Within this article Rodriguez directly argues against the immigrants within American who are being welcomed into the country and then allowed to not have to learn the dominant language of our country. For the most part, Spanish has become the dominating secondary language within the United States. Everything from advertisements, to directions, and even warning signs all over. By having done this, our country has extended an open arm to those immigrants coming into the country, and allowing them to continue with the use of their primary language. I feel that this is very wrong, and shouldn't be allowed. I am not saying that these peoples should not have the right to speak their own language, that is extremely far from my point, but I am saying that it should be mandatory for them to learn standard English, if they are to live within a country that is centered around that language.
I myself had always wanted to learn French growing up in a French-Canadian family. However, in middle school, when it came time to choose either French or Spanish my parents pushed me towards Spanish because of its growing popularity and relevance within our modern day society. Throughout my educational career, I have taken over five years of Spanish, and am pleased to say that I can speak the language pretty well still to this day. By having learned this language, I am now more applicable with people who solely speak that language, and it has definately helped directly with my participation in the VIPS program. I was able to veer off the path and learn a second language that I knew would most likely benefit me in the long run. Yet at the same time, I had already mastered the dominant language within my country, Standard English.
Rodriguez explains that by learning modern English within America, he was immediately more respected and interacted with in terms of the general public. Whatever region you are in, the people of that region are more likely to be involved with you if you have the ability of speaking their native tongue, as opposed to them having to cater to your specific language, voiding theirs completely. The ever growing use of Spanish within America today is a great thing, and I am happy to see that we have come to a point in which such a large group of people exist within our country, that we find it necessary to use their language as a secondary form within most texts. However this does not change the fact of the matter that the dominant language of region should learned by any and all of those who choose to live and work there, in order to receive the best employment and respect, that everybody honestly deserves.
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