Always in spanish!

[Beneath the Shadows]

Kid's shows... if they have a non-English-speaking character, they speak Spanish. (NOTE: I live in America, and am a parent. Hence me watching children's shows.) I have no problem with having a Spanish-speaking character in children's show, it's just that the MAJORITY of them are Spanish-speaking. In fact, the only one I know of that speaks something else is... I can't remember the name of the show, but it's about this little Chinese girl.

Basically, my complaint is that there should be characters, main or secondary or otherwise, that speak numerous languages. Not a bunch of languages in one character, but a bunch of characters each speaking something different.

Grr my parental issues...

[Solumina]

My bigger issue is that the characters who speak foreign languages have terrible pronunciation, why bother having them speak another language if they aren't even close to proper pronunciation.

[Still Jack]

I want to see a Polish speaking kid in a children's show.

[Saya]

I would've assumed its because there's a large number of Spanish speaking Americans, and also a Spanish speaking country to the south of you? We had French shows when we were younger (probably still do).

[Beneath the Shadows]

So what? There's a French-speaking country north of of us, and there's also large numbers of German, Portuguese, Chinese-speaking (just to name three) people through-out the country, and all they get is the one afore-mentioned show about the Chinese girl (which is called "Ni hao Kai-lan," apparently).

What's wrong with other languages?

[Godslayer Jillian]

Smaller target audience.

[Beneath the Shadows]

The target audience is English-speaking children. No matter what other language would use occasionally in the show, the target audience remains unchanged.

[Saya]

When we were kids French got pushed on us in a lot of our shows and nothing else at all, because Canada is a bilingual country and even basic French is really helpful here. Spanish speaking is the second most common language spoken in the states, roughly 35 million speak Spanish at home (source: http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet...false&-format=) and while xenophobia may prevent it from becoming an official language, its not too unlike French here in Canada and its pretty damn useful if kids learn it, chances are they are far more likely to encounter someone speaking Spanish than any other language (besides English, obviously).

[Solumina]

A rather large portion of the Spanish speaking population has a firm grasp of the English language, in many areas you are more likely to have a difficult time interacting with Asians as they seem to have a greater tendency to form their own little cultural bubble (in my personal experience this is especially true of Koreans and since I frequent the international foods market I have picked up a few words, not that I have any idea what they would look like written down).

[Godslayer Jillian]

Originally Posted by Beneath the Shadows

The target audience is English-speaking children.

Whose parents will probably want the second language that seems most useful, rather than an arbitrarily picked language just for diversity purposes.

[Saya]

Originally Posted by Solumina

A rather large portion of the Spanish speaking population has a firm grasp of the English language, in many areas you are more likely to have a difficult time interacting with Asians as they seem to have a greater tendency to form their own little cultural bubble (in my personal experience this is especially true of Koreans and since I frequent the international foods market I have picked up a few words, not that I have any idea what they would look like written down).

A large number of them may have a grasp on English but 35 million people is no number to sneeze at, the third most common language is Chinese and thats 2 million, only a fraction. Statistically odds are you're going to run into someone who speaks Spanish with varying skills with English than someone who speaks nothing but Cantonese or Korean, and in the spirit of multiculturalism, which really is what its about, its nice to be able to speak to them in their own language. And one again, a country to the south. Also yes while Asians tend to stick together there's still a lot of languages that would fall under the banner of "Asian", Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, which to teach? And when learning a language, practice is key. If a kid is only learning from tv shows, chances are they are still going to get more outside practice with Spanish than with Korean, which means in the end they probably will forget it all without the extra interaction.


Haha, I just imagined what American politics would be like if it was bilingual like we are, our politicians are expected to go from English to French and back in a single speech, can't imagine someone like Palin or Bush doing that.

[Solumina]

Originally Posted by Saya

Also yes while Asians tend to stick together there's still a lot of languages that would fall under the banner of "Asian", Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, which to teach? And when learning a language, practice is key. If a kid is only learning from tv shows, chances are they are still going to get more outside practice with Spanish than with Korean, which means in the end they probably will forget it all without the extra interaction.

