Should the U.S. Establish an official language(s)?

[Endangered Specie]

Poll question: Should the U.S. Establish an official language(s)?

(currently there is none) Discuss.

[mhr]

1. Yes, Standard American English

Not Ebonics
Not Hip Hop inspired Rap Slang or variants
Not Spanish or other foreign dialect

[bowens43]

7. Why?

[demnan]

2. If they want to establish an official language

they should establish both English and Spanish. Already everywhere I go signs and products are labeled in both English and Spanish, so the law would just be catching up with what is standard practice where I live.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. Personally, I think we're arguing "ideal" versus "impossible"

Would it be ideal that we get all Americans to learn another language fluently (English, of course, being the first)? Yeah, it would. Most other countries can speak more than one language. Is it going to happen? Hell no. We can't even get most people to learn English properly. In light of this, I think English should be encouraged and taught free-of-charge to all immigrants so they can get ahead and not be left out of perfectly good opportunities. I don't think this is going to happen without making English official (again, unfortunately).

[radwriter0555]

4. I pledge allegiance, to the language...

We could all stand and salute every time we hear Our Official Language!

[9119495]

5. Right honorable question.

Methinks the Queen's English hath fallen from usage in the former colonies of the British Empire. I would bet my bangers and mash that bringing it back would make bloody good sense. Cheerio.

[Fleshdancer]

6. I don't see the point

Establishing an official language isn't going to change much. Everyone knows the majority of Americans speak English (a butchered form anyway) and it's not like people who speak a different language are going to be any more motivated to learn English. I don't see businesses, local governments and social/medical services suddenly turning people away just because of the language they speak. The notion is pretty damn un-American given our history.

[bemildred]

8. You left off "Hell No!".

More racist twaddle. There are plenty of multi-lingual
nations and they do fine, and it is "broadening" to live
with and get along with people who are "different".

Having an "official language" is just another stalking horse
for ethnic hegemony of one form of another. Why not have an
"official skin color" and "official ethnic origin" while you
are at it?

[Maeve]

9. Yeah...Shawnee

Or any other native-to-this-continent language...I'm flexible!

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

10. They have- it's called "Newspeak"

It's doubleplus good.

[Nikia]

11. What would it mean?

If English and Spanish were declared official languages? Currently our labor laws bulletin board at work has signs in both English and Spanish. I think that most government documents and forms are available in Spnaish as well as English but I am not positive about this. I don't know if they are available in other languages. I don't think ballots are printed in Spanish since to be a citizen, you are supposed to be able to read English at a certain level. If Spanish were an official language, I assume that they would have to be available and Spansih speakers would not have to pass an English test to become citizens. Would public meetings have to be translated whether or not there were Spanish speakers there? Would public schools be bilingual? Would there be separate schools for English and Spanish speakers?
If English was declared to be the only official language, would government documents and applications only be printed in English?

[TheDonkey]

12. Should be, "American" which is a mix of many diff. languages and cultures

but honestly I don't think it matters what the US does about establishing a language.

[derby378]

13. Let the people decide

Univision, Galavision, and Telemundo all fare quite well in America. Even though I can't speak Spanish, I support these networks continuing to broadcast to the Spanish-speaking community.

[WMliberal]

14. es-yay. ig-pay atin-lay

[NightTrain]

15. I don't see the need for it.

The estbalishment of an official language would be nothing more than an attempt to placate ignorant, mean-spirited dittoheads, like the guy I once saw in a Las Vegas casino with a T-shirt that read, SPEAK ENGLISH OR GET THE FUCK OUT.

I daresay we Americans have far more important things to take care of than the placating of racists!

[Pobeka]

16. As a practical matter, yes.

How can we have an open, informed discussion in a democracy if every individual can't communicate with every other individual he meets on issues of the day?

How can we have safe, efficient roadways if not every individual can read the traffic signs?

It really isn't asking too much for those seeking citizenship to at least learn the basics of our language. For a couple of hundred years, by and large most coming here did learn our language (bastardized english that it is). If I decided to become a citizen of Spain, or France, or Botswana, I'd learn Spanish, or French or Botswaneze (??) -- I think it's a necessary right of passage to join another nation.


Those seeking political assylum should merit a waver from this requirement.

[Djinn]

24. it's probably not too much to ask

but then again if they don't it doesn't really hurt anyone but themselves.

This gets mentioned a fair bit here (especially by people who've driven through Springvale for the first time - big Vietnamese community many shop signs in Vietnamese) but the people who complain act like they've got a burning desire to shop for dried shrimp paste or chicken feet in Chinatown and they had to gesture a bit rather than speak "Aussie"

[Feanorcurufinwe]

17. No but students should be required to take 4-8 yrs of a foreign language.

[Blayde Starrfyre]

18. Why on Earth would we make Spanish one of the official languages?

I don't get it . . .

[ugarte]

19. There's lots of places in the US where Spanish was spoken before English

As in 200 or 300 years before English and where Spanish speakers are still in the majority. Why shouldn't it be an official language?

[Blayde Starrfyre]

20. By that logic

Why don't we make Indian languages official? They were spoken here before Spanish was.

[ugarte]

21. Actually, I don't believe in ANY official language, including English

This is a multi-lingual society, so let's just leave it at that.

[Blayde Starrfyre]

23. I think that's a huge overstatement

Yes, there are a lot of Spanish speakers in certain areas, but that's hardly a multi-lingual society. The language of business and government is English and only English.

[ugarte]

26. Maybe where you live

I don't know many mono-lingual people. When you say the language of business is English, you must not be in the advertising business.

Believe it or not, there are also towns where city government meetings are bi-lingual, sometimes mono-lingual (Spanish only) and nobody complains.

I'll give you that English is still predominant in most places, but you look at the trend lines.

[jdj]

22. I think we are becoming more "European"

I think the white boys are shaking in their boots and that is why there is so much reactionary politics going on.

I see it around me everywhere, the influx of hispanic immigrants, the German, French and Japanese business people over hear working for global co's...multi-culturalism is bleeding into the so-called heartland from the cities, and bubba is scared shitless, because he just barely has a grasp on english.

[ugarte]

25. I live in the Southwest and am Hispanic, so...

maybe I'm biased, but I hear more Spanish radio stations than English and have a pretty good choice of Spanish TV channels as well. Right now Anglos are already a minority in most Southwestern states and the trend lines will only accelerate.

Even the Anglos are learning Spanish if they want to stay in business.