Foreign Language Flyers

[AlexMerced]

We have a diverse nation, and in many communities we have sort of Pocket concentrations of different nationalities. In these communities we may find that while they know english and foreign language flyer might help communicate to opinion leaders such household elders and such.

Here is a spanish flyer that can be useful in the Univision rally:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/SpanishFlyer-1.jpg

Ones I'd recommend:
- Farsi
- Tagalog
- Vietnamese

Look at your community and decide what is needed.

[mopar.bo]

Absolutely not. I'm not kissing any immigrant butt.

[AlexMerced]

bump, oh well

[goldenequity]

Thank you Alex for starting this thread.

I need a spanish translation of this flyer ASAP for the Univision Rally

http://www.ronpaulaudio.com/FF8.5x11CMYKad.pdf (http://www.ronpaulaudio.com/FF8.5x11CMYKad.pdf)

[AlexMerced]

that might be too overwhelming for a flyer, I don't think most people learned that much about RP in a day, it's usally a process the flyer is just the start the goal is to get them to remember the URL and Ron Paul in my opinion.

Once someone has had enough exposures of substance they'll seek out the information themselves, but we don't want to cram they percetual filters at one time.

This worked really well for USAtoday cause peopele spend more time on Paper ads than flyers.

Just some food for thought, if somebody want to translate it go for it, I got go get do some rpess releases

[nbhadja]

Absolutely not. I'm not kissing any immigrant butt.

QFT. My parents are immigrants to this country, but anyways LEARN ENGLISH!!

[AlexMerced]

just cause someone is learning english they might still have an easier time getting the point accross in the foreign language. Like my mom speaks english very well, but fi I'm explaining a sensitive issue I switch tongues to not risk getting lost in commnication.

Remember we have the teaparty coming up, these are a lot potential donors, plus again we should reach out to the different asian concentrations trhoughout the country as well.

[winston_blade]

How likely is it that Spanish speaking people will vote in a republican primary.

[AlexMerced]

very likeley, they are all very socially conservative since they are catholic, I can attest to this

Latinos are diehard catholics, I mean super diehard catholics

[winston_blade]

very likeley, they are all very socially conservative since they are catholic, I can attest to this

Latinos are diehard catholics, I mean super diehard catholics

Then by all means, proceed.

[AlexMerced]

yeah, there's actually lot of votes resting on this next debate, and pretty much success in florida, california, texas, nevada, new mexico and new york also rest heavily in this debate, I take this one quite seriously.

There is a lot on the line with the Latino vote in some states, and a few of them early states, if we can take florida, Giuliani is toaste, that's his last stand

This isn't about reaching out to illegals, it's about reaching out to the fastest growing voting block and growing demographic in the country, and that's just by the number llegals.


PLUS IT MEANS MORE PLEDGES FOR THE TEAPARTY!!!

[Corydoras]

Alex, what is your opinion of ronpaulparapresidente.com?

[voiceactivated]

A nation that does not protect its borders, language and culture cannot survive. Legal immigrants are welcome here as long as they are willing and eager to assimilate and become Americans - that means learning English. If they can't speak English why are they allowed to vote?

[AlexMerced]

A nation that does not protect its borders, language and culture cannot survive. Legal immigrants are welcome here as long as they are willing and eager to assimilate and become Americans - that means learning English. If they can't speak English why are they allowed to vote?

these people do know english, and no one is saying we should change the language we do business in.

Communication standard are for commerce and education, that's what it's important for. But people always communicate best in their native language, like anyone here who has learned spanish still probably communicates best in english. I agree about protecting the borders but I mean jesus.

As far as american culture... american culture is the culture of diversity.


And most countries older than us have many languages spoken, and are still foing fine, hell in Switzerland they have enlgish and swedish as accepted language, don't feed me that line. Historical precedence is against you on that.


If you end the welfare state, all this other stuff isn't an issue, many times Ron paul has said he likes Switzerland policies and would support open borders (within reason) if we abolish the welfare state.

