ENGLISH ONLY, EVEN IF BROKEN

By Timothy Pratt

Thursday, Dec. 20, 2007 | 7:12 a.m.

A blog tied to a recently created group of Hispanic Republicans in Nevada includes several posts that sharply favor using English in the public sphere. The hitch: They're in broken English.

This creates an interesting conundrum.

What happens if you express American conservative values for English in the broken language of immigrants? Does it undercut the message, or even matter?

Otto Santa Ana, associate professor of Chicana and Chicano studies at UCLA, called the blog's posts "a sad, pitiful irony." But Tibi Ellis, vice president of the Nevada chapter of the Republican National Hispanic Assembly and the blog's author, said the important thing is the effort. "I'm trying to live," she added, "on what I believe."

In the blog, titled "Hispanic Republicans NV," Ellis said she is "representing the thoughts and positions of Hispanic Republicans in Nevada." At the same time, she said, it isn't an official publication of the party.

It includes a post about Univision's recent broadcast of a forum held in Miami by Republican presidential candidates. The post, titled "Lost in Translation," argues against simultaneously translating candidate responses from English into Spanish. Another post, "Being Republican is as American as apple pie," rips members of Congress who voted against a bill to make English the nation's official language.

It and other posts include the following phrases: "Don't let the press full you."

"It will be of no justice or respect to jump the undocumented immigrants on the front of the line."

"Some of them are running to the presidency."

Ellis said, "It doesn't matter if the English is correct," as long as the message is understood. "The important thing is to look at the real reason for ... supporting English as an official language."

Santa Ana, a linguist, called such proposals "exclusionary" and said they are "indicators of anxiety among Hispanic Republicans about whether they are patriotic or not."

The "logical extension of the 'language as nation' argument," he said, "is whether we should exclude anyone who does not speak standard English. They themselves would be excluded."

Luis Valera, an independent who ran for the Assembly as a Republican in 2002 and participated in efforts to organize local Hispanic members of the GOP, said communicating such a message in broken English "undercuts the credibility of the author."

He said the posts appear to be written by "overzealous (Hispanics) anxious to seek approval" of the Republican Party. As for whether the blog represents Nevada's Hispanic Republicans, Valera pointed out that Ellis is a "recognized leader of a certified, recognized part of the Republican Party."

But Ellis insisted the message was her own, and that it gets across. "I think readers are understanding the blog," she said.

"As a Hispanic Republican, a lot of people think we come here for welfare and other social programs ... we're saying we don't expect to be catered to."

She added she could have gotten help in correcting the posts, but thought it wasn't needed for a blog. "This isn't a research paper," she said.

Not only that, the English spoken and written throughout the United States, she pointed out, is not always perfect.

"We live in a society where we don't meet that standard."