On Jul 23, 6:32=A0pm, Taylor <desperatehousewi...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> NYC services to be offered in 6 foreign languages
> By SARA KUGLER =96 16 hours ago
>
> NEW YORK (AP) =97 This polyglot city is making it official: Agencies
> will offer services in six of the most common foreign languages spoken
> =97 Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Korean, Italian and French Creole.
>
> While many services have been available for years in foreign
> languages, an order by Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday marks the
> first uniform, citywide policy requiring agencies to provide
> assistance and translation in additional languages.
>
> Bloomberg said the 1.8 million New Yorkers who struggle with speaking
> English should be able to interact more easily with government.
>
> "No other place on earth can claim such incredible diversity =97 it is
> New York City's greatest historic strength =97 but it can also create
> significant challenges," the mayor said.
>
> Each city agency must now designate its own language coordinator who
> will develop a plan for ensuring that all the agency's services will
> be available in the six languages. That could mean forms, do***ents,
> informational brochures or inspection re****ts.
>
> New Yorkers who speak languages other than those six will continue to
> be served as they now are, on a case-by-case basis. In most
> situations, that would mean getting a translator.
>
> Immigrant advocates applauded the new order, saying it was something
> they had been asking the city to do for many years.
>
> "Never again will we have to ask our children and grandchildren to
> translate complicated government forms for us," said Yorelis Vidal, of
> Make the Road New York, an advocacy group.
>
> Some said the city had a lot of work to do. Councilman John Liu said
> the Bloomberg administration had done a "lackluster" job adhering to a
> 2003 law he worked to get passed that mandates on-demand language
> services in the city's social services agencies.
>
> For his part, Bloomberg, who speaks Spanish at a conversational level,
> takes credit for expanding the city's language translation services
> during his six years in office.
>
> The city-run telephone hot line through which residents can access all
> aspects of government offers information in 170 different languages,
> and the school system's translation unit has been expanded to eight
> languages.
>
> ---
>
> I'm sure the 4 or 5 people who speak French Creole will be very
> happy. ;-)
>
>
______________________________________http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=3Dd=
pbq69&s=3D4
Is this is how we encourage assimilation? Or has the idea of
assimilation become non-PC? Do we now encourage immigrants to retain
their own culture and language without also adopting the common
culture and language? Is there any longer a common American culture
and language? Is there any longer a melting pot? What in the hell
are we going to have in common to hold us together as a nation? Is
the idea of a nation non-PC? Who am I? Where am I? What is this
place?
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