[AlexMerced]

Alex, what is your opinion of ronpaulparapresidente.com?

I think it's pretty sweet that somoene took the time to do that, any effort made by supporter I find endearing.

[mopar.bo]

these people do know english, and no one is saying we should change the language we do business in.

Communication standard are for commerce and education, that's what it's important for. But people always communicate best in their native language, like anyone here who has learned spanish still probably communicates best in english. I agree about protecting the borders but I mean jesus.

As far as american culture... american culture is the culture of diversity.


And most countries older than us have many languages spoken, and are still foing fine, hell in Switzerland they have enlgish and swedish as accepted language, don't feed me that line. Historical precedence is against you on that.


If you end the welfare state, all this other stuff isn't an issue, many times Ron paul has said he likes Switzerland policies and would support open borders (within reason) if we abolish the welfare state.

You are completely in left field here, amigo. Language is far more than "commerce and education". Our language is the backbone of our culture and it's what holds us together. I suggest you read up on the tower of Babel. Similarities are what bring us together. As much as we like to ooh and ah about being diverse, it's a natural thing to seek out and live amongst ones own people. This is an absolute rule in nature. America is great because we accept someone despite their differences, however we do require that you become "one of us".

With this in mind, consider how many nationalist-leaning Americans who'll get the wrong impression from a poster like this. While you may get a number of hispanic votes, you'll piss off many more traditional Americans. They'll automatically assume Dr. Paul is sympathetic to the illegal immigrant.

[StateofTrance]

Absolutely not. I'm not kissing any immigrant butt.

Hope you were being sarcastic. Otherwise, sir, you sound like a moron living under a cave who would vote for Bush any day.

[mopar.bo]

Hope you were being sarcastic. Otherwise, sir, you sound like a moron living under a cave who would vote for Bush any day.

Did you detect even a hint of sarcasm? If you did I must not have been clear enough.

Why don't you go write your congressman and urge him to push amnesty through. When you're finished with that, why don't you goose-step back to Moscow, comrade?

[nbhadja]

Hope you were being sarcastic. Otherwise, sir, you sound like a moron living under a cave who would vote for Bush any day.

Actually since he is against amnesty, he would not vote for amnesty supporting Bush.

[goldenequity]

Wow! Pretty timely for your flyers Alex.

Here is a New link (added today)
to eliberty's A New Hope video with subs in Spanish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KGWyDuECdI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KGWyDuECdI)

[AlexMerced]

:)

[PennCustom4RP]

A point to be remembered, If the person is not proficient in English to read a simple flyer, this person probably is not a citizen as English proficiency is required for citizenship. Therefor this person cannot vote anyway.

[Tsoman]

I think it's definitely a good idea to promote Ron Paul in Spanish and other languages. It fits in with the "many types of people, one common goal" theme of the campaign.

[goldenequity]

I think it's definitely a good idea to promote Ron Paul in Spanish and other languages. It fits in with the "many types of people, one common goal" theme of the campaign.

absolutely agree! :)

[lasenorita]

Instead of/Aside from creating a foreign language flyer, why not create one with *simple* English. For example, Wikipedia has a section called Simple English Wikipedia (http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) which is intended for people whose first language is not English.

According to the Washington Times (http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071129/NATION/111290107/1001):


Only about half of Hispanic immigrants who have earned U.S. citizenship can speak English well or even somewhat well, a new study has found, even though the citizenship test usually requires immigrants to demonstrate English proficiency.

And these flyers do not even necessarily have to be created solely for naturalized citizens. There are quite a few American voters who are sadly lacking when it comes to English literacy. Yes, they speak English and all, but they have a hard time deciphering words like 'liberty' and 'Constitutional'. Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton are two who come to mind. (I'm joking!) :p

[mopar.bo]

Instead of/Aside from creating a foreign language flyer, why not create one with *simple* English. For example, Wikipedia has a section called Simple English Wikipedia (http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page) which is intended for people whose first language is not English.

