Wednesday, August 27, 2008

LPGA - Speak English or bounce

I've pretty much spent half my day reading people's reaction to the new rule invoked on the Ladies Golf Tour, so I thought I would bring it to the blog. The rule, if you haven't heard, is the the LPGA will now be requiring golfers playing on tour to learn the English language, and if they fail a test adminstered by the LPGA then they face suspension.

As I expected, this rule is being blasted by the liberal media (and 80% of people I've seen replying to blogs). Words such as "racist" "discrimination" etc. are being thrown around. The arguments against this are that the LPGA is doing this simply because the Koreans are dominating. Other arguments say the game is global now, blah blah. I'm sure you can figure out all the others.

First off, the Koreans dominating is a reason that this is happening. But not because they want to get rid of the Koreans, but rather they'd like to be able to market their top players and actually maybe get a fuckin interview with one of them. No sport in America can be successful if the top 5-10 players can't speak English.

Anyway, this kind of stems back to a blog post by boon a while ago, but I think this rule is awesome. For one, I see people arguing that this isn't required anywhere else, why is the LPGA requiring it? Well, I don't think this is true. I doubt any of us would have our current jobs if we couldn't speak English fluently, better yet just be able to pass an English test. My second argument is, how are these girls even allowed to be permanently in this country if they cannot speak English? Isn't that a requirement to become a citizen? Or maybe they are all here on visas, which raises a whole other issue in my book that I won't get into.

Bottom line is, I think this is a great rule, that I think all American businesses should adopt (MLB, MLS, UPS, Taxi Services, etc.). If some baseball player can't learn English to make millions playing in the Major League's, then he shouldn't be allowed to take the spot of another American. This can apply to all jobs, not just sports. If peeps are going to complain about, go back to your own country and play for their professional league, and make 3 pesos a game, fine by me.

Unfortunately I think this rule will be lifted through some lawsuit however....I'm sure it violates the human rights of illegal immigrants, who seem to have more power than citizens these days

20 comments:

Staboski said...

I agree with you Prime. You know in the EPL when players come in from other countries they are given a speech coach to teach them English. While I don't think its an official "rule" it is always done. This is for 1) Communicating with their coaches (who all have to speak english) and 2) For communicating to the press. The same applies to Formula 1. There are teams that are run and lead by Italians with Italian drivers but HAVE to speak english, even over the raido during the race for monitoring purposes and for media reasons as they often tap into the conversations during the race to give the audience a glimps of what is happening in the car. Also all interviews after the race are conducted in English and no translators are allowed.

booncakes said...

who ever had the balls to make this rule, i bow to them. it is so funny and so brilliant. i agree that it won't last very long, but instead of complain these peeps should just buy rosetta stone or something.

pex said...

i think id complain first, learn a new language when all else fails. if it was me though, and i lived in a foreign country, id make an effort to learn their language for my own sake

term said...

There are multiple points to make in response to the OP:

1) In my opinion, since they are a private organization, they should have a right to enact whatever rules they want. They will either gain or lose money as a result of their actions (gain via marketing as OP mentioned or lose money by people boycotting, etc). But this is currently against the law, so they have to abide by them until the law is changed (which will be never). If it is found to be illegal by courts, they just have to deal with it not being a rule. But, as stated, I think they should have a right to enact this rule.

2) In terms of the country's laws, I think I would agree with testing immigrants for their knowledge of English, but I'm semi-torn. I found the interesting tidbit on Wiki:

"There is a new Pilot naturalization test currently being conducted in 11 cities around the United States...

The new pilot test is still voluntary. The applicant may choose to take the new pilot test or not. If the applicant chooses to take the new exam and fails to pass it, he or she may still take the original naturalization test during the same interview time.

The new pilot test examines the applicant's knowledge of American society and the English language. Sample questions and answers can be accessed on the Immigration Test website.[11]"

Looks like they're experimenting with testing the knowledge of the language, but it is currently a pilot test. I think the citizenship test is given in English, but doesn't directly test for speaking, etc.

3) The reason I am torn is this: I feel that the government should require English to be spoken as the primary language in any federally funded/run organization. This includes ALL public schools. It is the language that the government was founded on, it should be what it is run on.

With this said, I feel that companies with no relation to the government (funding) should be able to make whatever rules they please. If they want to enforce English as the language of communication, which many do naturally because it is the most well-known language, they can. If they want to make every sign in their store have a Spanish translations, they can. Or make it all Chinese, I don't really care. Bottom line is, the market should control what companies do. If enough people are pissed about them having Spanish signs, they stop going, and ultimately the company loses money.