I've never talked to someone in Spanish outside of a Spanish class, I know enough to have a pretty basic conversation but I have never once used it, I have, however, frequently wished that I spoke Korean and Mandarin as I have run into numerous people who spoke those but no English. Plus Spanish is taught in just about every school system that I have seen, some starting in elementary school, but there are hardly any schools that teach any Asian, African, Eastern European or Middle Eastern languages, mostly because there "isn't any demand from the students" and that lack of demand is because they have no previous exposure whereas we all know a few words of Spanish due to the ubiquity of Dora the Explorer, among other sources.

[DemiGoth]

Spanish has practically taken over the US, they teach it in school starting in like 1st grade until high school I think, I'll find out in two more years. Every videogame/movie/poster/sign/etc has a section made just for the sake of spanish-speaking illegal immigrants who refuse to learn the language of the country they snuck into. You have to press 1 for english on the phone. Most little kid shows are becoming spanish, the only kid's cartoon that I really hear about anymore that speaks english is SpongeBob. In conclusion, the whole spanish thing is taking over, within the next 20 years or so if the government doesn't wake up and send the ilegal immagrants home we're going to be living in a second mexico.

Note: these are all my opinions.

[Godslayer Jillian]

Originally Posted by DemiGoth

Every videogame/movie/poster/sign/etc has a section made just for the sake of spanish-speaking illegal immigrants who refuse to learn the language of the country they snuck into.

Wow, fuck you.

[Duane]

Originally Posted by DemiGoth

Note: these are all my opinions.

You're still an asshole.

[Solumina]

Originally Posted by DemiGoth

Spanish has practically taken over the US, they teach it in school starting in like 1st grade until high school I think, I'll find out in two more years.

It is far from mandatory in anywhere near the majority of schools, in those that it is that is as a result of decisions made by the local school board and any problem that you have should be brought up with them. At my high school we had mandatory foreign language credits but we were able to pick from Spanish, French, German, or Latin, we could also test out (as in not have to take the courses if we scored proficiently on the test) in Italian, Russian, Arabic, and Mandarin.

Originally Posted by DemiGoth

Every videogame/movie/poster/sign/etc has a section made just for the sake of spanish-speaking illegal immigrants who refuse to learn the language of the country they snuck into.

I'll ignore the fact that you seem completely ignorant to the fact that there is a very large legal population of immigrants and simply point out the fact that this is also regional and in the area that I live in you are more likely to see signs with Korean than Spanish, there simply isn't that high of a Spanish speaking population. Additionally this country, unlike many other countries, has no official language, this is the case because when this country was founded many of the local governments did not use English because that was not the dominant language of their populace so there were many laws written in German, French, Spanish, and many other languages and the federal government did not need to regulate the language that people wanted to use. A few years ago there was a bit of a push to make English the official language of the US but it didn't make it very far.

Originally Posted by DemiGoth

Most little kid shows are becoming spanish, the only kid's cartoon that I really hear about anymore that speaks english is SpongeBob.

Really? Sesame Street, Bob the Builder, and Scooby Doo are the first three kids shows that pop into my head, all of them are broadcast in English in this country. According to google the number one cable show for kids is ICarly, which only contains English speaking characters. Hell Dora the Explorer is broadcast in English, the main character is bilingual and simply teaches the audience a few basic bits of Spanish.

Originally Posted by DemiGoth

In conclusion, the whole spanish thing is taking over, within the next 20 years or so if the government doesn't wake up and send the ilegal immagrants home we're going to be living in a second mexico.

They come here for a better life than can be found in Mexico and the Mexican American culture is far from identical to Mexican culture. Not to mention the reason why Mexico is such an undesirable place to live is because of economic oppression, which is not nearly as prevalent in the US as it is in Mexico. It is absolutely absurd to think that immigrants will cause the US to turn into a "second Mexico."

[Still Jack]

Wow, DemiGoth is one racist, rather uneducated cunt....