[TrudyM]

I have always accepted that many people in this country only speak Spanish. My Hawaiian hubby has a very different reaction. In Hawaii many speak another language. Japanese, Chinese, tagalo, Korean, etc, allot of kids go to language school after regular school every day; it is the Hawaiian version of extended care for working parents. But all residents speak English. It is not the Spanish being added that drives him nuts, it is the Spanish being substituted. When his grandparents and great grandparents came to Hawaii they learned English. His reaction is if a person wants to live and work in this country they should be encouraged to learn the main language spoken. He also feels that doing the duel language thing like they are in California where the kids can go school totally taught in Spanish is creating a two class society that locks the Spanish speaking immigrants into a permant second class. Also the assumption that spanish is the only other language spoken is also wrong. Here in the Pacific Northwest the largest new to english speaking population is chinese. Where I grew up in northern new england it was French.
What bothers me is people sitting next to you on the bus or in line that switch to another language. It feels like you are being talked about infront of your back.