<div dir="ltr"><h1>Column: Bilingual Broadcaster Busts Norms</h1>
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By <a href="http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/staff/maddie-pickens">Maddie Pickens</a>
| Published 22 hours ago
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<p>As if calls for deportation and border fences along
Mexico and Canada weren’t already sinking Republican chances of winning
over Latino voters in 2016, Republican candidates have recently begun
championing a new line of rhetoric concerning the national language of
the United States.</p><p>To be clear, the United States doesn’t have an
official language. Various movements have tried over the years to impart
English with this honor, but so far none have been successful, and
English, Spanish, Mandarin and every other language remain equally
unofficial. Unfortunately, Carly Fiorina, candidate for President of the
United States, mistakenly identified English as the official language
in a recent television interview. Although this isn’t a huge deal, it
still seems like something someone running for the most powerful job in
the world should know.</p><p>What may become problematic for the Republican Party is that Fiorina’s gaffe was just the beginning.</p>
<p>Soon after came Donald Trump criticizing Jeb Bush for
speaking Spanish at campaign rallies followed by Sarah Palin declaring
on national television that people should “speak American” in this
country. It’s these comments, coupled with the constant calls for
deportation from Republican candidates, that lead many to believe the
GOP may struggle quite a bit with Latino voters in 2016.</p>
<p> In a recent MSNBC/Telemundo/Marist poll Hillary Clinton,
the Democratic frontrunner, led Donald Trump, the current Republican
frontrunner, 69-22 percent among Latino voters. Despite winning 44
percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, the Republican Party has since
seen a steep decline in support from Hispanics, a phenomena that can be
partly attributed to their far right positions on immigration.</p><p>What’s
more problematic than the general inaccuracy surrounding U.S. language
policy is the way in which candidates for President are so quick to
label anything other than English as Un-American. The U.S. has long
toted its “Melting Pot” demographics and the diversity that separates it
from other Western countries. A country supposedly rooted in a
foundation of freedom would in theory fight to preserve the right of its
citizens to speak their language of choice.</p>
<p>With that said, the U.S. government, or at least the
government of Arizona, should look into broadening second language
requirements in the K-12 system. High school students in Arizona don’t
have to take any foreign language classes to graduate and the Department
of Education is unable to force a state to change its education
standards. It shouldn’t come as a surprise then that only 20 percent of
U.S. citizens, according to the 2010 census, speak two languages at home
compared to the 60 percent or more in most European countries.</p>
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<p>The benefits to acquiring a second language and
bilingualism in general are numerous. Medically speaking, there is
evidence to suggest that learning a second language can help reduce the
risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia as the population ages. Additionally,
learning a second language significantly increases cognitive ability,
which relates to memory, problem solving, and logic.</p><p>And it’s not
just health and academic benefits. Omar Pereyra, President of Club
Latino at the UA writes, “As an immigrant from Mexico that grew up both
in a Spanish and English speaking household I found it very beneficial
being able to communicate in both languages, because it allowed me to
connect with those that could not speak English, it helped me learn
other languages, and it allowed me to connect with my culture. It’s
both culturally important and it bridges the gap between cultures and
people.”</p><p>With immigration debates drawing sizable attention from
the media, hopefully the U.S. can take advantage of this opportunity to
engage in meaningful dialogue about the benefits of bilingualism. For
many, language is a critical piece of their identity and heritage.
Cultivating the unique cultures of Americans, in addition to the
medical, cognitive, and educational benefits of learning a second
language, are all testaments to the ways in which bilingualism would
only improve, and not detract from, the melting pot of the United
States. A renewed commitment to second language programs and
bilingualism in the U.S. would certainly mark an ironic and helpful
response to the incessant ignorance and xenophobia found in the
political arena.</p><p><a href="http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2015/09/column-bilingual-broadcaster-busts-norms">http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/article/2015/09/column-bilingual-broadcaster-busts-norms</a><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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