrong with choosing to learn a foreign language, but last time I looked at the SAT test, they don't ask you what is the proper word for unemployed in Spanish.
Some context is needed here. Qualify what you mean by "getting our butts kicked by other countries in English." Are you referring to countries where English is already the primary language, or countries that encourage/require their students to learn English as a secondary language?
As far as math skills are concerned (and frankly, science, geography, history and more), "forcing" Americans to learn Spanish has absolutely nothing at all to do with American students falling behind other countries. One could point to quite a few reasons why - student laziness/apathy, parental laziness/apathy, teacher laziness/apathy, lack of school funding (not enough books, not enough up-to-date books, lopsided student/teacher ratio, not enough supplies, etc), mismanagement by school administrators, video game addiction, social media addiction - just to name a few.
IMO, other countries do a better job than we do in making education a top priority. It's been that way for quite some time, too. We as a nation don't hold our students and learning institutions accountable for what kind of kids we're sending out into the world. Again, many factors involved - we could debate that endlessly, I suppose.
Sad, but not surprising, to see some people on this board having such a disdain for the benefits of a well rounded education.
Robb
Well rounded education ???
What do you mean by "well" ???
Does "well" mean getting our butts kicked by other countries in math and English ???
Nothing wrong with choosing to learn a foreign language, but last time I looked at the SAT test, they don't ask you what is the proper word for unemployed in Spanish.
Don't forget science.
I would have to sadly imagine that most kids today may think that E=MC2 is a rap singer.
Fortunately our free society thru business enterprise and other means still allows creative thinking.
Learning Spanish is so far down my priority list it’s actually non existent. I seriously don’t understand why we should have to learn it, let non English speaking people learn English and the problem is solved. As far as education goes not everyone gets assistance like immigrants do, Many Americans have to work jobs while they are in school. The government offers free education to its veterans which is a very good thing but once a family is started it’s tough.
@perkdog said:
Learning Spanish is so far down my priority list it’s actually non existent. I seriously don’t understand why we should have to learn it, let non English speaking people learn English and the problem is solved. As far as education goes not everyone gets assistance like immigrants do, Many Americans have to work jobs while they are in school. The government offers free education to its veterans which is a very good thing but once a family is started it’s tough.
Based on the way the Eagles looked in Foxboro, my guess is that many of their athletes are unable to even read a playbook. Perhaps there is more to this problem then we think.
NFL preseason football is as meaningless as...um...NFL preseason football - I can't think of a better example of meaningless.
@fergie23 said:
tommyrusty you do realize that you have your facts incorrect right? Illegal immigration peaked in 2007 and has decreased since then. For all the moaning about illegal immigration from a certain portion of the population, there was a net decrease in illegal immigrants under the last president. A large inflow of illegal immigrants came during the 2000-2007 period.
From 2000 to 2010 we added 14 million new immigrants, both legal and illegal and as of 2010 had almost 40 million immigrants in the US. Legal immigration out strips illegal immigration by a wide margin and accounts for why some feel that America is changing. Those wishing to stem the tide of that change would be far wiser to look at legal immigration rather than the flow of illegal immigrants into the country.
There are no negatives to learning a foreign language even for older Americans. Many of our founding fathers spoke and wrote multiple languages. Sad, but not surprising, to see some people on this board having such a disdain for the benefits of a well rounded education.
Robb
We need to cut both legal an illegal immigration coming into this country and we have 2 choices as to how to do that. One is to build a border wall that can not be overcome and the other is for congress to allow troops to be put on the border. Congress does not have the gonads to do either at this time as half of them want immigrants coming in for political purposes and the other half want them to come in for the cheap labor.
@perkdog said:
Learning Spanish is so far down my priority list it’s actually non existent. I seriously don’t understand why we should have to learn it, let non English speaking people learn English and the problem is solved. As far as education goes not everyone gets assistance like immigrants do, Many Americans have to work jobs while they are in school. The government offers free education to its veterans which is a very good thing but once a family is started it’s tough.
Based on the way the Eagles looked in Foxboro, my guess is that many of their athletes are unable to even read a playbook. Perhaps there is more to this problem then we think.
