Should English Be America's Official Language?

[Placebo]

Heck, even Canada has 2 official languages, English & French. :)

[Spinzonner]

1. I'd be willing to consider it but

only a tiny minority of the population actually speaks it worth a damn.

[BringEmOn]

2. Should be the official language of the POTUS.

[Sandpiper]

3. The U.S. not having an official language was a deliberate move

By the founding fathers.

The idea was that since it was an immigrant nation, anyone could be American.

[Lone Pawn]

4. If we had to pick one, yes. Obviously.

And it should be the *only* official language at this moment. States should declare that signage be bilingual if it's a problem; there's no reason to force Rhode Island and Maine to comply--it'll realistically just spark an anti-Mexican backlash.

No reason to declare an official language, though.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. Absolutely not n/t

[Lone Pawn]

6. There are four options here.

A: I think we ought have an official language and it ought be English.
B: I think we ought have several official languages, one of which is English.
C: I think we ought have an official language, and it ought not be English.
D: I think we ought not have an official language.

[Placebo]

7. Hmm...

maybe our officially language should be "American Standard" which is what my European History professor told me is what we really speak here in the states; we don't really speak English...:shrug:

[Lone Pawn]

16. We do speak English.

We speak American Standard English. By your prof's logic, educated Britons do not speak English, because they speak "Received Pronunciation."

[Maple]

8. Canada has many languages

Chinese is actually our third largest language.

But we kept it to two...cuts down on the paperwork. :D

English as the ONLY official language of the US will only last until the Spanish speakers become the majority...and then bye bye official English.

Don't waste your time on this stuff.

[Placebo]

14. Spanish speakers the MAJORITY in America???

shh, don't tell Pat Buchanan. ;)

[ForrestGump]

9. Yes (though Navajo could be cool)

Personally, I think Ebonics should be the official language of government here. It'd spice things up in Congress, at least, almost making it on a level with the Rowdy Boys' Club known as the British House of Commons.

"Yo, tell da ni*** from Delaware ta read da brief, sucka. Ya'll is mad stupid."

(my thanks to an Ebonics translation Web site)


*** = please reference Blazing Saddles (1974)

[ForrestGump]

12. P.S.: first, of course, we'd have to TEACH Americans English

Geography might be good, too.

[Igel]

19. Navajo would be a horrible language.

It relies heavily on context. Modern society relies crucially on decontextualized writings.

[HEyHEY]

10. Nope - land of the free doesn't specify "English Only"

[whistle]

11. The official language should be a combination of Latin, Klingon and

...whatever it was that Mr Spock's native language was.

[Solon]

13. Well, according to the CIA Factbook...

Our "Official" Languages are Spanish and English.

[Placebo]

15. Nope.

It has a little "(official)" next to the language if it really is one of the nation's official languages, look up Canada or some other country, you'll see ;hi:

[Solon]

29. Hence the reason for the quotes...

I put in official, we don't have an official language, only dominate ones, and those are English and Spanish, have been since Texas joined the Union, technically. To be honest, I really don't see a need for an Official language in this Country enshrined in law. Where is the problem this is supposed to solve again?

[laura888]

17. What language will our highway signs be in?

Will the stop sign need to be in 2-3 languages?

Really - this is a very practical matter. Pick one and stick to it. Otherwise, there will be mass confusion.

[BuyingThyme]

21. Tell us more about your mass confusion.

How do you cope?

[laura888]

24. tell me what language the stop sign should be in n/t

[BuyingThyme]

28. I don't have to tell you what language they SHOULD be in,

because they're already in English, as far as I can tell.

Can you tell us about the non-English stop signs you're seeing?

[Solon]

34. Also another factor...

ever had the sign test to get your license in your state? In ours, you must be able to identify the signs without writing on them. Really think about it, Stop Signs are Red Octagons, Wrong way signs are a Circle with an incomplete white bar in the center, horizontal, on a white sign, etc. These are the standards in this country, and oddly enough, they really don't need any language on them to be understood at all. Even speed limit signs have huge numbers on them, you can barely read the "Speed limit" text, and our roads are a series of I-##, or MM, M, or numerous other initials and numbers combined. What language are those written in again?

