Schwarzenegger: Turn Off Spanish TV

[tommie gorman]

Damn right. GO ARNOLD 

At least no one can say he is predjudiced. 

(06-14) 16:29 PDT San Jose, Calif. (AP) --

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told a gathering of Hispanic journalists that immigrants should avoid Spanish-language media if they want to learn English quickly.

"You've got to turn off the Spanish television set" and avoid Spanish-language television, books and newspapers, the Republican governor said Wednesday night at the annual convention of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.

"You're just forced to speak English, and that just makes you learn the language faster," Schwarzenegger said.

"I know this sounds odd and this is the politically incorrect thing to say, and I'm going to get myself in trouble," he said, noting that he rarely spoke German and was forced to learn English when he emigrated from Austria.

Schwarzenegger was responding to a question about how Hispanic students can improve academically. Many journalists for Spanish-language organizations in the audience were surprised by the remarks.

"I'm sitting shaking my head not believing that someone would be so naive and out of it that he would say something like that," said Alex Nogales, president and chief executive of the National Hispanic Media Coalition.

Hispanic immigrants need Spanish-language media to stay informed and "function in this society," Nogales said.

Schwarzenegger has garnered more Hispanic support than most Republican governors in the past two elections, despite some seemingly anti-immigration blunders

[Le_Murphant]

Hmm, that was a bit crude, but I can understand up to a certain extent. Lower level english speakers in my classes were assigned to look at television in english, it should be the same with hispanics. That doesn't mean that one should ban spanish media but hispanics should be encouraged to listen to some media in english too to learn it. I'm surprised that a Holywood actor such as Arnold is actually able to govern a state mildly well 

[saygoodie]

I think he's a good governor, I'm from California and I"m hispanic and I agree that spanish speakers should limit how much spanish tv they watch, but there are a lot of places in California where you don't need to know a word of english. maybe yes and thank you but that's about it.

[jypagan]

I'm puertorican and thats one of the way i learned English by lowering the amount of Spanish TV channels i watched when i got to the states. now its just normal for me. and now i actually have trouble sometimes when talking to my parents LOL but they understand why !

[saygoodie]

That's cool, well i don't speak spanish, i can understand it pretty good though. don't ask...