I could get behind that. That's a compromise that works for both sides.

[voiceactivated]

Alex:

American culture is not the culture of diversity, it is the culture of assimilation. Legal immigrants have always been welcomed here. We say "Welcome to America. You are now one of us!" If immigrants do not learn the language they cannot undertand the culture. If they do not understand the cuture they cannot assimilate. Without assimilation we are not "One Nation, under God", we are nothing more than a collection of tribes, each jockying for their own set of rules and standards.

[Politeia]

in reaching out to people whose native language is other than English, if Alex and others want to put the time and effort into doing so. It's a free-market campaign.

I am an American whose ancestors came here from Britain over 300 years ago (that's right, in the 1660s), and helped to found this Republic. I do agree that anyone who wishes to become part of this country's experiment in self-governance (i.e. a Citizen, with voting privileges) should learn English -- not because of any identification of this country with British ethnicity, but because that's the language our founding documents were written in, and it is the ideas and ideals in those documents on which this country was founded, rather than any particular ethnicity, religion, race or even language. This may seem a fine point, but it is important.

Thus, while I firmly oppose granting citizenship to anyone not reasonably fluent in English (an ability to read and understand the Declaration and Constitution should be the test -- though admittedly many native-born Anglos would fail that), or printing ballots or other government documents in any other language (a practice which is certainly divisive, and deliberately so, I believe), I also oppose "nativist" types who try to identify "Americanism" with their ("white" Anglo) language, culture, ethnicity or race.

This is why, for instance, I can't support the Constitution Party, who, despite their name (too bad they're squatting on it), seem to have as their first goal the establishment of Christianity (their version, of course) as the State Religion of the United States. Talk about picking-and-choosing which parts of the Constitution you're going to "uphold and defend"!

The truth is, we are all immigrants here -- except perhaps the indigenous tribes, who were also immigrants but were the first humans to occupy this continent. We "white" Europeans have no moral right to claim this land as our own, unless it is to create something new in the world, a nation founded not on ethnicity but on ideals of liberty and equality, where anyone and everyone who is willing to join the covenant is welcome.

When Ron Paul was invited to speak to an Arab American group in Michigan, someone asked him if he had a special message for them. No, he replied, just the same speech he gives to everyone. I like that. But I also like that he was happy to speak to them as a group. And I believe they (and other "minorities") really like being addressed as equals by an "old white guy" who doesn't pander to their supposed "special needs". And I really like seeing people of different religions, races, ethnicities involved in the rEVOLution.

And I've liked seeing deaf interpreters at some of the good Doctor's speeches. That isn't "kissing [anybody's] butt", it's just having the courtesy -- and the wisdom -- to reach out to everyone. So long as the message remains the same to everyone, I see no harm in translating the introduction, if someone wants to do it. It doesn't hurt, and it may help. Those who are liable to become interested will make the effort to learn more; those who are not, won't.

[mopar.bo]

Alex:

American culture is not the culture of diversity, it is the culture of assimilation. Legal immigrants have always been welcomed here. We say "Welcome to America. You are now one of us!" If immigrants do not learn the language they cannot undertand the culture. If they do not understand the cuture they cannot assimilate. Without assimilation we are not "One Nation, under God", we are nothing more than a collection of tribes, each jockying for their own set of rules and standards.

Bingo

[AlexMerced]

Most of my flyers are pretty simple like the following:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/ronPaulFlyernine.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/ronPaulFlyersix.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/ronPaulFlyerThree.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/ronPaulFlyerfour.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/ronPaulFlyerseven.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/ronPaulFlyerTen.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/RonPaulFlyereleven.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/RonPaulFlyertwelve.jpg


Can you guys live with those?

[AlexMerced]

And I've liked seeing deaf interpreters at some of the good Doctor's speeches. That isn't "kissing [anybody's] butt", it's just having the courtesy -- and the wisdom -- to reach out to everyone. So long as the message remains the same to everyone, I see no harm in translating the introduction, if someone wants to do it. It doesn't hurt, and it may help. Those who are liable to become interested will make the effort to learn more; those who are not, won't.

