Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 00:49:29 +0200 From: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Dual language (was: cvs commit: src/sys/alpha/alpha clock.c) Message-ID: <20020526224928.GA1520@lpt.ens.fr> In-Reply-To: <3CF15CAD.C05C6BEE@mindspring.com> References: <20020522050350.GA266@lpt.ens.fr> <20020523124604.Z45715@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20020523061551.GA237@lpt.ens.fr> <20020523155541.H230@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20020523063222.GA470@lpt.ens.fr> <p0511170eb9127dabc846@[10.0.1.8]> <20020525075741.GC630@foo31-146.visit.se> <20020525175337.F84264@wantadilla.lemis.com> <20020526094106.GA345@foo31-146.visit.se> <3CF15CAD.C05C6BEE@mindspring.com>
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Terry Lambert said on May 26, 2002 at 15:07:41: > > There are studies that show that a speaker of a minority language > > tends to be sentenced to harsher punishments, for instance. > > Maybe in countries where the people speaking the languages hold > grudges for forever; but in the U.S., studies have shown that > non-Spanish speakers don't get sentenced to harsher sentences in > counties in Southern California and Miami, where Spanish is now > the majority language. That's an unusual situation. The question then is, is Spanish the majority languages among the judges, the jury, the lawyers? There is plenty of evidence that blacks do get harsher sentences in the US, compared to whites. > > If one writes to some kind of authority, asking for a permit or > > whatnot, chances are that the request will simply be ignored, either > > because the receiver doesn't understand the writers language, or > > because he/she doesn't _want_ to understand > > I think that most U.S. citizens will take this as evidence that the > government you are speaking of is corrupt. > > Using language or ethnicity (when it's even discernible) as a > controlling factor in public policy administration is generally viewed > as corruption, by definition, by U.S. citizens. It's favouritism, discrimination, whatever -- but corruption? Corruption is the exchange of money for favours. It's nothing to do with language or ethnicity. > There are plenty of news reports having to deal with commerce that > discuss, for example, how long it takes to get a business license > in various provinces in India, if you are unwilling or unable to > bribe someone. The time is measured in months or even years. Seems kind of irrelevant to the topic above, of discrimination against speakers of different languages. If the official in these situations is corrupt, don't imagine that it will be easier if you speak his language. - Rahul To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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