Sorry for the wall of text, it was a semi-rant.

Poorman said...

From everything I have heard about the topic, it is completely legal to do this. The only chance they are saying it could be overturned is if somewhere a state law could be enacted to overturn the rule, but no federal law prevents this.

I may have been slightly torn on this issue before coming to the DC area, but I am not torn anymore. In theory sure, a private company can do whatever they want. But its getting to the point where its so abused and the numbers of illegals (and legals who should be illegal cause they cant even speak english) are *forcing* changes to companies.

Not sure how relevant this example would be, but recently the City Govt I work for hired Public Works Director, fairly high-up position, I think $100,000+ salary. Anyway, because a good portion of the public work employees cannot speak english, it is now a requirement for this job to be able to speak Spanish. The fact that these "US Citizens" (im assuming they are legal if they are with a govt agency, but who knows) cannot speak English is *forcing* change onto other job positions.

Like I said I wouldnt have a problem with a company speaking spanish or using spanish signs as a marketing strategy or something (trying to be authentic or somethin, whatever)....but now companies are being *forced* to use Spanish translations and other nonsense simply because so many people in the country now cannot speak the language.

booncakes said...

preach on brotha

term said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
term said...

Very good point.

The fact of the matter is, the companies are forced to have Spanish prevalent due to the fact that the government allows illegals OR legals (who aren't required to take an English test with citizenship) to remain in the country. I don't think it should be a company's responsibility to enforce English on their employees and customers because really they don't have the power to change the nation. They have the power to enforce it on their realm of influence, but they can't change the national language.

It is true that if all companies all the sudden all required English only, it would be beneficial. But this isn't the case. If one company did it, the others wouldn't and would attract the Spanish crowd due to their acceptance of the culture. The bottom line is, if you want change, the right people to lobby is the government. It doesn't sound like you are pissed at the organizations or companies who use Spanish often, but I just want to make sure we point the finger at the right people.

In terms of illegal; I was only interpreting the English language rule to be racist. I'd imagine that some 'talented' lawyers would be able to spin the English requirement as being RACIST, not just a simple, straight forward law. I certainly hope it is ruled to be legal and I hope the LPGA really enforces the law. Would be a step in the right direction for the nation.

All in all, I agree with your points. I only present the facts that sometimes aren't considered when simply saying that people should speak English in America.

For example, should the government require all citizens to take an English test each year to ensure everyone can speak it? What kind of logistics would this take? How much tax money would it take?

Of course the real argument is: do we even have legitimate immigration laws?

Poorman said...

def agree....its purely the piss poor immigration laws our govt has....thats why i strongly support nathans pulling of the troops to line the border idea

on a random side note, im scrolling through my guide and see the DNC is being shown on BET. Wonder if they are planning to show the RNC?

pex said...

How would it be beneficial if all companies required english only? I dont think you can say "it is true." It might be beneficial if everyone in the US spoke english, but they dont. I agree with you about the government part, but that would have to happen first before all the companies could follow suit.

Poorman said...

not sure if term meant it this way or not....but i take it as if every company did require english only (obviously a hypothetical, because it would never happen), then everyone in the US would *have* to speak english, which to me would be beneficial...so i would have to agree with that statement

pex said...

well he mentions the spanish crowd, which implies that there are those that still speak spanish. so like i said, you wouldnt benefit until the government decides to make english the official language. youd also have to wait a significant amount of time until it was fully enforced and every person could actually speak english. until then youd be losing out on the spanish speaking business

Staboski said...

I can make that process quicker, those who can't speak immediately are deported...see you when you learn english!

Poorman said...

haha, i was just getting ready to post a very similar comment

term said...

Yea because our government is so awesome at finding illegals, they would be even better than finding all of those who couldn't speak English.

And Prime was correct with his interpretation of my business statement. I am assuming that if every single business/service required English to be spoke, people who weren't fluent in it simply could not get by here. A pure hypothetical assumption.

pex said...

who cares about the spaniards getting by, your statement was that it would be more beneficial for the companies, and i'd have to disagree. money wise youd be missing out on a pretty big spanish speaking market.

pex said...

did anyone see that chad johnson officially changed his last name to ocho cinco? i saw it on espn.com, i'm guessing its real

Staboski said...

yea I saw it on the yahoo front page...I mean cmon now. thats just making a mockery of the league and himself

pex said...

haters will be haters

Unknown said...

learning English to speak is a great thing and sometime it is realy complicated too
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