BINGO

[mopar.bo]

To compare a deaf person with an immigrant is foolish. I can point out many an immigrant who refuses to learn English. Show me one deaf person who wouldn't love to be able to hear.

This type of stuff is to be expected from a self-hating panderer like yourself.

[voiceactivated]

Alex:

I disagree with you. American culture is not the culture of diversity, it is the culture of assimilation. Legal immigrants have always been welcomed here. We say "Welcome to America. You are now one of us!" If immigrants do not learn the language they cannot undertand the culture. If they do not understand the cuture they cannot assimilate. Without assimilation we are not "One Nation, under God", we are nothing more than a collection of tribes, each jockying for their own set of rules and standards.

[AlexMerced]

lol, for the record I agree that you should learn english to become a llegal immigrant, I'm not arguing that, I just think this outreach is pivotal for early states like Nevada and Florida, but trust me I agree with you guys a lot more than you think I do.

[mopar.bo]

I can't imagine too many Spanish speakers jumping on the Ron Paul bandwagon after a little investigation into his immigration policies.

[Arklatex]

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

Woah there, there are plenty of errors in that spanish ad, have they been addressed?

I'd be happy to point them out if they haven't already been fixed???

[AlexMerced]

most Latino are proenforcing the borders, my whoe family hates illegal immigration and are against the welfare state, and most Latinos I know share the same feelings. Plus the catholic thing.

Yeah I know theres errors, someone on facebook gave me re-write if you want to PM one to me and I'll be editing in a bit, again, I speakr spanish better than I write. My ajapnese ain't what it used to be, not it really got anywhere. I also need to get back on the ball with learning tagalog and yucatec.

[AlexMerced]

David Huerta (Phoenix, AZ) wrote
at 4:43pm
Ron Paul has so much to offer to Latin America, in terms of not strong-arming their governments into corruption via the CIA, not making them dependent on reserves of fiat currency, ending unfair trade policies that cripple the free-market production of corn in Mexico (thus causing immigration of Mexican farmers to US farms), and ending the countless loss of life in Latin America due to the drug war. Support for a mere fence on the Mexican border is hardly enough to deter the Spanish-speaking vote away from Dr. Paul. Viva la Revolucion!

I thought he put it pretty well

[mopar.bo]

It's not about what he can offer Latin America. How about what he can offer the United States of America? I don't give two wombat shits in Hell what those fuckers in Venezuela do or say. They aren't going to be voting in our elections anyway.

[Politeia]

This type of stuff is to be expected from a self-hating panderer like yourself.

Whaa? And whence comes this gem of psychoanalytic insight? How is it "self-hating" to prefer to be polite and generous in my encounters with others? The only sentiments I've seen in this thread that could be associated with "hatred" are not coming from me.


I can point out many an immigrant who refuses to learn English.

I expect I could too, if I bothered to look, since I live in one of the states hardest hit by the immigrant flood. (Which also happens to be the one state in the union which has two official languages, which I must regard as only fair, since [a] it was added by conquest rather than voluntarily, and [b] when it became a state the overwhelming majority were not English speakers.) And I would prefer for all such "immigrants" to be sent home. Nor would they have come here in the first place if not for the NWO policies pursued by the forces presently occupying Washington, D.C.

But I don't think Alex's parents are in this category, nor is everyone else who hasn't yet fully learned English. Have you ever tried to learn -- fully learn, as in complete fluency -- another language? Even with the best of intentions, it doesn't happen overnight. And though I'm skilled with languages, I recognize that not everyone is -- for instance, a friend's Japanese-born wife, who's been here for years, still isn't very good with English, though it's the only language she hears all day, and she certainly tries.

