Stoutman .@. wrote:

: I am also intrigued by this. Why Spanish?


Um, because it's by far the second most frequently spoken language in the US?



I am also disgusted by the
: English/Spanish choice at the ATM and grocery store U-Scan.

See above.



: The Dora the Explorer show really ****es me off. When I was a kid (I'm 35)
: we were never exposed to a foreign language at that age.


The US is close to alone in having such poor opportunities
for kids to learn second languages.
Maybe very
: infrequently on Sesame Street. The Explorer show he watches teaches Spanish
: every other phrase. Why is there such a big push to force feed Spanish to
: American children?? So they can communicate with Jose down the street who
: can't speak English?? Why shouldn't Jose learn English instead of our kids
: Spanish? Now he is getting force fed Spanish in preschool! Why not
: Yiddish? Oy Vey!

Unless you live in New York or Mentreal, the likelihood of Yiddish being
very useful is pretty small.

Nonetheless, if what you're suggesting is that we increase opportunities
for kids to learn second languages early on, I'm in complete agreement.


: My biggest fear is that he might get words mixed up and start speaking
: Spanglish!

Very unlikely, unless both languages are spoken fluently in your
home (which, I'm guessing from your remarks, isn't the case).


-- Andy Barss