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Documents already are in English. So why bother making English official at all?
Because, for example, my state prints their WELFARE forms and website in Spanish as well as the voting ballots. English as official language I say.
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Originally Posted by Angel and The Dolphin
This country was built by people who spoke many languages. My comments about Hispanic parts of the country having Spanish as a cooffical language if they choose is not the same as the native languages that were spoken before the Europeans conquered the Americas. The Hispanic culture has had a continued, unbroken lineage in those areas. No one on this thread is asking for the abolition of English or that Americans should be able to chose only one language to know. I use Spain as an example. Citizens in Andalusia speak both Castillian (that's what most Americans call Spanish) and Andulsian, etc.
Andalusian is not a language it's just an accent like Puerto Rican Spanish and Mexican Spanish. But, as a matter of policy, this is no longer their land. We bought it from them, it's ours and many more Anglo-Americans poured in and settled the West than there were Hispanic settlers so...
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Originally Posted by Mircea
I'm a federalist, so the federal government can enact legislation to make English the official language, but that would have no bearing on States, Territories or Possessions.
The States, Territories and Possessions can enact whatever laws the people see fit about language, so Puerto Rico, Texas, California and Florida can recognize English and Spanish, Oregon and Washington can recognize English, Japanese and Chinese, Louisiana, English and French or whatever as the official languages for their respective States if that's what the people want.
If the federal government enacts a law making English the official language, that would only mean that all domestic business transacted with the federal government would be in English.
The cost-savings would be tremendous. No more printing literally millions of documents and forms in other in 130 other languages (the number I checked last), or using your tax-dollars to maintain web-sites in languages other than English.
When I came back to the US 10 years ago, I had an Ohio driver's license, but it had expired, so I had to take the written portion (but not the driving part) of the test again. I took the test in the Romanian language. Why does Ohio pay to have driver's licensing tests translated and printed in Romanian? I don't know. It's a waste of tax-payer money if you ask me.
Anyway, language (like education) is not a power specifically granted to the federal government, therefore it falls under the 9th and 10th Amendments so the federal government cannot penalize a State for refusing to adopt English as the official State language nor can it penalize a State for recognizing other languages as official languages of that State.
Actually you also forgot one thing. The federal government CAN force all the states to have English as the official language. That's one of the things that the feds can twist and contort the Commerce Clause to their liking since the states receive federal funding for education, they have to follow federal mandates as conditions to receive those education funds. This is what I hate about the abuse of the Commerce Clause, because the states are being federalized in this way
if states want to have multiple official languages, that's their prerogative.
the federal official language should be english.
Yes, and one of the reasons rarely mentioned for that is that it costs money for the federal government to print notices/bills, issue letters, print forms, and provide customer service in more than one language.
The other reason is it's discriminatory for the federal government to provide the services mentioned in the above paragraph in Spanish and not provide it, for example, in Chinese...and no, I don't think the US federal government should be doing business in more than one language.
The key word being "federal." The states can do whatever they want with their own taxpayer money. I just can't believe with the financial shape most of them are in that they would operate in more than one language.
Everything should be in English. Why should we have to use our tax dollars to accommodate someone's refusal or laziness to learn english? Speak your own language on your time among your family and friends.
Andalusian is not a language it's just an accent like Puerto Rican Spanish and Mexican Spanish. But, as a matter of policy, this is no longer their land. We bought it from them, it's ours and many more Anglo-Americans poured in and settled the West than there were Hispanic settlers so...
You got me on that one! I was thinking of Galicia and Galician..not sure why I went to the other end of the peninsula when I typed that. My family would be so disappointed...lol
As for the logic of hispanic areas like Texas, etc., being "our" land - that's the point I'm trying to make! There is a sizable Spanish speaking population of US Citizens - many of whom are concentrated in traditionally Hispanic areas. By what you are saying, then PR should also banish Spanish officially too, since they are now U.S.A (sure, they're not a state, but they're still a part of this country).
PS - one poster seemed to indicate PR as a territory of the US -- this is not true. PR is much closer to a state than a territory.
Actually you also forgot one thing. The federal government CAN force all the states to have English as the official language. That's one of the things that the feds can twist and contort the Commerce Clause to their liking since the states receive federal funding for education, they have to follow federal mandates as conditions to receive those education funds. This is what I hate about the abuse of the Commerce Clause, because the states are being federalized in this way
You mean nationalized. The liberals have been trying to destroy the federal system for decades and turn it into a national government, where the god-like goodness of the liberal elites flows forth from the Ivory Towers in Washington DC like the purest honey over the ignorant people of America.
I hear what you're saying. The perversion of the Interstate Commerce Clause is not unlike the perversion of two words "general Welfare" into "General Welfare."
I really hope this doesn't turn into one of those threads, but I'm curious to know. If English were made the USA's official language, what should be the case with Puerto Rico? Do you think they should have a special exemption? There's also the case with states that were originally Spanish colonies before being taken over by the US, like Florida, California, Texas, etc.? Should they also be exempted?
Perhaps it could be like in Spain. In Spain, Spanish is the official language and then each Autonomous Community (kind of like our states) is allowed to have their own Co-Official language?
Would all sides be happy if the US made English the official language but also allowed states to each have their own Co-Official? Heck, Maine and NH could make French their co-official language.
National Unity with regional individuality
How many "sole official languages" would you like? By official language, they mean the language that all laws and other official documents will be written, and spoken within government.
English universally. ATM's, phone menus, all government related forms including voting booths, IRS, road signs, schools, etc. The foreign language speakers and those who refuse and/or are too lazy to bother will learn the few English words required to function in the US.
I don't understand the connection between multilingualism and "backwards" thinking. Plenty of countries have multilingual signs, school systems, and governments, and are economically influential and forward-thinking countries.
Backwards means the way we used to be--millions of immigrants all speaking their own languages. Then, as time went by, each group learned English and assimilated and had a much better chance of becoming successful.
We used to have Italians speaking Italian, Polish speaking polish, French speaking French--maybe you're not familiar with the great migration of people from other countries to the USA in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
They were at a disadvantage until they learned to communicate with the rest of the country, i.e, learned English. It's the same today--newcomers need to learn the language to fit in and get ahead. Why go back in time to the way it used to be with everyone speaking their own language? That doesn't help anyone.
Insisting on monolingualism is a stupid concept too. Multilingualism doesn't inherently lead to backwards thinking and if people aren't disagreeing over languages they'll just find something else to disagree over. It's not like allowing multiple languages or not will make or break internal tensions. I don't understand what people have to fear about allowing more than one language to have an official or semi-official status.
No one "fears" multilingualism, it just didn't work before and it won't work now. Sure, there is always a transition era when the first generation isn't that good at English, but their kids learn English.
No one said multilingualism leads to backwards thinking, not on this thread at least. No one's saying that people aren't allowed to speak the language of their former country in their own homes or neighborhoods. We're just saying that for the good of the ENTIRE country, there should be one unifying language. UNIFY, not further divide.
A unified single language serves the country better because among other things it is much more efficient and convenient for all. For example what good is it to take a driver's license exam in one's native language other than English when all road signs are in English?
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it's just an accent like Puerto Rican Spanish and Mexican Spanish. But, as a matter of policy, this is no longer their land. We bought it from them, it's ours and many more Anglo-Americans poured in and settled the West than there were Hispanic settlers so...
