Bilingualism

Editor's note: This edition of Blowback offers four responses to the package of three Op-Eds about bilingual education that The Times ran on July 11. The opinion pieces — "The Spanish road to English" by Bruce Fuller, "A skill, not a weakness" by Laurie Olsen and Shelly Spiegel-Coleman, and "Quality Counts" by Alice Callaghan — generated a lot of feedback from readers, and much of the "Letters to the editor" section on...

When Jordan Hoffner left YouTube last fall, the former head of content partnerships had just begun forging deals with Hollywood studios to provide television and movie clips to the Internet video giant. The former NBC digital media executive's wrangling with Time Warner Inc., the Walt Disney Co. and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., among others, took years to conclude because of concerns over cannibalizing existing business relationships and questions about whether the videos would reach the desired audience.

Riverside County must translate ballots and other election materials into Spanish and provide trained bilingual poll workers under a settlement agreement announced Friday by the U.S. Department of Justice. The county also agreed to allow federal observers to monitor polling places on election days, to designate a person to coordinate the county's Spanish-language election program and to start a community outreach group. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the Riverside County Registrar of Voters alleging that the officials failed to offer election-related information and assistance to Spanish-speaking voters as required under the law. The Voting Rights Act requires that counties with a significant population of Spanish-speaking residents must provide voting materials and help in both languages, according to the Justice Department.

City officials in Baja California state are drafting plans for a bilingual police force that caters to U.S. tourists headed south of the border. The plan, announced at San Diego City Hall, is to create a joint Mexican force that patrols a 50-mile tourist corridor from Tijuana through Rosarito Beach to Ensenada. Tourism in the region has been battered by drug-fueled violence, congested border crossings and a weak economy. San Diego police officers will help train the officers. Details have not been worked out, but Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos said the joint force could have as many as 350 officers.

They say things like " Antes de la break" and " Mira que cute." One is a clownish, Puerto Rican-born 28-year-old who ditched studying engineering to pursue a career in entertainment, another is an outspoken SoCal native who once had a penchant for crashing cars. The Spanglish? It just comes naturally. They're a new generation of Latino television personalities: attractive, plugged in and conversant not only in Spanglish argot but in a complex, shifting culture. Their employers believe they are offering young viewers a cool, and marketable, connection to this culture.

Reflecting an increased effort by the Girl Scouts to attract young Latinas and their mothers, the Spanish Trails Council in Montclair is offering a bilingual camp for the first time this summer. The one-day "Las Divas de Hoy" will be held twice over the summer. Many of the planned activities are the same as other Girl Scouts camps -- painting nails, crafts and fashion shows -- but there will also be salsa dancing and flower arranging.

County officials on Saturday dedicated a more than $30-million civic center in East Los Angeles that took nearly a decade to complete. The center, at 4801 E. Third St., serves residents of the unincorporated neighborhood, as well as those from Montebello, Monterey Park, Commerce and Los Angeles. Angie Castro, a spokeswoman for L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina, whose district includes East L.A., called the center the heart of the neighborhood.

"So today I was thinking: 'Should I speak Japanese, or English tonight?' " Universal Japan recording artist Ai said from the El Rey Theatre stage recently. The near-sellout crowd, mostly Japanese expatriates and Asian Americans living in Los Angeles, screamed replies, some in English, some in Japanese. "I'll just speak music," she said with a laugh, before launching into an up-tempo R&B jam -- in Japanese with an English chorus.

Eighteen-year-old Brian Morales represents a growing segment of America that baffles advertisers, broadcast networks and cable channels. The Santa Monica College freshman listens to Metallica and Linkin Park on his iPod. He also likes rock en espanol such as La Ley and Mana. His favorite TV show is the sci-fi drama "Heroes" on NBC and he tunes in to Univision to watch news and soccer with his dad. He's equally at ease in English and Spanish. "My culture is not ordinary.

Re "Biding their tongues," Column One, Nov. 12 This article feeds on and fosters Americans' xenophobia. The solution to rudeness or embarrassment over whether and when to use English or Spanish does not lie in the article's "Do's" and "Don'ts." Just ask. If you're not bilingual, ask, "Do you speak English?" If you are, ask, "English or Spanish?" An honest question is not rude.