[laura888]

36. no - what about "chicago - 5 miles"

what language should that be written in?

[ulysses]

38. Swahili.

Damn, some of you folks need hobbies. Do you lose sleep at night worrying about the language of the fripping street signs?

[laura888]

40. its a big deal if you're trying to get somewhere

ever tried to get to Chicago minus maps, GPS or highway signs?

this is the question for the poster:

does "official language" = language in street signs

[ulysses]

43. I think it's safe to assume

that they won't suddenly switch all the maps and signs into a different language. But say that they added supplementary signs in another language appropriate to the part of the country. What would be the big deal?

[laura888]

47. why?

and in what language?

[ulysses]

55. why what?

And you didn't answer my question.

I don't see a problem with having dual signs where populations of non-English speakers would make it worthwhile. That would probably be Spanish in most of the country, but it would depend.

[Solon]

44. Actually I've seen such signs shortened to "5 mi."

But that it besides the point, using deductive reasoning, which, by golly, foriegners of all types have, our standard of unit for roads is miles, which people of all persuasions actually have a rough idea of how long that is in feet or so, or at least on the odometer on the car. So is it really so hard for them or us to figure out a sign reading this?

Chicago--5 mi.

[Telly Savalas]

50. The signs on the highways around here are in both English and French

and it doesn't seem to be disrupting traffic. What's the big deal?

[BuyingThyme]

53. Is CHICAGO a Native American word?

[Bill McBlueState]

68. if in Spanish

If in Spanish, your sign would say

Chicago - 5 millas

Would that confuse you and cause you to drive into Lake Michigan by mistake?

[laura888]

72. why not 5 kilometers?

If we're going to use multiple languages, why not multiple measuring systems?

[Solon]

82. It would be factually wrong if both were placed on the same sign...

as the same number for one. Also, the system of measurements in this country are fucked up to begin with, it is even a hodgepodge of different measurements, why can you buy a liter of OJ, but a Gallon of Milk? Not to mention our temperature system, why use metric for cooking and Fahrenheit for weather? However, at least in our measurements of distance, we are somewhat consistant, but then again, it matters little, as a practical matter, Miles are the default, Kilometer isn't, so there is almost no debate about that, and in some countries they use both. Ever been to Cancun Mexico, its one of the "hotspots" of tourism, and, believe it or not, many of the signs are bilingual, though they stick to the Km measurement just fine. I was able to drive a rented VW beetle to the ruins with little trouble, so again, I see no problem here.

[Solon]

87. Actually another consideration I forgot to mention...

Why aren't you complaining about our speedometers, look closely, they have both the Miles and Kilometers on them, or if digital, you can switch between one or the other with a push of a button. Is that PC, or just good marketing so you can have minimal effort in transposing an American Car into Europe or Japan, and vice versa? I can drive my car from Alaska to Chile and not have to worry about getting the speeds wrong. That is because all I have to worry about are the numbers, not the labels attributed after them, just the knowledge that I'm in a km standard or English standard country.

[laura888]

35. sorry - I'm a little confused by "official language"

Currently, English is the primary language taught in our schools and the only one used in our national highway system.

Does this not make it our "official language"? Is this a bad thing?

I'm afraid that if there is no official language for our national highway system, then our signs will have to be in multiple languages.

Seems a little impractical.

[BuyingThyme]

39. There is no official language for our national highway system,

and the signs are not in multiple languages.

[laura888]

42. so....

...someone just decided that all signs would be in English.

But its not official policy?

[BuyingThyme]

45. I don't know how the decision was made, but it's not

because of any official language. (There isn't one.)

Maybe they figured English would be the best language to use since so many people speak English.

[Solon]

48. It also required another skill...

The ability to read English, which many people in the country had little of at the time the system was created. Hence the reason so many of these signs have different shapes and designs. This standard has even been used in other areas of life where signage is requred, like bathroom signs, you know the Guy/Gal signs, and newer unisex signs. This is done to minimize confusion, think of the Yield sign, you know what it means just by looking at it, you don't have to read the word written on it to yeild to oncoming traffic. The Caution sign, same thing, be careful, letters written on it are for information you don't necessarily need to know, but put there anyways, to minimize confusion. I don't get the whole beef about this myself.

