Free Republic

While the move to make English the official language in the United States grows throughout the U. S., some academics regret that it is the first one in America. “Multiculturalism and multilingualism are becoming the new default,” Nancy Bou Ayash of the University of Louisville said at the 2013 meeting of the Modern Language Association (MLA) in Boston. She recommends “A translingual approach” and regrets the “dominance of monolingualism.” “U. S. monolingualism remains the statutory law but not the cultural norm,” she avers. The pair of students who offered anonymous reviews of her pedagogy on Rate My Professors.com might have...

Linguistic Imperialism by: Bethany Stotts, January 09, 2008 Chicago, Ill.—With the debate over English-only education and illegal immigration sweeping the nation, some Hispanics believe that vocally supporting strong borders and strict immigration laws amounts to anti-Latino bigotry. “We have seen rapid highs in rate in hate speech on talk radio programs attacking the Latino community as a result of the debate over undocumented workers. ... The megaphone offered to the odious brand of hate speech comes compliments of radio conglomerates that own hundreds of stations across the country,” National Hispanic Media Coalition President Alex Nogales told the U. S. Senate...

First daughter Jenna Bush, who put her career plans on hold while campaigning to reelect her father, has decided to live in Washington and plans to teach at a District public school that serves low-income children. The White House would not release details yesterday, but we've learned that she has applied to teach at Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School in the Mount Pleasant/Columbia Heights neighborhood. The school's founder and executive director, Linda Moore, wouldn't confirm Bush's employment, saying: "We don't discuss the relationship between a prospective employee and the school until we have a formal agreement. This...

Congress Passes Legislation to Limit Multilingual Highway Signs U.S. English Chairman praises effort to rein in divisive and costly practice The United States government took a stand against the possibility of enormous highway signs featuring instructions in hundreds of languages by passing legislation yesterday to maintain English as the sole language of America’s highways. The measure, passed and signed into law as part of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill for FY2005, prohibits the government from mandating that any highway sign be posted in a language other than English.The measure, which passed by overwhelming margins in the House and Senate, includes the...