NFL preseason football is as meaningless as...um...NFL preseason football - I can't think of a better example of meaningless.
oh no. You won a game we won a game its all knotted up 1-1
1970s, the majority of the countries ahead of the US in math and science also require a foreign language be taught. Contrary to what you seem to believe, spending time teaching a foreign language to students doesn't negatively impact the ability of those students to excel at math and science.
tommyrusty, there are whole lot of other options than the two you outlined. Funny how when you find out that illegal immigration isn't quite the problem you think it is you start talking about a pointless wall. You do know that since 2007 the majority of illegal immigrants entered this country legally but choose to overstay their visas right? Thus making them illegal immigrants. We have had a net outflow of illegal immigrants via the southern border since the last president started in 2008. The one guaranteed approach to dropping both illegal and legal immigration is for the economy in the places people are leaving to improve. So working with these countries to improve their economies yields far more benefits than any silly wall every could. The fact is we do have walls and fencing over many border crossing hot spots and it isn't much of a deterrent. I can agree that we need to be far more vigorous in our prosecution of people that are in this country illegally both via overstaying visas and crossing the border. We have laws for legal immigration and asylum, people should follow them. We also need to move away from family unification based immigration policy and to a policy more closely aligned with how Canada handles immigration. Of course, if we did that Melania's parents wouldn't have been able to immigrate to this country using chain migration but that is a discussion for another time.
As for the Marlins and Jeter's push towards players learning Spanish I don't think it will matter one way or the other. It is one of those things that if the team starts winning people will claim it brought the team closer together. If they don't then it will fall by the wayside as a pointless exercise.
While I am not discounting math and science, seems a greater emphasis on history may help more people to understand and appreciate where we have been in the ongoing effort to create a more perfect Union.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Why not learn Spanish it is probably the most spoken language in the metropolitan Miami area players in Montreal are asked to learn french for this french speaking province.
@electrode said:
Why not learn Spanish it is probably the most spoken language in the metropolitan Miami area players in Montreal are asked to learn french for this french speaking province.
I believe in the article that I saw about this, it wasn't just the players that had to take the Spanish classes, but everyone on the administrative side, as well, including Jeter. The idea was to not only better their communication skills with the Latin born players, but to also better connect with the Spanish speaking fans at public events and appearances. Jeter was supposing that a team with lagging attendance that is struggling to build a fan base should do everything it can to endear itself to the residents of its community. The national language of the United States actually has always been green money.
Comments
I took three years of Spanish and all I know is "Gringo" means well respected employer.
http://www.unisquare.com/store/brick/
Ralph
Eighth grade Spanish with Miss Perna was one of the highlights of an otherwise pedestrian public education. About all I recall is that soccer is futbol.
Ever hear the joke about the two Irish guys who studied for and take the citizenship test together? Both pass and Patrick’s ceremony is Thursday, and Danny’s is on Friday. They agree to meet for lunch on Thursday after Patrick’s ceremony but Patrick doesn’t show. Danny calls up Patty and says, ‘Hey I thought we was going to pray for me like we did for you and den have lunch?’ To which Patty says, ’Go back to your country, ya leprechaun!’
Every immigrant group that ever came here left a bad situation behind, fought hard to get here and then? Wants the door shut behind them...
...it’s the American way
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Back in 1962, during the Mets first (and possibly most futile) season, ownership had stocked up on two kinds of players: Has-beens and never-weres. The 1962 Mets were a perfectly awful team. You could not have set out deliberately to create a team so misbegotten.
Playing center field for the Mets was an old-timer, Richie Ashburn—close to the end of his career, but still with some baseball skills. Richie Ashburn had a problem—Elio Chacon, the Mets shortstop.
You see, every time a batter would pop up a ball to short center field, Richie Ashburn would run for the ball. He then did exactly what he’d been taught to do since childhood: He shouted “I Got It! I Got It!” indicating that he could and would catch the ball.
Inevitably, right after Ashburn yelled “I got it!” he would be crashed into by Mets shortstop Chacon, who was running for the ball himself. The ball would land untouched in the grass, and the batter would usually end up on second base.
Ashburn was beside himself. What the hell was wrong with Chacon, anyway? Was he deaf?
No, Chacon wasn’t deaf. He was simply from Venezuela and had never learned to speak much English.
My kids both learned Spanish in school. They both speak it nicely. I work globally so my conversional Spanish and Chinese ( both main dialects) come in handy. In truth my kids would have been better off learning Mandarin or Cantonese.
m
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
Good story. I hadn't heard that one before. Thanks for the post.
Ashburn hated that one season he played for the Mets. If i'm remembering right, he was offered a contract for the next season but decided to quit baseball rather than going through another dreadful season of losing.
Ashburn then became a long time announcer for the Phillies. In all the years I listened to Ashburn, I don't recall him ever talking about that 1962 season with the Mets.
