Posted on 05/19/2009 10:43:27 AM PDT by myaccount2009
Question : What is the official language of the United States of America?
Answer : None.
That is the reality, America actually has no official language, and this causes problems - especially when we have idiotic "press 1 for English" services, and even some voting rolls in Spanish. According to a poll released last night on Rasmussen Reports, 84% of Americans support legislation to make English the language of the land (which should have been already).
(Excerpt) Read more at jumpinginpools.blogspot.com ...
If you don’t want to learn English then leave!! We will do just fine without you.
American English is one of the most malleable languages ever, and while it seems contrived, it is that absorbent nature that keeps English such a powerful language.
(Churchill once quipped that England and America were countries divided by a common language)
Racist haters </sarc>
A sign I may be wearing on a street corner soon!
I’m the director of a community-based organization. Part of our job is to offer instruction in English to immigrants. The people I deal with are from South-East Asia, but, in my earlier life, I instructed students, Latinos and others, in English-as-a-second-language. All of them know how important English is; all make a valient effort to learn.
BTW, I agree with you about American English. It is the most vibrant, expressive, diverse language in the world! We have nothing to worry about!
If we had an official language, we could save hundreds of millions of dollars. No more bi-lingual ballots. No more USG websites in languages other English. ESL requirements would be restricted and used less often. No more drivers tests in languages other than English.
And then there is the practical aspect. There are over 40 million foreign born residents of this country. The U.S. adds one international migrant (net) every 36 seconds. Immigrants account for one in 8 U.S. residents, the highest level in more than 80 years. In 1970 it was one in 21; in 1980 it was one in 16; and in 1990 it was one in 13. In a decade, it will be one in 7, the highest it has been in our history. And by 2050, one in 5 residents of the U.S. will be foreign-born. And by 2030, one in three will be Hispanic. There is the very real possibility that this country could be Balkanized along cultural and linguistic lines. Anyone who has been to Miami or LA can see what happens when a critical mass is reached in terms of a language other than English.
>.No more drivers tests in languages other than English.
Which, I might add, sends foreigners particularly into wide eyed amazement at the sheer inanity.
It’s only a written test but still, if you can’t read English how the **&^34 #@$$%%^^ can you read English signs - by rote memorisation, I suppose.
Likewise all the paperwork you mention.
Why do we have all of the languages on the driver’s test today? Were there not immigrants who spoke other languages in the past?
So what changed?
Was there a time when English was the official language?
No.
So again, what changed?
The answer is that our concept of America as a melting pot was replaced by the idea of America as a stew.
Diversity, as liberals are oft to point out, is a strength... sometimes.
Diversity within a culture in a single country is wonderful. Diversity of cultures in a single country is a recipe for disaster. (It is now common parlance to refer to it as “Balkanization”)
American English is the language of the melting pot. It is the language of driving down the main strip of my town and seeing Fazoli’s, Taco Bell, Hong King Inn, and Golden Corral.
Making English an official language won’t change the culture and atmosphere that has brought us to the mentality of needing to push 1 for English; it would simply be a backlash against that culture.
We need to start changing the way people think about America. That is the only way we will survive.
we can do this via state by state ballot initiatives too.
FL has a english language amendment.
I grew up in an immigrant neighborhood in the late 1940s and mid-50s. Yes, other languages were spoken, but there was no such thing as ESL nor were there any immigrant groups pushing for their language to be one of the official languages of this country. The parents wanted their children to learn English and become Americans. They did.
So what changed?
Take a look at this 2004 article from Professor Samuel Huntington of Harvard, The Hispanic Challenge: The persistent inflow of Hispanic immigrants threatens to divide the United States into two peoples, two cultures, and two languages. Unlike past immigrant groups, Mexicans and other Latinos have not assimilated into mainstream U.S. culture, forming instead their own political and linguistic enclaves—from Los Angeles to Miami—and rejecting the Anglo-Protestant values that built the American dream. The United States ignores this challenge at its peril.
"In the debates over language policy, the late California Republican Senator S.I. Hayakawa once highlighted the unique role of Hispanics in opposing English. “Why is it that no Filipinos, no Koreans object to making English the official language? No Japanese have done so. And certainly not the Vietnamese, who are so damn happy to be here. They're learning English as fast as they can and winning spelling bees all across the country. But the Hispanics alone have maintained there is a problem. There [has been] considerable movement to make Spanish the second official language.”
"If the spread of Spanish as the United States' second language continues, it could, in due course, have significant consequences in politics and government. In many states, those aspiring to political office might have to be fluent in both languages. Bilingual candidates for president and elected federal positions would have an advantage over English-only speakers. If dual-language education becomes prevalent in elementary and secondary schools, teachers will increasingly be expected to be bilingual. Government documents and forms could routinely be published in both languages. The use of both languages could become acceptable in congressional hearings and debates and in the general conduct of government business. Because most of those whose first language is Spanish will also probably have some fluency in English, English speakers lacking fluency in Spanish are likely to be and feel at a disadvantage in the competition for jobs, promotions, and contracts."