[Solon]

41. Question...

Where is the need for an official language for our Highway system:

If a Sign says:

El Paso
---->

on the highway, does that mean the official language is Spanish, on the Highway system. The same could be applied for all our road signs, a person who has been here for any length of time knows what a stop sign is for, even if they can't read the "STOP" written on the sign, and all our other signs are the same way. The only exception to that are informational and street label signs. Even that is debatable, I drive onto Hiawatha street all the time, does that mean our road signage is in a Native American language?

The system was created when almost half the country was illiterate for crying out loud. It has a "backup" system of sorts by using colors and designs to indicate intent and information. This is not limited to English only either.

[laura888]

46. You may have a point here

Would the highway system work fine if all signs had nothing but universal symbols, city and town names and street names?

Possibly.

But then there are those pesky tax forms...
what language should those be in?

[Solon]

49. Whatever language is requested of course...

If an 80 year old recent immigrant has to all of the sudden HAVE to learn english to just file for taxes, then we are in trouble.

[laura888]

54. check the IRS website

http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=118506,00.html

looks like the only ones available on this page are in English. Possibly, they ARE available in other languags....but someone made the decision that most people required forms written in English.

Was this an "official" decision?

[Solon]

57. Online that may be true...

Who knows about local offices or libraries. They usually take into account local or regional languages as well. That's part of the problem, there are sections of the country where English speakers are outnumbered by mostly Spanish speakers, is it really fair to the majority in these cases to have a language imposed on them, even in benign forms that seem innocuous to us? IMHO, this "issue" is a solution looking for a problem, in other words, its not worth even considering as a matter of law. We have other, more practical ways, of dealing with such issues.

[laura888]

62. I don't really care about the law

I'm only concerned about the confusion resulting from government signs/instructions being offered in multiple languages (possibly not English OR Spanish). Would language decisions be made at the local level, and by whom? It just seems like incredible effort and possible confusion - for no real reason other than wanting to be PC.

[Solon]

73. That's the aggrivating problem...

Claiming this has anything to do with Political Correctness is BS, plain and simple. Where the hell is the confusion in requesting a form in you language and having it printed up? Is it really so hard, nowadays, to do that? Anyone with a decent computer can go to Babelfish and get it done for free. Also, as far as let's say IRS workers, all they need be concerned about are the numbers anyways, 1 is still 1 in English, Spanish, Portugese, and even Arabic. Even eastern languages are beginning to use those dreaded ARABIC numbers in everyday applications. Your concern is not only overrated, but inconsequencial, to put it bluntly. There are valid, practical reasons behind much of what we do, or is a stop sign colored red PC for those who can't read?

[SidDithers]

92. Link to IRS documents in Spanish...

http://www.irs.gov/espanol/index.html

Sid

[laura888]

96. true - but they are on a separate page

All I'm saying is that for convenience and expediency, the fed gov has decided to focus MOSTLY on making their forms available in English.

There is no law that says English is the "official language." However, it sure looks like policy states that most fed gov communications will remain mostly in English while also providing Spanish.

But when you click on the 1040 link - everything's in English.

I don't really care if our official language is English or Spanish or Japanese

But I do care that the fed gov not be burdened with making multiple languages available - EQUALLY.

[Solon]

65. To illustrate that point...

Roadside Warning signs...


Where is the need for "English Only" in these?

[Maestro]

60. The highway system has not needed this idea

yet. Why now?

[Solon]

61. Good point Maestro...

I agree with all your posts on this thread, and illustrated, maybe it should be literal, how and why the signage system is as it is.

[laura888]

64. sorry - are any fed highway signs written in something other than English?

Sure - universal symbols....but any in Spanish or French?

[Solon]

76. Probably in border towns and cities...

close to the northern or southern borders, does it really matter, does it hurt your American Pride or something if they are? I don't have experience in this, I live in damn near the middle of the country, but I would imagine, that for practical reasons again, that some signs are indeed bilingual.