He probably tried to block it out!
One thing I have noticed through the years, as well as my friends in retail, that our foreign friends may have trouble with English, but they sure learn our currency system quite fast. A lady I know who was a cashier in the local market commented to me many times how communication among the foreign customers was difficult, but they knew the proper change from a $20.00 bill. If they don't already, I wonder will Jeter and other administrators have to learn Spanish as well?
The pearl clutching here is something to behold. 'Murica, y'all.
For what it's worth, the United States of America doesn't have an official language at the federal level, although 32 states have declared English to be one, or the only, official language.
I'm sure this is shocking to nobody, but I have zero problem with Jeter requiring his players to learn some Spanish. As others have noted and anyone who knows anything about baseball, the Latin influence on baseball has been part of the game for a long, long time. Should Latin players learn English? Yes, I think they should. But it hurts nothing to have English-speaking players learn a bit of the 4th most-spoken language on the planet (English is 2nd). It will undoubtedly lead to better communication on the field and in the dugout.
As far as learning a second language in school, I'm all for that, too. As a businessman, knowing Spanish will be of great benefit to me. It broadens my reach and will surely enhance my income. Yes, many of my clients know English or at least passable English, but I become more of an asset to them if I can speak to them in the language they are most comfortable with.
JMHO
https://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_lang.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States
eta: English is either the 1st or 2nd most-spoken language on the planet (flip-flopping with Mandarin Chinese), depending on which site is used for reference. Some combine 1st and 2nd spoken languages to come up with a total.
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<<< For what it's worth, the United States of America doesn't have an official language at the federal level, although 32 states have declared English to be one, or the only, official language. >>>
You are correct about that, but let's be honest, we all clearly know that English is the defacto official language of the United States.
The only way Chinese could be #1 is if they based it on number of people. Based on anything else English would surely be #1.
The US does not have an official national language. (just saw that someone brought this up a few posts earlier)
Fair enough. I agree with you on that.
I just find it amusing and somewhat disconcerting that some here are so outraged that Jeter wants the members of the organization he runs to learn a language that a significant portion of the world's population speaks (edited to add:) and a huge portion of professional baseball players speak. According to SABR, data in 2016 showed that 63.7% of the league was white, while 27.4% was Latino. I'd say Jeter is on to something.
https://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/baseball-demographics-1947-2012
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It's just another case of the tail wagging the dog...…..that's all.
So an employer can try to force you to stand for the national anthem, but then can't force you to learn spanish?
stevek and dimeman are the chief pearl clutchers around here. They are always swooning and catching the vapors like a pair of old ladies
It's a clarification/dialect of English. I would bet you'd have a difficult time communicating with another "English" speaker in Western Australia.
Tsk, tsk
“Son, only a pimp in a Louisiana whore-house carries pearl-handled revolvers. These are ivory.”
Geordie, i always respect your opinion and viewpoint.
But I'd say that Jeter is out of his mind.
If any player wishes to learn Spanish, i would agree that would be all well and good. However to force them to do it...plain and simple, just a very bad idea.
Look for Jeter to rescind this order, sometime in the future, possibly the near future.
Definitely!
tommyrusty you do realize that you have your facts incorrect right? Illegal immigration peaked in 2007 and has decreased since then. For all the moaning about illegal immigration from a certain portion of the population, there was a net decrease in illegal immigrants under the last president. A large inflow of illegal immigrants came during the 2000-2007 period.
From 2000 to 2010 we added 14 million new immigrants, both legal and illegal and as of 2010 had almost 40 million immigrants in the US. Legal immigration out strips illegal immigration by a wide margin and accounts for why some feel that America is changing. Those wishing to stem the tide of that change would be far wiser to look at legal immigration rather than the flow of illegal immigrants into the country.
There are no negatives to learning a foreign language even for older Americans. Many of our founding fathers spoke and wrote multiple languages. Sad, but not surprising, to see some people on this board having such a disdain for the benefits of a well rounded education.
Robb
Employer is the key word. Some jamoke that watches you work can't force you to stand though
. The jamoke can't fire you its not up to the jamoke whether you keep your job. No one cares what the jamoke thinks unless he is willing to boycott.
Some context is needed here. Qualify what you mean by "getting our butts kicked by other countries in English." Are you referring to countries where English is already the primary language, or countries that encourage/require their students to learn English as a secondary language?
