Now in our country today, are there more Spanish speaking jobs within our country, or is there a better chance to find an international job within an American based company?

To further our discussion on the importance of Spanish taught in the primary schools, I also propose that if we do not implement a program that promotes the learning of one's home language, then our country will lose part of its nationality. I am just as much an American as the next person, but I believe our nation has become our great nation through our diversity. We are considered the melting-pot because our country represents so many different cultures and nationalities...together we are a nation.


The greatest representation of these diverse cultures, aside from the English speaking people, is the Spanish speaking people. If our country were to become a monolingual society we would diminish the Spanish influence, and all the other cultural influences as well. One of the reasons that the different cultures still remain in our society is due to people speaking their home languages in their homes. If our society gradually diminishes the importance of any other language other than English, then we will create a generational gap amongst the non-English speaking cultures. This will occur when the children no longer learn their home language, nor speak it at home amongst relatives. Once this takes place, their will be a gap created due to a language barrier. This leads to a loss in cultural values.

Therefore, it is important that we maintain these diverse cultures in our society. With bilingual workers, there is a greater chance of maintaining these cultures that have helped define our nation.

There is another problem with the Spanish in the United States. I refer to the Spanish taught in our school systems. Generally if Spanish is taught in the schools, it is taught on the secondary level. Normally the high school setting brings about the first glimpse of Spanish, or a second language for that matter. If the student happens to go to a school where there are Spanish teachers, then there is a basic knowledge of the language taught.

With Spanish being one of the largest, widely spoken languages in the world, there is a large demand for graduates that speak the language. Why then is it so hard to find a good program in the school systems? I believe that in order to further our personal marketability, we must establish a program in our public school systems, allowing for the proper teaching of an important language. Once we establish this system, I believe that those people educated bilingually, one, have an advantage in our country over those who cannot speak Spanish (assuming that all other qualifications are the same), and two, they have a definate advantage in the international workforce.

Check out this site that illustrates this current problem of Spanish in the school system
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-2133(193302%2F03)16%3A1%3C74%3AT%22VOS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-L

The last study done by MIT illustrates how there is a possible advantage to have bilingual capabilities. However, I am more interested in the advantages of being a Spanish/English bi linguist.

In our country there has been a tremendous increase in Spanish speaking persons. So much an increase, that there is a state, New Mexico, where Spanish is the primary language; over English. Those who speak Spanish are actually polled to prefer to speak Spanish over English: this number continues to increase at a rapid rate.

With such a large number of Spanish speaking people, there is a large demand for those who can speak English as well as Spanish, in order to reach a larger demographic. This study outlines the Spanish demographic.

http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/15.9.pdf

Knowledge of both sides of an argument is important to the formation of an opinion. Upon review of the value of bilingualism in the American workforce, I have come to the conclusion that there is value added and there is an economic return. In the previous blogs I have presented a brief history of the topic, as well as a counter-argument to my claim. I will now present an argument in favor of bilingualism.

In this article, in The Review of Economics and Statistics, there is a study that claims there is a 2%-3% wage premium for bilingual graduates. If this is the case then bilingualism does have an advantage over the single speaking work force.

The website: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/0034653054638256?cookieSet=1&journalCode=rest

Sorry, but for the last blog, I would like you to check out the following website. the article discusses the topic of bilingual education, and the relevance to our country and its policy regarding this issue. http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/biling.htm

While you check out the previous entry, and the stated website, I would also like you to ponder the teaching of foreign languages in the schools. If according to our brief history, we are a melting pot, utilizing english to bring the different cultures together, then should the U.S. teach foreign languages to students in school, or should we focus our attentions to the english language? If we focus primarily on the english language, are we helping to integrate foreiners, or are we discriminating against those unfamiliar with our language?

It is important to remember that english is not our country's official language, and in the case of spansih, there is almost an equal number of inhabitants that speak spanish as there are those who speak english. Therefore, is the english language that more important than the spanish language, just because it has been spoken longer in the U.S., or should we reevaluate our country's position?

Now that there is a basis to the discussion, a look at the history, we can now look at other articles and issues related to the topic. As previously stated, I propose that having bilingual capabilities is more useful in the business world than the capabilities of mono linguists. Therefore, it is important to first look at arguments countering my claim. For example, although statistically, bilingual workers earn more per year than the average monolingual worker. However, this statistic is said to be the result of the higher education that most bilingual workers have, and this is the result of the higher wages. There in fact, is an article, http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/ilrreview/vol57/iss1/7/ that argues this very point.

If this is in fact the case, and there is no direct correlation to bilingualism and wages, then I propose that there is a direct correlation to bilingualism and higher education, which does have a direct correlation to higher wages.

As the United States inevitably becomes more and more diverse, the languages represented within our borders diversifies as well. It is therefore, important to realize that this is an important issue in relation to personal marketability within the workforce and bilingualism. I would further state that within the U.S. border, spanish/english bilingualism is far much more important that any other language combination.

Currently in the U.S. there is no official stated language. That is to say, that our preconceived notion that english is our national language is wrong. English is the most widely spoken language; however, even that statement is becoming out of date. It is predicted that within 10-15 years, there will be more spanish speaking citizens in the U.S. than english speaking citizens. If this is true, how important is spanish/english bilingualism in the U.S. today?

Before one can answer this question, there needs to be a well examined look at current issue and its history. I advice you to take a look at Jill Fitzgerald's (professor at the University of North Carolina) explanation of the issue at: http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/nabe/brj/v17/17_12_fitzgerald.pdf

Check out this article from the Winnipeg Free Press

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/westview/story/3752026p-4338006c.html

If adquiring a second language in the U.S., which language would be most beneficial?

If adquiring a second language in the U.S., which language would be most beneficial?

A person should submit two applications...one in english and one in the other language...especially if person believes that the second language will be an asset to the job.

If being bi-lingual increases marketability, should a person submit two resumes...one in English and the other in their second language?