Guest Column
Schwarzenegger: Turn Off Spanish TV
- Schwarzenegger: Turn Off Spanish TV
- By Kevin Yamamura
- The Sacramento Bee
- June 15, 2007
- (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed by HispanicVista.com (www.hispanicvista.com) wthout profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.)
SAN JOSE -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told
hundreds of Latino journalists Wednesday that immigrants who want to
learn English more quickly should shun various forms of Spanish-language
media.
"You've got to turn off the Spanish television set," Schwarzenegger said
at the 25th annual National Association of Hispanic Journalists
convention, which included many who produce Spanish-language material.
"It's that simple. You've got to learn English," he said. "I know this
sounds odd and this is the politically incorrect thing to say and I'm
going to get myself in trouble. But I know that when I came to this
country, I very rarely spoke German to anyone."
The Republican governor, an Austrian immigrant, was responding to a
question about how to improve Latino academic performance.
Schwarzenegger said tutoring and after-school programs are essential.
But he emphasized that immigrants should avoid a diet of
Spanish-language books, TV and newspapers in order to learn English,
calling it a "drastic" but necessary step.
Schwarzenegger last year angered some Latino leaders by observing that
Mexican immigrants have problems succeeding in the United States because
"they try to stay Mexican." He hammered at the same point Wednesday in
San Jose, saying that immigrants from Germany or France have an easier
time learning English because they do not have many outlets to speak
their native tongues.
"You're just forced to speak English, and that just makes you learn the
language faster," Schwarzenegger said. "It is much more difficult and
much more challenging when you are ... let's say, Latino. Because you
have so many Latinos, as I see at the Capitol in Sacramento, there are
so many Latinos who speak Spanish all the time, they speak to each other
in Spanish. So it makes it difficult to perfect their English skills as
quickly as possible."
"They're busy working," remarked panelist Pilar Marrero, political
editor of Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion. "They don't have time
to."
Marrero seemed to grow visibly tense as Schwarzenegger made his case
against Spanish-language media, and the governor apologized at one point
after he said not to read Spanish-language newspapers.
She agreed later that Latin American immigrants have a different
experience than European newcomers. But she said those coming from
Spanish-speaking countries do make an effort to learn English and that
there are plenty of bilingual immigrant households.
"Spanish media is there to do what the English media doesn't do, which
is to serve the immigrants," Marrero said afterward. "As he said, it's a
political hot potato. I think he believes it, he thinks about his own
experience. It's different when you come from Austria than when you come
from Latin America."
During his 45-minute appearance, Schwarzenegger had a wide-ranging
discussion moderated by Bee Executive Editor Rick Rodriguez. The
governor was generally received warmly by more than 300 journalists at
the California Theatre in downtown San Jose and drew his biggest
applause when promoting bipartisan themes.
The governor said he does not support the immigration bill that has
stalled in Congress despite his repeated calls for an overhaul. He said
the current bill lacks specifics on enforcement, financing and
regulations for new immigrant arrivals, though he believes lawmakers are
close to an agreement.