Again, my point is that the test for true "Americanism" ultimately should not be even linguistic, but political: Does the person really want to live in the America intended by the Founders, a.k.a. a Ron Paul America, of limited government and liberty based on self-responsibility? So far as I'm concerned, any such person is welcome, regardless of what language they speak at home. And, frankly, anyone who does not share these values is not welcome, even if they were born here.

BTW, is that Robert E. Lee I see in your avatar? You may be surprised to know that I regard him as one of the all-time greatest Americans, on a par with Washington, Jefferson, Madison, et al. Though my ancestors regrettably fought for Lincoln's imperialistic vision of a unitary America, I believe the Confederacy had more the right of that conflict.

[bjkrz]

To compare a deaf person with an immigrant is foolish. I can point out many an immigrant who refuses to learn English. Show me one deaf person who wouldn't love to be able to hear.

This type of stuff is to be expected from a self-hating panderer like yourself.

http://www.cochlearwar.com/

It's a complicated issue, there have certainly been cases where the deaf have ostracized those who learned to speak, or who have received implants to allow them some audio recognition (not the same as standard hearing). Certainly there are deaf people who choose to avoid 'assimilation' with the hearing world and stick to their own communities as much as possible.

I'm sad to see so much xenophobia here. Having studied Spanish for nearly 10 years on and off (never immersion), I understand quite a bit of the language. But English is and will always be my native language, and complex messages will always be better received in English than Spanish.

Some of Dr. Paul's message is complex, and the idea that we should dumb it down to simple English as a better alternative is ridiculous.

I though the goal was to make as many people as possible aware of Ron Paul's message, and a (good) Spanish translation is obviously going to be appreciated by native Spanish speakers, no matter how excellent their understanding of English is.

I grant that the Hispanic vote, with Paul's anti-amnesty stance, is perhaps a long shot. But let's not make it harder on ourselves people!

I applaud any supporter who contributes to a foreign language translation of Paul's message.

For the record, I'm for Amnesty along with reform, and it's one of the few places I disagree with Dr. Paul. In principle I think, sure, all illegals should be deported. In practice I can't see how this could ever be accomplished without massive unrest and/or violation of the civil liberties of *legal* Hispanic immigrants. If we didn't want them here, we shouldn't have let them in in the first place. Document the people who are here, tighten the borders, heavily fine anyone moving forward who employs illegals.

I couldn't believe what Romney said in the CNN debate replying to Giuliani(paraphrased)- "So, I have a hispanic looking worker sent by the company I pay for service. Should I say- ah, she's foreign looking, 'papers please'". One of the few respectable things out of his mouth that night.

[StateofTrance]

When you're finished with that, why don't you goose-step back to Moscow, comrade?

Like the thread starter said there's nothing wrong in getting their support even if that means using their language.

English should be taught in and out and the immigrants should take that into serious consideration. However, pushing English deep down their throat goes against the very essence of Liberty.

"No culture can live, if it attempts to be exclusive. " - Gandhi

And yes, I'm a liberal - better than being one of you cavemen from Alabama or Kansas.

[Politeia]

"One Nation, under God"

For the record, I also object to this idea. As a non-Christian, I am not "under" your "God". Please see the Constitution for the united states of America, Amendment I.

This phrase was added to the "Pledge of Allegiance" only in the 1950s, in case you're not aware. I can remember when, and even then I didn't care for it, though I was only about ten years old. (It was about that same time that "In God We Trust" was added to the already fake currency.) It was not anywhere in the Declaration or the Constitution. It is yet another piece of the ideology of the "unitary America" founded by ol' "honest" Abe with his imperial war. The "Pledge" was created only at the end of the 19th century, as part of the ramp-up of chauvinistic, jingoistic "patriotism" that led to the totally unjustified imperial war against Spain -- and then of course to WWI, etc.

[Corydoras]

They can vote, they can donate, I say reach out to them.

[AlexMerced]

http://bgsu.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=34843034&l=80163&id=20901846

Here is a version of the flyer using the quote from facebook that is in ENGLISH, hopefully this will be a fair compromise.

