Driver ticketed for driving without being able to speak English.

[Marcus]

This idea that you need to be able to read English to drive is somewhat odd. I have driven in many countries where the roadsigns are in foreign languages. You may not have noticed, but there is a reason why road signs follow particular shape / colour codes and often have pictures indicating the rule.

Indeed. Anyone in the states with a license can get an international driver's license from AAA that is good for a year and works in almost any country.

 

[etoncrow]

In fact, the Spanish speaking community is unique when compared to other minority language groups in the fact that many people don't hold any credence to learning English.

My great grandmother came from Reggio in Calabria, Italy; spoke no English. She lived in a predominately Italian coal camp in southern West Virginia. The family learned English. Why is it that people move here in order to live under the values that made this country what it is and yet want to replace those values with ones from whatever country they departed. A lot of things do not make sense to me any more....

edit: I apologise for the temporary thread high jack; needed to vent

 

[Febs]

Why is it that people move here in order to live under the values that made this country great and yet want to replace those values with ones from whatever country they departed.

Yeah. Like when William Penn and a bunch of his friends moved here and had the audacity to want to bring their Quaker values with them instead of adopting the values of the Native Americans who already lived here. What nerve! And don't even get me started on those Puritans.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Why is it that people move here in order to live under the values that made this country great and yet want to replace those values with ones from whatever country they departed. A lot of things do not make sense to me any more....

Some people respect and love their culture. Throw that away and you no longer have roots.


And that's the problem with a lot of people in america. They want to dismantle people from other countries history,culture,roots and the beauty that make these people who they are.


This country was built off of the back of people from other countries. But so many don't seem or want to acknowledge that.

 

[etoncrow]

Some people respect and love their culture. Throw that away and you no longer have roots.
And that's the problem with a lot of people in america. They want to dismantle people from other countries history, culture, roots and the beauty that make these people who they are.

Every one in my family recognizes and loves our traditional culture and it is taught to the young. Having grown up in the coal camps from a family of mlners no body knows any better than I do that this country was built on the backs and lives of immigrants. But my family does not live in Italy any longer. We live in the US. Nobody tried to take away our culture. We assilimated because we wanted to be "Americans". That's why we came here. If we wanted to remain Italian we would have stayed in Italy.

 

[Mike N]

The Spanish speaking community is huge. There are many people in the U.S. who live their whole lives not speaking any English at all. In fact, the Spanish speaking community is unique when compared to other minority language groups in the fact that many people don't hold any credence to learning English.

So if I move to a Spanish speaking country I can expect them to print package labels, instructions and street signs in multiple languages because I don't want to learn their language, or am simply too lazy to do so?

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Every one in my family recognizes and loves our traditional culture and it is taught to the young. Having grown up in the coal camps from a family of mlners no body knows any better than I do that this country was built on the backs and lives of immigrants. But my family does not live in Italy any longer. We live in the US. Nobody tried to take away our culture. We assilimated because we wanted to be "Americans". That's why we came here. If we wanted to remain Italian we would have stayed in Italy.

Why is it that people move here in order to live under the values that made this country what it is and yet want to replace those values with ones from whatever country they departed.

A lot of things do not make sense to me any more

Your words not mine.

 

[etoncrow]

And your point is?

 

[anyonefortennis]

If she doesn't speak/understand English, how can she read road signs? Isn't that kind of dangerous? How did she get her license in the first place without reading English for a permit test?

My point exactly. This is coming from a Spanish peaking immigrant.

The fact that you can take the driving test in Spanish is just plain dangerous.

Some signs on the road just spell what you are supposed to do without pictures. My town has plenty of spelled out "lane ends, merge left" , "u-turn must yield" , "no right turn on red" and if you can't read them it can easily lead to an accident.

 

[DaveDeVille]

Some people respect and love their culture. Throw that away and you no longer have roots.


And that's the problem with a lot of people in america.
They want to dismantle people from other countries history,culture,roots and the beauty that make these people who they are.


This country was built off of the back of people from other countries.
But so many don't seem or want to acknowledge that.

wow.
... that's kind of a broad generalization .

maybe "some people in America" would have been a better term .


i know you're just trying to show that sometimes immigrants get a bad rap , and that they struggle to learn our laws , and the English language .
but , i dont think anyone is asking them to give up their roots , or ignore the fact that America was , and still is , built by immigrants .

btw , i'm proud of my immigrant Prussian/German heritage and culture .

