Asked at a news briefing in the Rose Garden on Friday whether he believed the anthem would have the same value in Spanish as it did in English, Mr. Bush said flatly, “No, I don’t.“
“And I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English,” Mr. Bush said. “And they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English.“
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It’s about damn time that someone said this – and President Bush, at that! I’ve been saying it for years – you are in America, we speak English, you need to learn to speak English if you don’t know how already! Conversely, I am currently living in Saudi Arabia [yeah, lucky me], I have taken Conversational Arabic I, and am currently taking an Arabic writing class. I may never learn to speak or learn to read and write Arabic fluently, but I am determined to make the effort. I’m in Saudi, they speak and write in Arabic… The saying, “When in Rome do as the Roman’s do” comes to mind.