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Welcome to America, Now Speak Spanish!
by James Foreman
Have you ever seen the posters
or T-Shirts that proudly (or loudly?) say "Welcome to America, Now
Speak English"? (see below). Increasingly in many of the
southern border states it is a necessity to have employees that can
speak Spanish. Businesses in California, New Mexico, & Texas almost
have to have bilingual employees. In many industries, without
bilingual people on staff, any business will be at a distinct
disadvantage to the competition with Spanish speaking employees.
Therefore in these states it is adapt or die, and if you deal with the
public having bilingual people is extremely important. Why do so many
fear this?
Immigrants have come to our shores in waves for hundreds of years now.
The story has always been the same. Whatever group or ethnicity that
is entrenched in any particular city or neighborhood feels threatened
by any new group arriving. But is the alarm warranted? Are our new
Americans turning their backs on the common tongue of American
English? The answer is most definite NO.
Like all immigrant groups that have
come to our great land, the latest waves of people from Asia as well
as Latin America are following the exact same patterns. The children
of these immigrants almost as a rule learn to speak American English
and most often either by the second generation or third at latest, the
mother tongue is all but forgotten.
Why the alarm in our southern border states? Why the hysteria with
even citizens taking to arms patrolling the border in Arizona in
vigilante fashion to prevent people from coming to our land of
opportunity? Simple fear, plain and simple. The merchants of fear are
the politicians of the Democratic and Republican parties who need to
divide people into groups to get elected with their warped
philosophies. Let's take a look at the United States shall we!
The population of the
United States is now just under 300 million. Surprised? Many people
think we are at or near the 200 million mark.
Click here
for US Census site with population estimate.
The foreign-born population now tops 34 million, according to
Census Bureau estimates.
more . Well over half of these immigrants are of Hispanic
origin. Does it not make sense to cater to people in order to get and
or keep their business? There is no threat to America and it is just
common sense. If you don't want to follow this common sense advice, do
so at your own peril.
As a small business
consultant I regularly consult with businesspeople all over the United
States. My latest focus is in the call center and answering service
industry. Every company that I've advised very quickly adopts a
bilingual-policy in some way. Obviously if your company deals only
with local clientele or customers in Montana or North Dakota, having
bilingual Spanish and English employees will do nothing for you. But
in the border states as well as New York, parts of New Jersey, Florida
and Illinois, even if you deal only locally you already know the value
of having bilingual staff. In the Call Center industry, clients
are more national so having bilingual staff has to be a given or your
will be turning business away.
Welcome our latest
immigrants with open arms. Cherish the culture that they bring.
Our latest immigrant wave has already given birth to some of the
greatest companies and ideas in our land. This is the strength of
America. From many to one is as true now as it was 200 plus years ago.
Where else in the entire world can you have a birthday party for your
son catered with Chinese and Italian food, with a DJ from Brazil, the
kids hitting a Pinata and friends of your kid able to speak German,
Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, Hebrew and Polish?
We are all truly all immigrants to this continent. Including Indians
or 'Native Americans' as the P.C. (politically correct) crowd calls
them. As I see it our American Indians ( the term preferred by
American Indian people over the more PC Native American) are
immigrants themselves. Their ancestors walked here! That's right -
about 20,000 or so years ago the Bering straight was iced over,
connecting what is now Russia with Alaska. The ancestors of American
Indians were able to walk over the ice to this hemisphere. So I submit
to the PC crowd out there - what is the difference between people who
walked here and the rest of us who came by boat or plane? Are we not
all native Americans? There is no difference!
So from one native born
American citizen to another, live life to the fullest! Cherish our
freedoms and welcome our new immigrants to our shores.
E-Pluribus Unum - From many to One. The Old Melting pot is alive and
well and if you live in a border state or in an area with a large
Hispanic population, having a bilingual staff is the smart thing to
do.
This
article is ©2005 by James Foreman, who is a successful financial
consultant, writer and internet entrepreneur. He helps small
businesses succeed on the net and many of his articles can be found on
various websites.
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