How do we feel about mexicans?

I know some people find this point racist and/or rude, but that's just something that someone should do when they move somewhere with a different primary language. If I moved to France, I guarantee I'd learn French at least enough to get by. If someone (anyone, not just Mexicans) move to America where the primary (though technically unofficial) language is English, they should make learning the language a priority.

This isn't for my benefit, it's for theirs. The ability to communicate with law enforcement or medical personnel could literally mean the difference between life and death in a seconds-count scenario. (Because you can't expect every doctor and cop to learn all the languages of the people of this country, and making an exception for the Mexicans but not the Poles or the Arabs is racist.) They'd be able to watch all the local TV channels instead of being stuck with one or two specialty channels. It makes ordering food at a restaurant or finding something in a strange store that much easier when you can communicate to the staff there. They could go to all the parent-teacher meetings. And all these things without subtitles or requiring someone to sit there and translate everything. Like I said, learning English (for a non-English speaker living in America) would mostly benefit them.

On another note, my fiance is a receiver for a grocery store, and he just told me that his best vendor is the Mexican guy from Coca-Cola: a hard worker who brings in the Coke :)

It's mostly tourism related. Hypothetical situation: if a small village in France suddenly becomes popular with American tourists, the hotels get a boost in revenue. The hotel that advertises that they speak English will get the most revenue because tourists want to be able to communicate with the hotel staff. So the rest of the hotels see this happen, and they decide to learn English. The same situation happens with the shops and restaurants. They learn a foreign language to make money off foreign tourists who don't speak the local language.

I think I can safely say that the vast majority of Mexicans in this country who don't speak English aren't tourists, especially the ones near me because I don't live in a tourist area. The difference is that no one could be expected to learn an entire language for the sake of a two-week trip, but they ought to learn it if they'll need it the rest of their lives.

Now, if I had a job that dealt with a high level of foreign tourists, I'd probably learn a little of the most common languages to make my job easier. However, I don't have a job that deals with foreign tourists. As far as Spanish goes, I'll learn it when I move to Spain or Mexico because I don't expect all of them to learn English so that I don't have to learn the local language.

So let's say I learn Spanish to accomodate the Mexicans that move into the area and decide not to learn English. Well, I live near Chicago which from what I've been told is home to more Polish natives than Warsaw, so to be fair, I should learn Polish. And given the wars in the middle east that are sending a lot of Arab refugees fleeing to the states, I should learn Arabic. I mean, come on, if I learn a whole language for the sake of a group of immigrants, it would be racist not to learn the languages of the other immigrants. But wait. The Polish and Arabic immigrants I meet all speak English well enough to communicate. They don't expect everyone here to learn their language for their sake, and neither should the Mexican immigrants. That's my point.

Look, I never denied the part that tourism played. The underlying factor, even in tourism, is obviously money. Why do they bother learning? You said it yourself, money.

Now, if I go into San Diego & open a restaurant, I'd be a fool not to accomodate the Spanish speaking customers... No matter what reason they're here. A dollar is a dollar & it doesn't matter if it's spent by a resident, or a visitor.

And keep in mind, I'm not telling ANYONE that they should have to learn Spanish. (Or Polish, or Arabic for that matter). Anyone who chooses to limit their base by refusing to speak anything but their native tongue, has that choice to make all to themselves. And if an immigrant from Mexico refuses to learn English (which is not the case with the vast majority), has no one but themselves to blame for the fewer open doors in their lives.

As for your hypothetical village in France. I'll add one more aspect to it. Suppose that this village becomes so popular with the tourists, that people decide to take more extended vacations there. Maybe buy a second home where they visit for several months out of the year. Or even move there permanently (Which happened with a relative of mine that moved to the Netherlands). It's fair to say that it's in their best interest to learn the native tongue. But don't think that the local hotels & shops are going to start demanding that they learn French as a basis for serving them, just because they're there more often than a couple of weeks. As long as the money's still could, they're not going to care.