[coboman]

The translation is all wrong.

Prepositions and article genders are wrong.

Ok, here it goes:
"Vota por Ron Paul para presidente de los Estados Unidos."
"Él (with an accent) es un hombre de principios" And the rest I can´t understand.
Because the literal translation would be: "He is a man of beginning and freedom who wants to return to the virtues of the constitution"

And it is "Constitución".

Accents are very important in spanish, better send me the original message in english and I will translate for you.

[Mithridates]

Absolutely not. I'm not kissing any immigrant butt.

This is wrong, and here's why:

Even people fluent in an L2 are always more comfortable reading things in an L1 (and especially so with political documents), and also:

-Reading material in another language DOES NOT imply that the person has failed to learn English. IOW, you can have perfectly fluent English and still like to bust out an Armenian newspaper to see what's going on in the motherland. Also:

-Regardless of fluency in English, a person's mother tongue always jumps out at them first. A person from Japan reading this forum would ここで日本語を見たらびっくりするっちゃろう (be surprised if there was something written in Japanese here), even while spending hours and hours of their time to try to perfect their English and/or obtain citizenship. Lastly:

Many people, especially people from Asian countries such as Japan and Korea, have very developed countries and are concerned with illegal immigration themselves, and are impressed when somebody like Ron Paul is both AGAINST illegal immigration but FOR an increase of perfectly legal immigration, since that's what they want back home. Korea and Japan have a lot of workers from the Philippines, Vietnam (actually more spouses from Vietnam), India and so on in the country that work in factories and have a somewhat less than legal status.

[AlexMerced]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/SpanishFlyer2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/alexmerced/SpanishFlyer-1.jpg

[Mithridates]

these people do know english, and no one is saying we should change the language we do business in.

Communication standard are for commerce and education, that's what it's important for. But people always communicate best in their native language, like anyone here who has learned spanish still probably communicates best in english. I agree about protecting the borders but I mean jesus.

As far as american culture... american culture is the culture of diversity.


And most countries older than us have many languages spoken, and are still foing fine, hell in Switzerland they have enlgish and swedish as accepted language, don't feed me that line. Historical precedence is against you on that.

Yep (well technically in Switzerland it's German, French, Italian and Romansh), and let's not forget the best place in the world to do business (officially): Singapore. They've got four official languages: Malaysian, the local language, English another official language, Chinese is official too, and Tamil as well. Then there's the country of Qatar, with no income tax, and only about 20% Qatari, the rest of the people living there are from another country.

[coboman]

From the facebook image, here is my translation (please notice the accents):

"Viva la Revolución.

Ron Paul tiene mucho que ofrecer a Latinoamérica, por el hecho de que no forzaría a sus gobiernos a ser corruptos a través de la CIA. No hacerlos dependientes a reservas de dólares. Terminaría con prácticas de comercio injustas que lastiman el mercado del maíz en México (lo que a su vez provoca la inmigración de mexicanos a plantíos estadounidenses. También acabaría con con la guerra contra las drogas, que tantas vidas latinoamericanas ha costado

Aprende más. Visita:"

Anyway, this text is very dense, even in english. I don´t think an inmigrant is goint to get it, or even read it.
Mexican voters respond much better to comics. Images they can understand with few words.

In Mexico, a good comic can win an election.

[coboman]

It is "Constitución" Accent in the o
"Revolución" and "más"

[AlexMerced]

what's your email, I'll email you the photoshop file, I' suck at using special charachters

[coboman]

PM me

[coboman]

But consider the comic option, a good comic can go a long way with any group of the population that is not higly educated.

A comic strip with simple drawings would have much more impact.

[AlexMerced]

I'll have to revive the comic thread then

[wisconsinite]

With this in mind, consider how many nationalist-leaning Americans who'll get the wrong impression from a poster like this. While you may get a number of hispanic votes, you'll piss off many more traditional Americans. They'll automatically assume Dr. Paul is sympathetic to the illegal immigrant.