As far as math skills are concerned (and frankly, science, geography, history and more), "forcing" Americans to learn Spanish has absolutely nothing at all to do with American students falling behind other countries. One could point to quite a few reasons why - student laziness/apathy, parental laziness/apathy, teacher laziness/apathy, lack of school funding (not enough books, not enough up-to-date books, lopsided student/teacher ratio, not enough supplies, etc), mismanagement by school administrators, video game addiction, social media addiction - just to name a few.
IMO, other countries do a better job than we do in making education a top priority. It's been that way for quite some time, too. We as a nation don't hold our students and learning institutions accountable for what kind of kids we're sending out into the world. Again, many factors involved - we could debate that endlessly, I suppose.
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Don't forget science.
I would have to sadly imagine that most kids today may think that E=MC2 is a rap singer.
Fortunately our free society thru business enterprise and other means still allows creative thinking.
Learning Spanish is so far down my priority list it’s actually non existent. I seriously don’t understand why we should have to learn it, let non English speaking people learn English and the problem is solved. As far as education goes not everyone gets assistance like immigrants do, Many Americans have to work jobs while they are in school. The government offers free education to its veterans which is a very good thing but once a family is started it’s tough.
I know the answer, I've seen it before.
Admittedly, i got it wrong when seeing it for the first time. First mistake I ever made...
...other than being a Philadelphia sports fan. LOL
NFL preseason football is as meaningless as...um...NFL preseason football - I can't think of a better example of meaningless.
We need to cut both legal an illegal immigration coming into this country and we have 2 choices as to how to do that. One is to build a border wall that can not be overcome and the other is for congress to allow troops to be put on the border. Congress does not have the gonads to do either at this time as half of them want immigrants coming in for political purposes and the other half want them to come in for the cheap labor.
Just because I need closure, is the ball 5 cents or am I missing something?
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Go Patriots
oh no. You won a game we won a game its all knotted up 1-1
1970s, the majority of the countries ahead of the US in math and science also require a foreign language be taught. Contrary to what you seem to believe, spending time teaching a foreign language to students doesn't negatively impact the ability of those students to excel at math and science.
tommyrusty, there are whole lot of other options than the two you outlined. Funny how when you find out that illegal immigration isn't quite the problem you think it is you start talking about a pointless wall. You do know that since 2007 the majority of illegal immigrants entered this country legally but choose to overstay their visas right? Thus making them illegal immigrants. We have had a net outflow of illegal immigrants via the southern border since the last president started in 2008. The one guaranteed approach to dropping both illegal and legal immigration is for the economy in the places people are leaving to improve. So working with these countries to improve their economies yields far more benefits than any silly wall every could. The fact is we do have walls and fencing over many border crossing hot spots and it isn't much of a deterrent. I can agree that we need to be far more vigorous in our prosecution of people that are in this country illegally both via overstaying visas and crossing the border. We have laws for legal immigration and asylum, people should follow them. We also need to move away from family unification based immigration policy and to a policy more closely aligned with how Canada handles immigration. Of course, if we did that Melania's parents wouldn't have been able to immigrate to this country using chain migration but that is a discussion for another time.
As for the Marlins and Jeter's push towards players learning Spanish I don't think it will matter one way or the other. It is one of those things that if the team starts winning people will claim it brought the team closer together. If they don't then it will fall by the wayside as a pointless exercise.
Robb
Lucky guess.
Try this one on people. Has to be done verbally. i have done it hundreds of times over the years, and it has never failed:
Tell them to take this driving test to see how good a driver they are, but they have to think fast just like in driving:
Tell them to spell "spot" three times
They will go: s-p-o-t, s-p-o-t, s-p-o-t
Then tell them, what do you do when you come to a green light?
Every one of them will say "stop"
And every one of them will give you the look that you thought you were going to fool them into saying "spot."
Then say, When you come to a green light you stop?
While I am not discounting math and science, seems a greater emphasis on history may help more people to understand and appreciate where we have been in the ongoing effort to create a more perfect Union.
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
Why not learn Spanish it is probably the most spoken language in the metropolitan Miami area players in Montreal are asked to learn french for this french speaking province.
I believe in the article that I saw about this, it wasn't just the players that had to take the Spanish classes, but everyone on the administrative side, as well, including Jeter. The idea was to not only better their communication skills with the Latin born players, but to also better connect with the Spanish speaking fans at public events and appearances. Jeter was supposing that a team with lagging attendance that is struggling to build a fan base should do everything it can to endear itself to the residents of its community. The national language of the United States actually has always been green money.