Thread: You Don’t Need To Speak English In Santa Ana

From Stephen Frank's California Political News and Views. I liked his commentary at the top and couldn't have said it better.
You Don’t Need To Speak English In Santa Ana
Monday 9 April 2007

The problem is simple. Few people in Santa Ana speak English. Maybe half the population are illegal aliens and they refuse to speak English—they want Santa Ana to be their home away from home.

This problem is simply solved. End all govenrment documents in languages other than Englsih. Allow the polcie to enforce the laws. Have ICE raid a few businesses.

The chamber is going to waste $4.5 million trying to convince illegal aliens to learn Englsih. Instead, they should spend the money on law enforcement. This just encourages folks to break the law. At some point we will see the Chambe spend millions convincing folks to learn to speak Spanish, in order to work in Santa Ana. Don’t be surprised.

Enforce the laws, stop swasteful spending.

Santa Ana chamber pushing residents to learn English The $4.5-million effort is blanketing the city with messages touting the advantages of learning a new language.

By Jennifer Delson LA Times April 9, 2007

In a city where about 80% of residents do not speak English at home, the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce has initiated a $4.5-million campaign to get 50,000 residents to learn the language over the next four years.

As part of its project, the chamber last month launched an aggressive advertising campaign, with messages urging residents to learn English plastered on buses and at bus shelters, the train station, supermarkets and self-service laundries.

Census statistics show that at least 51% of city residents "speak English less than very well." More than half the city’s employees speak Spanish, most Asian merchants have learned the language, and nearly every retail business has Spanish-speaking employees.

Business owners need employees who speak English, chamber officials said.

"Business owners are screaming for workers, but they need them to speak English," said Mike Weisman, a chamber board member and partner of DGWB Advertising and Communications in Santa Ana, which created the advertising campaign.

Weisman said English proficiency could boost a resident’s income.

"If you can’t speak English, you might not find a good job," he said. "You might not buy a home. You might not do many things. It’s a problem affecting all of central Orange County."

In addition to the advertising, teams of people hired by DGWB have been dispatched to the streets to promote the free English classes, which are offered by the Rancho Santiago Community College District.

Officials with state and national chamber of commerce organizations said they were unaware of another chamber promoting English proficiency in California. Even so, the role of the Santa Ana chamber does not surprise them.

Chambers "solve the riddles of their communities," said Mick Fleming, president of the American Chamber of Commerce. In Santa Ana, "they are looking at the workforce and seeing that if we don’t do this, our future prosperity is at risk."

Each year during the four-year campaign, the chamber will spend about $350,000 on marketing and $650,000 on computers that will help students and workers learn English. Other money will be allocated to chamber employees who will administer the campaign.

At Northgate Supermarket, Jimmy Isais, a team leader with the chamber’s program, recently flagged down immigrant shoppers with carts loaded with pork rinds, salsas, tortillas, steaks and diapers.

"Would you like to learn English?" he asked.

Many of the shoppers stopped to get his brochure, which is part of a culturally sensitive campaign designed by DGWB.

Advertisements for the program include photographs of Santa Ana workers, including a farmhand, construction worker and a hotel maid.

The ads suggest learning English can help residents get ahead with messages in Spanish such as "Two Jobs?," "Does It Take You More Than Two Hours to Get to Work?" and "You Work and Work but You Still Can’t Make It."

They are followed by the Spanish-language slogan "Saber Para Subir," which means "Know to Progress."

Sheyla Arias, 26, said she had seen the advertisements on the bus and talked with team members at Northgate Supermarket. She works in an auto parts factory where she earns $8.50 an hour. Her sister, who took English and computer classes, now earns $11.

"I know that I need English to make more money, but I don’t know how I can take the classes," said Arias, the mother of a 3-year-old boy. "It’s so hard because I’m a single parent."

Javier Hernandez, 21, said he had been in the United States three years. A native of Acapulco, he finished high school in Mexico and then came to Santa Ana.

He works as an office janitor from 3 p.m. to 1 a.m., earning $8.10 an hour. He has looked at supervisorial positions with $13-an-hour salaries but lacks the language skill for the job.

"I know I need English to make more money, but it seems really hard when I work so many hours a day," he said.

Others, however, say they don’t want to learn English. Some are illegal immigrants who come from small towns in Mexico and did not finish elementary school.

"I can’t do it," said one man who refused to give his name. Even to make more money? "I just can’t."

Isais said he was surprised at first that some didn’t want to learn English. "I thought everyone would be very excited," he said.

But many people were responding to the chamber’s appeal. Eddie Hernandez, chancellor of the Rancho Santiago district, said a hotline highlighted in advertising "is ringing off the hook."

The college district took more than 350 calls in the month since the campaign began, he said.

The college district, which offers English in 70 classes in various locations, will offer more if demand increases, he said.

Meanwhile, the city of Santa Ana has applied for $1 million in federal funds with the idea of using $250,000 for English classes in its Federal Empowerment Zone, an impoverished area designated by the federal government for extra attention.

Hernandez said that the city’s newest immigrants "need to learn English. The chamber has taken this to a different level by bringing in everyone to help."
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... &cset=true

http://www.capoliticalnews.com/s/spip.php?breve1366

As part of its project, the chamber last month launched an aggressive advertising campaign, with messages urging residents to learn English plastered on buses and at bus shelters, the train station, supermarkets and self-service laundries.


Will this campaign be in English or Spanish?
Oh the irony.

Meanwhile, the city of Santa Ana has applied for $1 million in federal funds with the idea of using $250,000 for English classes

More of our tax dollars being utilized to empower criminal aliens. The more we empower them, the harder it is to get rid of them.

I'm so sick of this. Why should American citizens who already speak English have to pay to teach illegal aliens the language in order to get better jobs? If I wanted to go get a job at almost any retail store in California, I would be more employable if I spoke Spanish as well as English... yet is anyplace spending millions of dollars to help me learn Spanish? As an American citizen shouldn't that money be going to help me be more employable rather than someone who is here illegally? If I moved to Mexico would they be spending money on programs to help me learn Spanish?

I grew up not far from Santa Ana. Actually, I lived there breifly as an infant--before it turned into a waste-land. It is full of illegals. Go there today, and you'd swear you were in Mexico.

In a city where about 80% of residents do

Code:

 not speak English at home,

Whats with this "at home" BS. I`ve heard that said in several articles lately. Try "Period!"