[Maestro]

59. The signs are in English and have always been

except for perhaps border towns and there has been no need for English as the official language to enforce this.

[laura888]

70. well thanks for clearing that up

This issue is quite confusing, as its unclear what "official language" means.

So - let's recap: English is currently NOT our "official language."

However, as a matter of convenience and efficiency, most federal government communications are in English.

[Maestro]

75. Yes. -nt

[Horse with no Name]

84. That is why traffic signs are colored and shaped the way they

are.
So that they are understood without reading them.
Kinda universal.

[BuyingThyme]

18. There should not be an official language,

but the topic always comes back because bigot candidates are always looking for one more hate angle.

As for an official hair color, I'm going with blond.

[Placebo]

20. Racism has nothing to do with this issue.

[BuyingThyme]

25. Except for the fact that racism is the only reason it

exists.

[Solon]

77. Redhead or Brunette DAMMIT!!!!!

My favs. :P

[ulysses]

22. there's no need for an official language. n/t

[Old and In the Way]

23. How about an official religion?

Do you think we need one of those too?

[Placebo]

26. When did I mention religion?

And besides, I'm an atheist.

[Maestro]

33. Are you this naive?

Once you set a government sponsored language, religion isn't far behind.

Edited: I calmed down.

[Lone Pawn]

51. I've taken a few, and it's by no means inevitable or even implied

in a participitory democracy. Most nations have official languages--most nations without state-sponsored churches, for that matter. Religion from language simply does not follow. Now, if a state were to sponsor a religion, it would certainly also sponsor a language. But saying that means sponsoring a language leads to sponsoring a religion is like saying,

1. "Now, if I were to eat Indian food, I would certainly also drink a glass of water at the same time."
2. "I therefore ought not drink this glass of water, because I am not in the mood to eat Indian food."

[Kathy in Cambridge]

52. No surprise seeing you here!

:hi:

[Lone Pawn]

71. Round, round, get around, I get around!

:hi:

[Maestro]

67. I could care less most nations have official languages

or not. It is simply not needed. But the way this place deals with languages and religion, I still believe my possibility is a great probability. Even in places where there is an official language, there is much more freedom with language use. That would not happen here. Americans are wierd with English language use; very protective even when English is not threatened. This is simply an issue that is moot.

Plus groups that push Official English are racist, xenophobic neocon thugs. Give me a second and I will post links to these places.

Update soon...

Super ultra right wing nutjob Ron Unz's site banning bilingual education and promoting English Only. He is a former failed candidate for governor of California and and all around boob. http://www.onenation.org/

Another freeper place linked to the FAIR anti-immigration site via John Tanton who is on this place's board of directors. http://www.proenglish.org/

More on Pro English here: http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/proenglish.php

This place is just scary. A regular Freep Fest

http://www.usenglish.org/
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/org/usenglish.php

Some of the people related to the above site are the likes of Linda Chavez, http://www.lindachavez.org/

So you want official English, you are dealing with the Devil. Be warned.

[BuyingThyme]

32. Of course.

Most Americans are Christian, aren't they?

Why make things so confusing?

[readmylips]

27. If you are Polish, Asian, whatever other race....

When did your family come to this country? My family came to this country in 1492, and I'm Spanish. If your roots don't go back as far as mine, get the hell of racism.

[Spider Jerusalem]

80. Really? Not possible, but okay...

the first Spanish settlement wasn't established in the New World until 1493-94...and it wasn't in what is now the United States, but in the territory of the present-day Dominican Republic. The first Spanish settlement in Florida was established in 1559.

My earliest ancestor in America arrived in Virginia in 1608, but that doesn't give me (or you, for that matter) any more right to an opinion than someone whose roots only go back a century. And you have to be a bit ignorant to suggest that prejudice and xenophobia DON'T play some part in anti-immigration sentiment.

[Maestro]

30. No need. But while we are at it, let's turn DU

into Freep Republic. I am disgusted by the shit here lately. Democrats and progressives I know aren't concerned with perceived problems. We are concerned with real problems.

