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I would settle for using the National Anthem as a tool to learn the english language just so the words and meaning are captured. the student would understand that this song is sacred and will be performed in it's native language.

Crypto:

I recently heard that 4 of 5 Legal Americans do not know the words. I fully suprort your suggestion.

btw - that was for the first stanza. I'll bet it's more like 1 in 10,000,000 that know them all ...
==

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Doesn't the spanish version start off "Jose, can you see"?

"Being an American citizen doesn't mean you should have to be able to speak our language, though it could be useful"

Lamebrain statement of the day Iain. When I lived in France I spoke the language fluently. That enabled me to watch movies, TV, have dinner with people, shop, read the paper and enjoy all the things we do daily by communicating with each other.

Once I visited Denmark with a friend for a week. Not able to communicate I felt like a fish out of water. Sure someone would tell me something in English then they would go right back to the conversation in Danish. It was frustrating.

The Americans in my group in France who chose not to learn the language were forced to hang out in groups amongst themselves. This is what happens anytime someone cannot speak the native tongue of a country where they reside.

As for the anthem, I understand the lyrics were changed as well.

Sooooo, people come here illegally, attend marches with their Mexican flags, demand citizenship when they have broken our laws, and then start singing our national anthem in a doctored up Spanish rewrite. You have no problem with that?

My five year old memorized the first stanza when he was three JDR. We haven't gone into the other stanzas yet :)

Iain, to become an American citizen this is required. Please read and NOTE that it does say ENGLISH, not spanish, chinese, russian, arabic etc but ENGLISH. Exceptions are those who are physically or mentally unable to learn English.So NO Iain, Your statement is totally wrong and speaking and understanding English is not optional or just a good idea. It is required with the exception noted above.

Read, write, and speak good English: Alien must read, write and speak ordinary English in order to be eligible for naturalization. The examiner tests this ability when the Alien gives the examination for naturalization. The examiner decides about Alien’s ability by his/her answers to normal questions. Reading and writing skills are tested through the Federal Textbook on Citizenship. Disabled people who are not capable of complying with this requirement because of any physical or mental disability may be exempted from this requirement. People who are over fifty years of age and have lived in the U.S. for at least 20 years as a lawful permanent resident and people who are over fifty-five years of age and have lived in the U.S. for at least a total of 15 years are also not required to fulfill this requirement.

Knowledge of U.S. History & Understanding of Fundamentals of U.S. Government: To test this ability, the examiner asks questions about U.S. history and Government fundamentals at the time of interview. Normally an Alien is asked around six to ten questions from a list of 100 questions, but the number of questions may vary from district to district. Aliens who are exempted from the English education prerequisite are also supposed to fulfill this requirement but they can give the test in the language of their own choice. Exemptions:- Persons who are physically unable to comply and persons who are unable to comply due to developmental disability or mental impairment.

"Iain, to become an American citizen this is required..."

I'm glad somebody set him straight.

MrP, Dan, and Bishop,

Actually, the INS process for naturalization requires that applicants

"must demonstrate:
• "an understanding of the
English language, including an
ability to read, write, and
speak...simple words and
phrases...in ordinary usage in
the English language...."
• "a knowledge and understanding
of the fundamentals of the
history, and of the principles and
form of government, of the
United States...."
This means that to be eligible for
naturalization, you must be able to
read, write, and speak basic
English. You must also have a
basic knowledge of U.S. History
and Government (also known as
"civics")."

I don't know your source, since you didn't provide it, but it's not the people who decide citizenship. (They call people applicants, not "aliens".)

Anyway, the guy who wrote the "National Anthem in Spanish" was British, not Latino.

Also, the reason immigrants show their flags is to show where they are from. There is no parallel in our culture, that's why we don't (try to) understand. Hondurans are proud to be from Honduras. Even if an employer here offered them a low-wage job, they are still proud of their origin, and do not want ot be confused with Mexicans (as they, of course, so often are). Likewise, Mexicans who have come here due to the lure of low-wage jobs want to distinguish themselves as Mexican as opposed to Honduran or Salvadoran. They are not saying they are not American, they are showing pride in their origin. If you actually want to understand anything about this phenomenon, ask them!

The fact is, both the immigration "crisis" and the "national anthem in Spanish" are manufactured distractions from the fact that those in power have utterly screwed up everything they touch, and the voting public knows it. If they actually wanted to prevent illegal immigration, they would stop taking money from the people who cause it: mega-corporations who actively recruit, hire, and exploit illegal labor.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
~ Theodore Roosevelt, 1919

'Nuff said.

wonder if anyone cares enough to translate the mexican national anthem, if there is one, into english.