He's suggesting posting the flyer in a Spanish-speaking ghetto. How many of these "more traditional Americans" would even venture in the neighborhood to see it?

The truth is, this is a diverse country. And moreover, even more diverse countries have held together. Take Switzerland, for example. The Swiss speak either German, French, or Italian depending on which part of the country they live in. Last I checked, their country is doing fine. Lots of prosperity and they haven't even been targeted by international terrorists despite their freedoms.

[szczebrzeszyn]

You forgot Poland! :D

[AlexMerced]

He's suggesting posting the flyer in a Spanish-speaking ghetto. How many of these "more traditional Americans" would even venture in the neighborhood to see it?

The truth is, this is a diverse country. And moreover, even more diverse countries have held together. Take Switzerland, for example. The Swiss speak either German, French, or Italian depending on which part of the country they live in. Last I checked, their country is doing fine. Lots of prosperity and they haven't even been targeted by international terrorists despite their freedoms.

Yeah I mentioned the Swiss earlier, Ron Paul said he'd like to be the Swedish president in the google interview, since they practice his views.

But yeah, use the flyr if you want, don't if you don't

[Mithridates]

BTW, here's a list of the countries with the highest GDP per capita in the world:

1 Luxembourg 87,955 <- three official languages
2 Norway 72,306 <- one official language
3 Qatar 62,914 <-- one language, <-- one official language
5 Switzerland 51,771 <-- four official languages
6 Denmark 50,965 <-- one official language
7 Ireland 44,500 <-- two official languages
8 United States 44,190
9 Sweden 42,383 <-- one official language
10 Netherlands 40,571 <-- one official language
11 Finland 40,197 <-- two official languages
12 United Kingdom 39,213 <-- one official language (seven recognized regional languages)
13 Austria 38,961 <-- one official language
14 Canada 38,951 <-- two official languages
15 Belgium 37,214 <-- two official languages

The only conclusion that can be drawn, then, is that the number of official languages in a country have very little to do with their prosperity and stability either way. Don't forget that the new country of Montenegro split from Serbia, a country that speaks pretty much the same language, same for Croatia (different letters but pretty much the same language). In that part of the world the people that spoke pretty much the same language hated each other the most.

[AlexMerced]

BTW, here's a list of the countries with the highest GDP per capita in the world:

1 Luxembourg 87,955 <- three official languages
2 Norway 72,306 <- one official language
3 Qatar 62,914 <-- one language, <-- one official language
5 Switzerland 51,771 <-- four official languages
6 Denmark 50,965 <-- one official language
7 Ireland 44,500 <-- two official languages
8 United States 44,190
9 Sweden 42,383 <-- one official language
10 Netherlands 40,571 <-- one official language
11 Finland 40,197 <-- two official languages
12 United Kingdom 39,213 <-- one official language (seven recognized regional languages)
13 Austria 38,961 <-- one official language
14 Canada 38,951 <-- two official languages
15 Belgium 37,214 <-- two official languages

The only conclusion that can be drawn, then, is that the number of official languages in a country have very little to do with their prosperity and stability either way. Don't forget that the new country of Montenegro split from Serbia, a country that speaks pretty much the same language, same for Croatia (different letters but pretty much the same language). In that part of the world the people that spoke pretty much the same language hated each other the most.

I would say financial stability of a country in general has to do more with the a countys lifespan, and that usally is eithe r caused by a lack of resources or interventionist policies that limit trade.

Again, Ron Paul isn't against open borders, he's against the welfare state which is why he we need to enforce the borders, he got into this during the Morgan State debate. That if the market is truly free, and ONLY THEN, is it possible to have an open border in which case we'll need it cause the demand will be there.

But ina free market Mexico would be doing better as well so people will hav less incentive to leave.

[lasenorita]

Most of my flyers are pretty simple.
<snip>
Can you guys live with those?