There is no need for English as the official language and it sets a bad precedence.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/engonly.htm

[Telly Savalas]

56. No doubt.

Now that Schiavo has blown over, the topic du jour seems to be wedge issue aimed at dividing the working class. 45 million Americans without health insurance? 1 in 6 children in poverty? Brave soldiers and innocent Iraqis dying needlessly? Why do these things happen? Obviously cause of them thar damn furrners comin here speakin Spanish.

[Maestro]

58. Thank you

Lately, people here are choosing issues that are eerily conservative to support under the guise of protecting the US, the labor force, or some such crap. Really, with the immigrant issue, the debate should be framed about cheap labor lovin' conservatives who hire these people. I swear this place has been infested with some Miniscule Men from Arizona posing as DUers.

[Igel]

31. First, define "official language."

If you mean the language spoken by the US government, I'd agree. It does little good for a Latino Congressman to give his speech in Spanish, while a Polish Congressman gives his in Polish.

But it should be English only at that level. For informal stuff, fine: speak Dyirbal, it doesn't matter. But if you're specifying two official languages, it means that we need to have parallel sets of fair and binding documents in both languages. Thank you, I don't think everything needs to be translated into Spanish. Canada's even running into problems with having locally official First Nation's languages: in a few cases they devise a writing system, they work out the needed vocabulary, and then they wind up hiring most of the native speakers to work as translators; or they get the writing system set up just to find out that nobody cares, the indigenous culture is oral and reading isn't a valued skill. Lunacy.

If you mean the only language allowed to be used in dealings with the population, we already have this horrible bit of political patronage: if the population is over a certain percentage X-speaking, the government "interface" must also be X-speaking ... others be damned, even if it means that the X-speakers have some advocate, and the others don't. It also means if there's a sudden influx of X speakers in an "area" (defined politically, of course), that you suddenly need government employees to speak X; if the Y-speaking population declines, you have all these bilingual employees that you don't need.

If you mean the only language allowed to be used in the public sphere--this was Turkey's approach until recently--we shouldn't have one.

[Donailin]

78. Public education is in English

I would think that's official, isn't it?

[Maestro]

83. For the most part but we as teachers

sometimes need to use other languages together with English to teach academics. Official English would ban that most probably.

See this op-ed I wrote in '98.

English Only? But Why?

