But they won't be illegal immigrants. They are most likely descendants of immigrants. The Mexicans in the southern states simply "pop over the border"
If you check your history ( real history, not as made up by Americans ) you will find that there was a decsicion taken by the founding fathers about what the native language of America would actually be... It very nearly was Spanish from the very start. Imagine how different the world be now if Americans didn't speak English ( or a rough equivelant of it... ). In many of the southern states - Florida especially - Spanish is actually the majority language...
Mr R - whilst I agree with you sentiment... It is a common misconception that Americans actually do speak English. They don't; they speak American. The two languages have developed along similar, but subtely different, lines for over 200 years. Their grammar is different, and they have different words for things. Of course, in the same way that they call thier own fizzy wine Champagne when it isn't, they refuse to aknowledge the facts and continue to insist on calling the language that they use "English" - usually "English (US)"... Also - and this relates somewhat to He11cat's "Teachers" thread too - there are an awful lot of natural-born English people who cannot speak or spell English correctly either. My point about Spanish was more of a cultural comment. If Spanish had been chosen as the native language of America where would Britain be now? Its position in the world would be a lot less than it is currently - somewhere along the lines of where Spain now stands, I would suggest...
But it's not just certain spellings that are different. When speaking with our American cousins I have to think about what I want to say and how I say it so that I'm understood. As a simple example, in the uk when talking in construction circles, we talk about "a scheme". In the US I have to talk about "a project" as a "scheme" is a scam over there. There are lots of examples I could give if I sat down and thought about it.
Hi Kev, As someone who is dyslected and taught at primary school how to spell words phoetically it makes perfect sense to me. :smile: I had to look those words up in a dick and arry
One of the problems with learning English is that it's not spelt phonetically. The corruption of English caused by the introduction of "Americanisms", when combined with the fact that the basics of how the language is constructed are not actually taught anymore, is one of the main causes of the current degradation of the standard of spelling and grammar - both written and spoken. The other main causes are the introduction of "text-speak" and many years of the "it doesn't matter how you spell it as long as we can understand what you mean" teaching practices; lazy teaching breeding lazy pupils. That, and a generation brought up in the Blair era of deliberate ambiguity, where words meant whatever anyone wanted them to mean...
Thats marvelous, as I'm learning Spanish, as my parents live in spain, and I have a Spanish housemate (bloody decent guy, too) Como fue si dia? mi dia es bueno.
