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I don't see how forcing privately-owned businesses to remove non-English signs is politically or economically (first-gen citizens tend to flock together and cater more towards their own for business and social purposes) viable especially when, as you said, there's no official language in this country. Concerning government signs, as long as they also have an English variant, why should it matter?
Government may provide an interpreter, or documents or other media in the appropriate language - if there's sufficient demand & the budget's OK. Possibly as needed, if it's a legal or court question. If not, the immigrant is on his/her own, or can supply their own interpreter. Business will provide materials, if the demand justifies the cost.
Only a handful of federal laws mandate the use of languages other than English:
Immigration procedures: interpreters must be available during the physical and mental examination of foreigners seeking entry to the United States – 8 U.S.C. 1224.
Due process: court interpreters must be provided in federal civil and criminal trials that involve parties or witnesses who are not proficient in English – 28 U.S.C. 1827.
Migrant health care: bilingual personnel must be provided in federally funded migrant health centers and alcohol abuse programs that serve a significant non-English-speaking population – 42 U.S.C. 254b(f)(3)(J), 245c, 4577b.
Voting rights: bilingual ballots and voter information must be provided in jurisdictions where speakers of Spanish, Native American, and Asian American languages exceed 5 percent of the population or number more than 10,000 and have below average rates of voter turnout and English proficiency – 42 U.S.C. 1973aa-1a.
When federal agencies choose to serve the public in languages other than English, it is almost always to promote more efficient operations, such as:
to inform members of the public of their rights and responsibilities,;
to enforce various federal laws;
to safeguard the public health and safety;
to gather information – e.g., in the decennial census;
to support educational programs, including programs that teach English; and
to provide access to government and the political process.
Chinatown would not be Chinatown with only English language signs.
One would expect foreign languages in signage and being spoken in ethnic "business" neighborhoods but that isn't what is being debated or discussed at least not by me anyway.
it kinda infuarates me seeing government city advertisement in spanish, saying free Pre-K in NYC. but i cant read it. I would like to know what it says there.
and in China town, all stores are in chinese. it really doesn't feel make me feel welcome in my own country.
and US doesn't have a official languages yet how come?
The official language in the US is legal language, which only a lawyer can understand.
hire a lawyer to read any legal doc, such as a release you need to sign in the demntist's office.
business should be allowed to post in whatever language they wish....no so the state or government.
it kinda infuarates me seeing government city advertisement in spanish, saying free Pre-K in NYC. but i cant read it. I would like to know what it says there.
and in China town, all stores are in chinese. it really doesn't feel make me feel welcome in my own country.
and US doesn't have a official languages yet how come?
Its capitalism at its best. Sell to whoever you have around the business. Over time the next generations learn and use English. Where I grew up Italian and Polish were the big languages of the elderly.
The business owner can advertise any way they please. Its that 1st amendment thing the right likes to talk about except when it gets in the way of their hate.
But unlike what happened in the past we're now entrenching incumbent foreign languages, especially Spanish, by allowing their use in school to teach academic subjects other than English.
Ummm ... Catholic schools in Polish parishes in Buffalo, NY taught academic subjects in Polish into at least the 1950s, and one parish school continued into the 1960s. For decades, ultra Orthodox Jews in the NYC area have sent their children to private schools where the children are immersed in Hebrew and Yiddish.
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