Companies Stress English Only on the Job,

¶ … companies Stress English Only on the Job," from Bridging the Gap, pages 373- 374, the authors take the position try to infer that company policies regarding "English only" are unfair. I agree with the article's inference and their point-of-view.

In the first paragraph, the authors chose to relate a case study about Frances Arreola. I agree with the article's point-of-view and what it is inferring -- that English-only policies are unfair. While I assume that the case studies are factual, I noticed that the way it was presented suggested that the authors are inferring that the practice is not a good one. The article opens with the sentence: "When Frances Arreola read the memo announcing that employees should speak only English on the job, she was outraged. The word "outraged" gives me clues as to not only how Arreola feels, but how the authors feel about the policy. This also gives me clues as to the authors' points-of-view. If the authors were neutral or disagreed with Arreolas viewpoint they could have chosen a word such as "irritated" or "annoyed" instead of "outraged.

When I read the first paragraph, I too felt outraged. I felt this way, because I have seen how difficult it is for people to steer away from speaking their native languages. It was also obvious to me that the people within the companies who subscribed to the English-only rule, do not understand anything about how language works. In my observation, I have noticed incidents that validate the authors' point-of-view. The first is that people normally speak whatever language is most comfortable for both people involved in a conversation. For example, a woman who immigrated to the United States and had a child soon thereafter, will probably speak to her child in her native language. The mother and child will grow accustomed (comfortable) communicating in the foreign language. Even after the two are comfortable speaking English, they will continue to speak the foreign language to each other. I have also noticed that in group settings, where two such speakers are speaking English, that they are uncomfortable and will unconsciously throw in foreign phrases and words when addressing each other.

The authors have based their article on fact, in a way that attempts to educate the reader as to the negative side of the issue of "English-only policies." Facts that support their ideas come from indirect quotes from people they have spoken to, such as "employees who feel they have a right to speak in a more familiar language as long as it doesn't affect their work;" and direct quotes, such as "It [speaking another language] just feels comfortable." The authors have also presented facts, such as the rules by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. These facts caused me to react positively to the point that the authors try to make.

On the other hand, I reacted sympathetically to the opposing side that the authors presented. I have been in situations where people leave me out of a conversation, because they are speaking a different language. The authors describe an outsider feeling as if the Spanish-chatting ladies are "whispering behind our backs." I believe that this is a justified feeling and one that illustrates the other side's point-of-view.

A reacted positively to the idea that the authors presented as a solution -- sensitivity training. I believe, having looked at the situation from both sides, that imagining myself in someone else's shoes can be quite an eye-opening, rather, ear-opening experience.

Question 4B

There are three abstract concepts at play in John Rasmus "Letter from the Editor" in National Geographic's Adventure Magazine, found in the March 2003 edition -- purpose, fact and inference. The main purpose is to whet the appetite of the reader to make him or her want to read the story that follows in the same edition. To achieve his main purpose of making the reader want to read on, the author has used the abstract concepts of inference and fact vs. opinion to accomplish this goal.

The letter begins with fact. "It was a simple discovery -- an 800-year-old hand-fired pot on a sandstone ledge in Utah's Grand Gulch -- but it changed the way Contributing Editor David Roberts would look at the Southwest forever." Rasmus continues with fact when he describes how David Roberts' life was changed. In the following paragraph, the author continues stating facts based on Roberts' book, In Search of Old Ones. By quoting from the book he uses fact to whet the appetite of the reader to read more. "For some reason it's the one book that, when I was done with it, I wasn't done," he [Roberts] says." This is a fact that makes the reader wonder just what is in this book and article that keeps on going. After the opening paragraph, Rasmus continues using fact to accomplish his goal. Because Adventure Magazine targets people with an adventurous spirit or who are physically adventurous, he continues with fact to attract readers to the Roberts' article. For example, he states: "Most recently, Robert spent three weeks on top of Utah's Kaiparowits Plateau -- a 6,000-foot desert in the sky, as he puts it, right in the heart of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument." The fact that Robert spent three weeks there, makes the reader wonder what he did for three weeks communing with nature. The fact that the Plateau is 6,000 makes the three-week stay appear as a grand accomplishment. Through the use of fact Rasmus has the reader intrigued.

The author carefully selects excerpts from Roberts' article, which follows in the magazine, to infer that Roberts has found something that all the magazine's readers should strive to find. The purpose of his inference, is again, to whet the reader's appetite to read the article. In the second sentence he says, "In tracing the past of the Anasazi, those prehistoric Puebloans, Roberts had begun with the national parks and monuments that guarded their secrets." Here the author is trying to infer, by the use of "guarded their secrets," that there is more to find than what an adventurer would normally expect at a national park. Later on, he quotes Roberts as saying, "I've gone out there every spring and fall since. I'm just sort of insatiable." It is interesting that the author chose this quote. The purpose of the article is to make the reader want to read more -- the word "insatiable" means never satisfied. By definition, a person who is insatiable wants more.