Ron Unz has eliminated bilingual education in California. In addition, Ron Unz supporters have disrupted bilingual education in Arizona. Now Ron Unz is planning to do the same in Colorado and Massachusetts as well. A few years ago Linda Chavez and her ironically named Center for Equal Opportunity were soliciting people for a lawsuit against Albuquerque’s bilingual program enticing them to join as plaintiffs with a reward of $10,000 in damages. The lawsuit failed. What does this tell me? It tells me that when you can’t find anyone to willingly support your ideology, you bribe them or as is the case of Ron Unz or Linda Chavez you invest millions in a public opinion campaign against what you dislike. It is this type of false propaganda and desperate actions that we have to counter as supporters of English language learners and bilingual education.
Bilingual educators continue to hear the ineffectiveness argument from the English Only movement. The attacks we suffer are not because the programs are totally ineffective. Some indeed are, I admit. Nothing is perfect. The attacks come from those who can not stand to live in a pluralistic society made up of different languages and ideas. The attacks come from those that see language diversity as somehow a threat to democracy and divisive. Do some have such an inferiority complex to believe that someone is conspiring against them just because they choose to speak another language? By the way, English will and should be the dominant language of the U.S. but at the exclusion of all others?
The ignorance and bias blinds those that oppose bilingual education. Leo Sorensen, the chairman of English Language Advocates, ELA, in a newsletter sent out March 23, 1998 urges all who support English, as if we don't, to write Congress and lobby for the end of "cancerous" bilingual education programs. He uses anecdotal evidence to drive his case home. Then he states that he supports being bilingual, but cautions, "Without a base of knowledge in one language, it is nearly impossible to master others." He just validated why bilingual education exists! Since many children have a base of knowledge in a language other than English, we need to nurture and expand on that knowledge while gradually teaching the academic English skills necessary to be a successful member of American society.
The English Only movement does not care to learn about successful theory and methodology no matter how convincing it is. To the members of this movement, bilingual education is something very sinister and subversive. They spread their fear. The media plays on this fear and the children suffer.
What is it that strikes such fear in the hearts of the English Only movement that it resorts to such irrational and zealous acts in its support of a monolingual society? I have come to understand that some support English Only initiatives because people see bilingual education as a way to "un-Americanize" the United States. Bilingual education leads to the un-Americanization of the United States? This leads me to more questions. Who is American? What does that person look like? Can that person only speak one language? Does that person's heritage have to be Indo-European? If it's not, should we ignore the ancestral culture and language and simply focus on what is perceived to be American, apple pie, the pilgrims, and so forth? Should we remind the students how Hispanic some of the origins of the U.S. are? Do the opponents think that I and all other bilingual educators want to usurp the American democracy and create a new America? Bilingual education simply uses a native language in the service of English...nothing more, nothing less. There are no conspiracies here.
The claim that language is divisive is, too, a misconception. Rarely are wars fought over language. Cultural divisions occur because of misunderstandings between ethnic groups not because they speak a different language. Religious and territorial disputes are much more divisive than language ever will be. Learning another language will actually bring cultures together.
Perhaps the detractors of bilingual education are afraid that they will lose power. Maybe they fear that English will lose its dominance. Probably more than anything I believe they fear they won't fit in with the new face of society. Society just like language is dynamic and ever-changing. We are witnesses to huge demographic shifts and instead of resisting these shifts, I suggest that the opponents of bilingual education work with us to help the diverging cultures come together by supporting a multilingual, multicultural education system.
The time has come for the English Only movement to promote what it stands for, English. To do this, they too must support bilingual education. To do anything else would be to promote only the acquisition of conversational English which does nothing to help the child progress academically. Is that what they want?

[Donailin]

88. well, I'm going to say something on this

My exhusband is an immigrant from Cuba, he came here at the age of two. He went to Catholic School in Hialeah and learned English but his parents did not. His mother still does not speak english, she's been here 40 years now. He dropped out of High school and found himself in all manner of trouble that his parents could not get a grip on. He told me very plainly that was because his parents could not read or understand what the teachers were writing in notes and on report cards etc. His parents could not help with homework or class assignments. His parents could not be part of the education process because they themselves where uneducated.

So I would say that if we want immigrant children to have the best advantage, the schools should have proportionate amount of Spanish speaking teachers that teach all subjects and can communicate to the parents on progress and work. What do you figure that would cost? To have a good percentage of the teachers become bilingual across the baord? Or, should the parents learn English to help their children succeed? Who is the impetus on, anyway? Which would be more cost effective as well as beneficial to society as a whole? Maybe we should all learn Spanish and English? I have to admit though, if I HAD to learn a second language it would be Italian since I'm Italian. And if I ever immigrated to another country of choice, It would be Italy, England or Ireland. I think if I moved to Italy I would be obliged to learn Italian. If I were forced to move to Mexico, I would be obliged to learn Spanish.

[Solon]

91. You bring up a good point...

I would say, if the government is going to mandate any such need, and it is a practical consideration, then the government should have Public Schools for adults that are recent immigrants, and also for some Natural Born Adults who lack in literacy and other functions of society. These schools should be paid for through taxes, and they should compensate for lost time at work, similar to jury duty. This could be used in the process of Naturalization or another function that's equivalent. Make it as painless as possible, for both the immigrants and cost effective for the government.

[Igel]

86. Bilingual education, at least in some states.

In some cases, they really push getting you into English; not so much in other states. Maybe it depends on the teacher. Schools where I used to live also had Russian and Japanese immersion for elementary school kids, it was pretty much an all white, all native-born community.

But I'm not sure the emphasis on English is because it's official, or just necessary. 300 million people, most speak English, teachers mostly speak English, textbooks are mostly in English ...

Although you may be right: the language of instruction may stipulated in the law in some states.