Those are very good flyers, Alex. :)

What I meant by simplicity, however, was not the simplicity of the design, but rather the simplicity of the English. I feel that American voters with limited English skills will have a difficult time relating to "Sound Monetary Policy" and "Protect Civil Liberties". "Strong American Money" and "Protect US Borders" will probably create a more memorable impression, imho.

I have no problem with the distribution of flyers in different languages. I understand that English is part of American culture and US identity, but I also realize that learning and speaking another language is not necessarily unpatriotic.

According to the CIA World Factbook (http://https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html), 10.7% of our population speak Spanish. Another 3.4% speak other languages. That's a lot of potential voters! If a flyer in their language persuades them to do more research and vote for their future President (Ron Paul :D ), then I think that's an awesome idea!

[Mithridates]

Even easier than that (since many learners of English have trouble with short headline-type sentences) would be something like:

"American money must be strong"
"The United States border should be protected"

"Strong American Money" is good but might look like it's simply making the claim that American money is very strong, and sometimes people get confused between US and emphasizing "us" (protect us, borders!). Make a sentence a bit longer and grammatically easy to parse though, and there is much less chance of misinterpretation.

[Mithridates]

Oh, one other comment on this subject:

What's the largest danger to English as a language? It's not other languages, but rather the possible morphing of international English into a type of world creole. Since English throughout the world is only used by 10% of its speakers as a first language, that means that most of the time it's used between people who don't understand it perfectly and are going to make the odd grammatical mistake. For a person who doesn't speak it as a mother tongue, the odd mistake here and there is not so jarring, and if it gets the point across then who cares?

Continue this for a while, and eventually there may emerge a type of simplified pidgin similar to Tok Pisin in Papua New Guinea and Bislama in Vanuatu. Maybe here and there people are going to decide that the th sound is too hard, and since people on the internet often write words like 'that' as 'dat', well then why not? And since they write you as u, let's just write u all the time, even on official documents between large companies. Eventually this could branch off into a new language, and all the protesting in the world in countries where English is the mother tongue aren't going to make any difference, since those people are using fogey, old-school grammatically correct English with the difference between who and whom still in use, for example.

See the development of Afrikaans from Dutch as a good example of how this happens. In Afrikaans:

Ik ben, jij bent, hij is, wij zijn, etc. (the verb to be)
turned into
ek is, jou is, hy is, ons is, etc.
Grammatical gender, past perfect, and a whole bunch of other things went straight out the window and resulted in a new language.

The best way to prevent this? Use correct English, even when writing online. This is where the real battle lies.

[hasan]

i can attest to the fact that people who are not fluent in english but are citizens of United States are interested in the politics of this country. the message of ron paul is freedom and it is a universal language. it is just one word but nonetheless a powerful word. i can guarantee you that if you try to reach voters that arent fluent in english in their own language you will score.
an idea for fliers may be to translate the word freedom into several languages in bold. you may even put the word freedom in several languages on one flier and it would serve its purpose of reaching several demographics.
as for the illegal immigration stance that ron paul believes in. don't ever assume that citizens who are not fluent in english are pro amnesty. they came here legally and believe me they don't appreciate people cutting ahead of others.
lastly i don't appreciate any of the anti immigration comments. im anti illegal immigration but pro immigration. immigration certainly isn't against the constitution

[hasan]

oh and one other thing Alex. Since your moving to New York you might want to make fliers in

Bengali and Urdu as well. Once again these people are probably fluent enough in English to

understand what 'vote for ron paul' means but its just more effective to state it in their own

languages

[AlexMerced]

oh and one other thing Alex. Since your moving to New York you might want to make fliers in

Bengali and Urdu as well. Once again these people are probably fluent enough in English to

understand what 'vote for ron paul' means but its just more effective to state it in their own

languages

sure, why not

[AlexMerced]

http://causeoffreedom.blogspot.com/2007/12/12-immigration-and-language-barrier.html

thought I'd revive the thread cause of my blog post from the morning above there