2. do/did your parents speak more than one language? Nope, just english.
3. i live in florida, and we have many spanish-only signs/billboards, and it is beneficial to learn spanish. would you learn another language if there was a strong minority presence in your community? Thats partially why I learned Spanish. I lived 8 miles from the Mexican border in McAllen, TX. at least 90% of the population is hispanic. Therefore, you learn spanish or you get talked about and made fun of, right in front of your face. I was working at my Dad's restaurant, and the salad bar ladies did that to me all the time. I let it go, and just gave them the evil eye (good in any language). Meanwhile I was taking Spanish in college, and being that close to Mexico, I was immersed in it, so I picked it up quick. One day, I heard them talking about me, I understood what they were saying, and I just joined in on the conversation. The look on their faces was priceless.
Here in Atlanta, there are sooo many different cultures, that a second language is always helpful. There are schools where 100+ languages are spoken as either a student's first or second language. Despite that, hispanics are the dominant minority, so Spanish is definatley helpful here.
4. many state, federal and local legal forms are available in other languages. my children's school forms are always presented in english, spanish, and haitian creole, and it makes for a lot of money spent on printing for my daughter's school district. do you think that these should ONLY be an english? It depends on the community in which the school is. In your area, those 3 languages are most helpful. In New Haven, Connecticut, it may be OK to just print stuff in english. There are some who will say, "They've come to our country, they should learn our language." Well, english is not, nor will it ever be the "official" language of the United States. And there are many many people who were born here in the U.S. and are just as American as anyone else, but they don't speak english because their parents are immigrants. And what about the people who become citizens, they sometimes don't speak very much english, why should they have to miss out on something.
5. due to the U.S.' being so removed from other languages (as opposed to western europe), we are mainly monolingual (speaking only one language). do you think that there should be a push for americans becoming more multi-lingual, or are we o.k. with knowing just one language? Not until its a hindrance to only speak one language. And that won't happen for many many years.
6. a big controversy has been with 'ebonics,' a term for 'black english.' some people think it's a language, others think it's a dialect of english. ultimately, people who speak 'black english' are usually discriminated against in getting jobs and also housing. do you think that black americans should conform and speak 'standard american english' to get better jobs and housing? why or why not? Ebonics is a word that someone created. Its not a language, or a dialect. Yes, in this country, a dialect in addition to your skin color will get you discriminated against. But you can't change your skin color. You can change how you talk. Unlike those who speak with an hispanic accent, ebonics is an indication of your intelligence. You know the right way to speak, but you choose not to, whether by laziness or societal pressure. How many college professors do you know speak ebonics? How many Rhodes scolars speak in ebonics?
7. i love french ... i speak it, i read it, i watch a huge amount of french cinema. it's very expressive and melodic. what's your favourite language - either to speak, or to listen to? why? Italian, because it reminds me of my relatives and gangstas.
8. i hate listening to german and arabic - i love the people, BUT i find german sounds halting and gutteral, and arabic is so 'throaty' that it just doesn't seem feminine to me. what language do you dislike listening to OR speaking? I agree with those two. When I hear German, I either picture Hitler barking order to the Nazis, or Siegfried and Roy or Mike Myers "Dieter" character. I know those are terrible stereotypes, but I'm a terrible person and thats what the german language sounds like to me. 
As for Arabic, whenever I hear it I think of terrorists or the guy who runs the Kwik-E-Mart. I expect them to end the conversation with, "Sank you, come again."
What are your thoughts? Hit the comments and release your inner Siegfried and Roy.
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