Bi-Linguality, if that's even a word. Sara Ceraso Post 9

Language barriers are one of the biggest discriminating factors in our society today, in my opinion at least. People get frustrated when people do not speak the language they understand, therefore it leads them to believe they are "stupid," leading to stereotypes, which mainly lead to discrimination and prejudice.

When I was working at Forever 21, like I said in class, I was one of the only non-Spanish speaking employees. Many of them spoke English as well, but others didn't. I am all for bi-liguality, if that's even a word, but when you work in a store that has a predominantly white shopper ratio, it just doesn't make sense. If I were to work at a place where a majority of the customers spoke Spanish, I would expect to need to know Spanish, or not work there.

I do however agree with teaching kids a second language at a younger age. Our country is getting more and more diverse as the days go by. The point brought up that learning a second language younger also increases your critical thinking level is another great point in support of this. And it's cool to know a language other than your primary one. I understand most Italian thanks to the five years of Italian classes I took in Junior high and high school, but I wish I had learned either from my family, or elementary school.

My grandfather was born in Italy and for the sake of "protecting my mom and her siblings" he didn't teach them how to speak his primary language. To this day my mom wishes he had. But back then he thought he was doing them a favor by keeping them away from being diverse. If my mother had learned from her childhood, then she would have went on to teach me from mine. Now a days it is almost considered a "special skill" to know a second, even third language outside of your native one.