Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

In the words of Frank Costello “No tickey, no washy”

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an information pamphlet on registering to vote and a mail in voter registration card.  Both were completely written in Spanish, and yes call me a bigoted, but that pissed me off.  Why the “F” are we allowing people to register to vote if they can't speak the language of our country.  I know this is not anything new but I just hadn't been reminded of it in a while.  

Then it started me thinking.  There are only two ways someone would be eligible to vote and only speak Spanish and both are wholly unacceptable to me.  First would be someone born here who never learned to speak English; the second would be someone who immigrated here and then became a citizen.  

I also remember a story about weather or not to translate the candidates names into Chinese characters instead of listing them in English.

So I decided to do a little research about what would be required of me if I were to try and become a citizen of another country and didn't speak the language.

Canada   – You need to speak either English or French, the two official languages of the country.

Mexico – I couldn't find a government link but according to this article, speaking Spanish is required to become a Mexican citizen, along with legally living in the country for five years.

Brazil – must speak and write Portuguese to become a citizen. (Hell the page was only in Portuguese and I had to feed it through a translator just to find out.)

Germany – (included for raj) you must speak and write German to become a citizen.

I know this is only a short sampling of countries.  (I also tried to figure it out for France but got lost in all of the requirements based on blood rights and what not).

My point is, none of these other countries seem to lower their standards to the point of allowing people who can't speak the language in.  Yet we don't only allow them in but allow them to register to vote, cast their votes and become citizens without learning our language.  Does that seem wrong to anyone else?

 

Cross posted at RMG.

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Comments

  1. Applicants for naturalization must be able to read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage in the English language. Applicants exempt from this requirement are those who on the date of filing:

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    • have been residing in the United States subsequent to a lawful admission for permanent residence for at least 15 years and are over 55 years of age;
    • have been residing in the United States subsequent to a lawful admission for permanent residence for at least 20 years and are over 50 years of age; or
    • have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment, where the impairment affects the applicant’s ability to learn English.

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    http://www.uscis.gov…

    • I found this link in checking on what you wrote.

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      I find this a little odd that we have no official language but require most applicants for naturalization to “read, write, speak, and understand words in ordinary usage in the English language.” 

      • dass es keine Gremium gibt, das erkaert, was Amerikanerisch ist.

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        The biggist problem is that in the USofA, there is no body that has the power to declare, what the American language is.  That is why we laugh at the “American language firsters.”  What is the American language?

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        I’ll give you another little story.  We tried to sit through a British movie, that starred Michael Caine (an excellent actor, by the way).  It was all in British English, but it was completely incomprehensible because of their accents.  They were speaking a different language.

  2. liegt darin, dass es ein Unterschied gibt, zwischen Aufenhaltsgenehmigung und Einburgerung.

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    That said, thank you for citing Germany.  What I said above was, the problem that you have lies in the fact that there is a difference between the right to enter and reside in a country (Aufenhaltsgenehmigung) and the right to become a citizen (Einburgerung). 

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    You have conflated the two.  Und das ist ganz falsch–completely incorrect.

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    As to your main point regarding voter registration, I really don’t know what papers are required to establish “right to vote” in federal, state or local elections, but it seems to me that if citizenship is required (in some jurisdictions, it may not be–residence may be enough) it should be a simple matter to establish citizenship or residence.  I have a US passport that required me to provide a certified copy of a birth certificate.  I did.  My spouse has a US passport that required him to provided his naturalization papers.  He did. 

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    I sincerely don’t comprehend your objection regarding language.  If the prospective voters can produce the documentation that is required to register to vote, what is the problem regarding language?  Did you feel that you are being “left out” because you could not read the material on the bulletin board?

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    As tblade pointed out, there is no official language in the US.  Nor is there an official body to determine what Amerikanisch is (yes, I will continue to use that term, because it is quite descriptive).  On the other hand there is an official body to determine how Hochdeutsch should be correctly written for the three primarily German-speaking countries–Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  They changed it several years to the consternation of everyone.

    • Perhaps I am conflating the two issues.  I will also admit that some of my frustration that lead to this post is how often I encounter people who can’t complete simple transactions in English.  And I didn’t feel “left out” by the materials on the board because I can read and speak Spanish (very poorly) thanks to my liberal arts education and many trips to Mexico, Puerto Rico and other places in the Caribbean.

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      Honestly, I need to think on this a little more before I fully respond to your post. 

  3. …which insults Asian-Americans, in a diary designed to throw rocks at Hispanics.  When last I looked, someone born in Puerto Rico is a United States citizen, and can move anywhere in the nation they desire.

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    The post references Canada and the need to speak either French or English.  Well, seems there are lots of folks out in Alberta who are equally as peeved by the dual French/English in the prairies as JK is about Spanish in urban New England.

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    When I encounter multiple languages on the ATM machine, my general reaction is to question why so few languages are offered on the machine.  I was grateful for every scrap of printed English when I was in Japan, and in an tourist-based economy that would be losing population if not for immigrants, I think it makes sense to be as welcoming as possible for everyone.

    • I did not. 

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      Regarding

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      When I encounter multiple languages on the ATM machine, my general reaction is to question why so few languages are offered on the machine.

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      I presume you are referring to ATMs in the US.  All the the ATMs that we’ve been to here in Germany and also in northern Italy have offered at least four languages, and in some cases five.  The language selection was even accompanied by little thumbnails of the flags (sorry, they used the British flag for English/Amerikanisch, but the implication was obvious) for identification.

      • As I stated, it’s a line from the Departed.  Last years  Academy winner for best picture by Martin Scorsese based in Boston. 

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        If you didn’t see the movie, it’s a scene where an Irish Mafia head (very obviously based on Whitey Bulger) tries to complete a deal with a Chinese gang and is frustrated by the language gap.  As I admitted above, that is part of what I was feeling that lead to the post.

    • There is a country out there that is zealously guarding its native language from the influences of foreigners and immigrants- France. They’ve taken it to an absurdity; inventing French words for computer-age things like software (or even the Quarter Pounder) and mandating media content.

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      p>As much as I think it is in every the best interest of every U.S. resident to be proficient in English, I’d hate to see us being as obnoxious as the French or the Quebecois in demanding it. 

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