"In 1917, former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt said: “We must have but one flag. We must also have but one language. That must be the language of the Declaration of Independence, of Washington's Farewell address, of Lincoln's Gettysburg speech and second inaugural.” By contrast, in June 2000, U.S. president Bill Clinton said, “I hope very much that I'm the last president in American history who can't speak Spanish.” And in May 2001, President Bush celebrated Mexico's Cinco de Mayo national holiday by inaugurating the practice of broadcasting the weekly presidential radio address to the American people in both English and Spanish. In September 2003, one of the first debates among the Democratic Party's presidential candidates also took place in both English and Spanish. Despite the opposition of large majorities of Americans, Spanish is joining the language of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, the Roosevelts, and the Kennedys as the language of the United States. If this trend continues, the cultural division between Hispanics and Anglos could replace the racial division between blacks and whites as the most serious cleavage in U.S. society."
Making English an official language won’t change the culture and atmosphere that has brought us to the mentality of needing to push 1 for English; it would simply be a backlash against that culture.
A backlash by whom? In 2006, Arizona passed a proposition making English the official language of the state. It passed with 75% of the vote. 84% of the American people want to make English the official language. I could care less about the disaffected few. I think the culture and values of our founders must be preserved.
Huntington: "Massive Hispanic immigration affects the United States in two significant ways: Important portions of the country become predominantly Hispanic in language and culture, and the nation as a whole becomes bilingual and bicultural. The most important area where Hispanization is proceeding rapidly is, of course, the Southwest. As historian Kennedy argues, Mexican Americans in the Southwest will soon have “sufficient coherence and critical mass in a defined region so that, if they choose, they can preserve their distinctive culture indefinitely. They could also eventually undertake to do what no previous immigrant group could have dreamed of doing: challenge the existing cultural, political, legal, commercial, and educational systems to change fundamentally not only the language but also the very institutions in which they do business.”
What you fail to understand is that there is a serious movement to make Spanish one of the official languages of this country. It is already the de facto second language. If you see how making French an official language of Canada has been divisive threatening the national polity, you can imagine what such an impact on this country would be.
"The size, persistence, and concentration of Hispanic immigration tends to perpetuate the use of Spanish through successive generations. The evidence on English acquisition and Spanish retention among immigrants is limited and ambiguous. In 2000, however, more than 28 million people in the United States spoke Spanish at home (10.5 percent of all people over age five), and almost 13.8 million of these spoke English worse than “very well,” a 66 percent increase since 1990. According to a U.S. Census Bureau report, in 1990 about 95 percent of Mexican-born immigrants spoke Spanish at home; 73.6 percent of these did not speak English very well; and 43 percent of the Mexican foreign-born were “linguistically isolated.” An earlier study in Los Angeles found different results for the U.S.-born second generation. Just 11.6 percent spoke only Spanish or more Spanish than English, 25.6 percent spoke both languages equally, 32.7 percent more English than Spanish, and 30.1 percent only English. In the same study, more than 90 percent of the U.S.-born people of Mexican origin spoke English fluently. Nonetheless, in 1999, some 753,505 presumably second-generation students in Southern California schools who spoke Spanish at home were not proficient in English."
We need to start changing the way people think about America. That is the only way we will survive.
We need to limit the number of immigrants to this country so they can be assimilated. Currently, 1.6 million legal and illegal immigrants settle in the country each year; 350,000 immigrants leave each year, resulting in net immigration of 1.25 million. Since 1970, the U.S. population has increased from 203 million to 306 million, i.e., over 100 million. In the next 40 years, the population will increase by 135 million. Three-quarters of the increase in our population since 1970 and the projected increase will be the result of immigration. The U.S., the world’s third most populous nation, has the highest annual rate of population growth of any developed country in the world, i.e., 0.975% (2009 estimate), principally due to immigration.
If we make English the official language, Spanish will quickly become the second official language.
If we don’t have an official language... well, then how can Spanish become an official language?
Our culture today wants to do what is nice instead of doing what is good. If we stopped printing things in more than one language, it may not be nice (people would grumble), but it would be good (people will learn English more quickly).
Attitudes and beliefs can’t be changed by passing a law.
ahh but you also have such financial interests as univision and telemundo which are dependent on a spanish “gheto” of culture in order to preserve their finacial viability.
If english becomes official then there is no need for a spanish broadcast TV station.
Why?
What law would prevent a Spanish language broadcast channel?
Making English the official language would not outlaw other languages.
It would be relegated to the other niche language channels which have to be purchased via subscription since the demand is not there.
Spanish language channels seem to specifically cater to those who can’t or refuse to learn english.
But who cares? As long as advertisers pay, that’s free enterprise and capitalism. Those companies are profitable and serve their customers.
“Spanish language channels seem to specifically cater to those who can’t or refuse to learn english.”
That is totally incorrect. Spanish language channels cater to those who like to watch television in Spanish rather than English. I watch Spanish television, as do most of my relatives. We are perfectly capable of speaking English, but prefer Spanish.
I’m surprised the Democrats aren’t FOR this. It would save a lot of trees.
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