[Solly Mack]

37. Why? Is someone afraid Americans will wake up one morning

speaking French?..to go along with those Freedom fries?

What's the point? Where's the need? What would it prove?

[Terran]

63. No. Because:

the only thing motivating such an idea is racism.

[ObaMania]

66. The poll is f'd up.

Every time someone votes, it increments the other as well.

I saw it happen for three votes.

Maybe it's one of them Opinion Dynamics polls. :D

[Walt Starr]

69. NO! Let slip the forces of the free market of ideas

and may the best language win!

I'm pulling for Klingonese.

[Maestro]

74. Ten reasons no and other articles

http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/tesol/official/argumments.htm

Here is a statement from the Linguistic Society of America

http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/saoghal/mion-chanain/LSA_statement.txt

Plus English Only laws have been declared unconstitutional

Here is but one example: http://www.aclu.org/FreeSpeech/FreeSpeech.cfm?ID=10115&c=42

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

79. Only if that would force chimp to speak it.

[Maestro]

81. Oh crap!

Thank you for that. I haven't been smiling lately here at DU which has me greatly depressed because I simply can't believe what I am reading from supposed Democrats and progressives, but that made me smile.

[deadparrot]

85. What if I'm apathetic on this subject?

Let's get health care and a spectacular education for everyone in America, then we can worry about stuff like this.

[Solon]

89. Better than that, perhaps...

I would be apathetic if all others were, I simply see no need for such a law, and as I said above, its a solution looking for a problem, a problem that DOESN'T EXIST. So why pass such a law in the first place?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

90. The English-only crowd acts as if English is endangered in America

That's utter nonsense.

It is far more common for second-generation immigrants to speak their ancestral language badly or not at all than it is for them not to speak English. And if they're bilingual, that's a plus, not a minus.

[Rabrrrrrr]

93. Absolutely, yes!!

But only in the sense to say that, in America, the only really truly binding legal documents are in English, and all government work will be done in English (Senate, Supreme Court, White House, road signage, department of agriculture, public schools, IRS, FBI, etc.).

And by binding legal documents, I mean that, as the IRS now translates IRS forms into Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, and a whole host of other languages (which is good, and I support that), no translation is ever perfect and ALWAYS will get some kind of error creeping into it. So, in that sense, we need to say that only the English version is truly official, so that people can't take a non-English translation of a law done in English, which translation might have an error, and say "but the law in Spanish says..." or "but the law in esperanto says..." or "but the law in Cantonese says...".

I think we need to translate, and be as helpful as possible, but at some point, now that we ARE translating legal documents, I think we're going to get royally burned by someone bringing in a translated document and suing, and probably ending up with a judge, a lawyer, and a jury who don't speak the translated language at all trying to decide what the law says in, say, Tagalog.

Should English be so official that people are not allowed to speak anything else? Obviously not. We should do everything we can to start teaching foreign languages intelligently (that is, in elementary school instead junior high) and teach as many of them as possible. And I'm glad that so many immigrants now are not leaving their old language behind, as was the popular method in the 1800s and early 1900s (when my great grandparents came over, and made sure that their children learned English and didn't learn German at all, sadly).

But I do think we're gonna see a time, soon, when we will have to decide to have one official language for legal work, or end up in a slurry of potentially awful legal battles and chaos.

[Placebo]

94. Agreed.

:)

[rman]

95. isn't it already?

doesn't mean it would be prohibited to speak a langauge other then English though.

[Bridget Burke]

97. Of course not.

English is not in danger. It is the primary language here & growing rapidly throughout the world.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7038031/site/newsweek/

Here in Houston, some neighborhoods have streets with Chinese or Vietnamese names--supplementary signs put up by the communities. Numerous languages are spoken here but the kids all go to school & are learning English. And ESL is popular with the adults.

For reasons of history & geography, Spanish has a special position. Still, many of the people one hears speaking Spanish to each other are quite able to speak English when they wish.

Language training should begin earlier. I work with a pretty international crowd & our country's deficiency in this area is embarrassing. At least I can understand quite a bit of Spanish; my speaking ability is limited but growing.

What languages do you know, besides English?