 

[CapnSev]

She has a valid license but forgot it because she was hurrying out of the house.


Many drivers forget their licenses upon leaving home for many different reasons.



But I'm sure you haven't.

According to her she does. I don't think that's a very reliable source.

I work in the crime lab here, and fake licenses are the norm among the illegal immigrant driving community. We have a guy who probably goes over 2 a day from aliens that were pulled over for the same kind of things.

I'm not saying she's illegal or anything, what I'm saying is you've got two news sources, one of which seems really bias to me. Maybe she didn't do anything wrong, but this one seems fishy to me, especially since I see it all the time.

(The officer still muffed that stop though)

 

[JAUQO III-X]

wow.
... that's kind of a broad generalization .

maybe "some people in America" would have been a better term .

I'm going to stick to what I said. A lot of americans have a very bad attitude towards immigrants.

Why is it that people move here in order to live under the values that made this country what it is and yet want to replace those values with ones from whatever country they departed. A lot of things do not make sense to me any more

I was referring to etoncrow post.


And for the record I have no issues with etoncrow.

(The officer still muffed that stop though)

Exactly when all is said and done.

 

[etoncrow]

And for the record I have no issues with etoncrow.

Nor I with you and I apologise again for side tracking your thread.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

Nor I with you

Thank you.

and I apologise again for side tracking your thread.

No problem at all.

 

[Eric Perry]

I'm going to stick to what I said. A lot of americans have a very bad attitude towards immigrants...

And in some situations I'm one of them. When people come to this country to be afforded all of the rights, freedoms, handouts, etc., but make no attempt whatsoever to acclimate to the rules, laws, norms etc., then yes, I develop a very bad attitude towards them.

My attitudes are not global or generalized, but on a specific case by case basis. In this case, I have a bad attitude towards this woman, and I make apologies for that. 20+ years here and she cannot even communicate in the native language? I (personally) think it's sickening. As Mike said, if I move to a foreign country and make no attempt to learn to communicate, should they tailor to my refusal??? HELL no!

 

[MatticusMania]

20+ years here and she cannot even communicate in the native language? I (personally) think it's sickening. As Mike said, if I move to a foreign country and make no attempt to learn to communicate, should they tailor to my refusal??? HELL no!

I believe Spanish is probably a lot more native to the Texas area than the English language is.

 

[JAUQO III-X]

I believe Spanish is probably a lot more native to the Texas area than the English language is.

 

[Marlat]

I believe Spanish is probably a lot more native to the Texas area than the English language is.

Although, no doubt some other language is more native to that area than Spanish. In the scheme of things, Spanish, like English, is a relatively recent addition to the area. Pretty much every culture was forced to speak a language other than their indigenous dialect at some point.

 

[MakiSupaStar]

So if I move to a Spanish speaking country I can expect them to print package labels, instructions and street signs in multiple languages because I don't want to learn their language, or am simply too lazy to do so?

Personally, I wouldn't expect them to do this to cater to me as a minority. I'm not arguing the merits of learning how to speak English. I think people that live in this country should learn English. I also think people that speak English should learn other languages too. Knowing more than one language is a benefit, mandated or not. My son is bilingual (Japanese/English), I've written papers for my Masters degree on this stuff, and I encounter it all the time with my Spanish speaking students. My classroom and school, in many of my students cases, is the only time they encounter English during their day. While, the Spanish speaking community is huge (especially here in California), I always convey to my parents the importance of learning English. The only argument I can come up with is that it opens doors and creates more opportunities for them. But in the end, if a person doesn't see the necessity of it, then they will not learn the language. Creating laws and legislation around it will not change this. Conversely, if a parent doesn't see it as important, neither will their children. This is a battle I fight everyday.

 

[smeet]

This is a serious red herring. She made an illegal u-turn and didn't have her license. Take the extra charge off the books, and she should still pay the ticket.

And for God's sake, learn effin English! She has been in this country since she was 18, it should be no problem to learn a new language at that age. I have no sympathy on that count. Having an accent, not conjugating your verbs correctly, I understand that. But not speaking English AT ALL?

Having been hassled many many times by the cops, I have no love for them as a group. Nevertheless, this is not a big deal, just a stupid mistake by a stupid rookie.