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speaking of the paper you are doing, seaver: i do not think the premise of is without problems because i do not see any way to reduce the complexity of questions of either immigrant or migrant labor communities and their integration or nonintegration into the social formations of which they are parts (regardless of status) to one of language. but this is a response to the barest of outlines: i'd be interested to hear more about it at some point, seaver.
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I agree. In my paper I cite dozens of causes and reactionary causes which reinforce isolation within a greater community. However, my thesis states that the language barrier is the larger barrier and spawns the most problems. I fully agree that the issue is extremely complex, but if simple speech can not be held, the flow of ideas and information is impossible.
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The reason why I say it's dangerous is because having English as the only available language would mean it is the language of the privileged.
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It already is. In order to do anything more than the most basic of manual labor jobs English is a requirement.
Please don't get me wrong, I do not support Newt. I do, however, feel that language barriers create isolation. I do not buy the theory that multiculturalism alone makes things better, I believe that a free flow of ideas and information are required for a multicultural society to prosper. This includes uniting forces such as a common language.
I would like anyone to point out a country in which there were people who spoke a language other than those ruling the government who were not marginalized. The only time this occurs is when they manage to speak both their own language, as well as the one of the ruling government.