[PearlRuby]

Originally posted by bluethunder

Perhaps you all haven't heard about this, but I wanted to get some feedback on this:

I live in Miami and the city (along with South Florida in general) has a very strong Latino influence and bilingualism has always been a hot topic down here...

at any rate, some Latin producers re-worked the National Anthem, The Star Spangled Banner, and had it sang in Spanish. The melody is pretty much the same, but it is sang in Spanish. Now, when the Spanish version is translated, it really does change the original words of the song and a lot of what it translates to isn't exactly what the original lyrics imply... but still it has sparked a LOT of controversy. President Bush responded to it at a press conference and said that the National Anthem should be sang in English and that anyone who wanted to be a citizen should learn English...chiming in with other members of the community who believe it should be sang strictly in English...
but then some members of the Latino population are saying that this is discrimination against them as Latinos and that the translation celebrates America and that as a nation built on immigrants we should actually be embracing the new translation of the song...

what do you all think?

Any thoughts on bilingualism?

Hmm. Interesting. On one hand, I see no problem with it, considering the many contributions that people of Latino heritage have made to our country. I think the bilingualism celebrates the fact that we welcome other cultures into our country. Much of the U.S. was built on the backs of slaves and immigrants who worked for this country.

On the other hand, considering the many different ethnic groups represented in America, if a Spanish version of our national anthem was accepted and implemented, would it then open the door for every group to have their own version of our national anthem in their own language? A Chinese, Japanese, Indian, ect., version? And if so, how would people feel about this?

I do think it's important for those living in America to learn English. Just as when I visited France a couple of years ago, I communicated in French (using a book of course) and I expected that I would have to fit into their culture, and speak their language, not the other way around.