Is English really the language of the U.S? (generations, border, economic)

[mtl1]

Originally Posted by tinytrump

America was founded and established as an immigrant nation. It was a culmination of many countries - the Founders knew that, some were not natives. So this bs about who has to speak what came when immigration laws showed up later. And it just some common sense to speak a language to do business.
What I do not understand. Why does anyone care what language you speak?? Just do your no or obey the laws and rest is personal. Control freaks. Stop we live in a free country. Stop trying to change that

Not really. British subjects traveling into a British colony are not immigrants. And the ones that were immigrants were mostly form NW Europe, and they learned English. Japan was founded by immigrants from the Korean peninsula. That doesn't make it an immigrant nation for the whole world today.

You can't have a strong and united country with multiple-languages and cultures. If you want to keep your language and culture then stay where you are. I don't want to hear foreigners speaking gibberish around me out in public.

[southwest88]

Originally Posted by mtl1

We're talking about America, not stone age America or pre-US or pre-British French and Spanish Claims on territory. The Amerindians, Spanish and Dutch did not found America, the British did. That's why in America we speak English and have British laws and traditions throughout America.

America is the continent, North, Central, South. Yah, in common conversation, you can talk about America & actually mean the US, & that usually works. However, if you're wanting to distinguish between the US & the rest of the Americas, imprecise language doesn't help you.


If you mean America the polity, certainly the Native Peoples & Vikings & Spanish & Portuguese et al. founded America, in that they contributed to the human inheritance here - people, culture, language, religion, folkways. & even if you only mean the US, the British most certainly did not found us either. They founded the British colonies in N. America (& elsewhere in the New World, but one thing @ a time). & absolutely that founding was never meant to lead to an independent US, & surely not in 1776CE.


In the US we speak a version of English, or maybe better said, a narrow selection of common English dialects, with our own quirks, vocabulary, tense simplifications, spelling & grammatical changes, etc. We don't exactly have British laws - for instance, we have a written Constitution, which is the law of the (US) land. The UK doesn't have a written Constitution, they have Magna Carta & related documents, & common law (& the Napoleonic overlay) to guide their jurisprudence.


Nor do we have exactly British traditions - we have St. Patrick's Day, haggis (well, bagpipes, then), Christmas (whose observation was grounds for expulsion, banishment, etc. back in the day - even the Pilgrims in N. America [everywhere, really] were very much opposed to its celebration. The Christmas stuff @ the mock Puritan Village back on the US East Coast is some PR person's perverse fantasy, arguing 30 pieces of silver over authenticity), we have Cinco de mayo, Chinese & Vietnamese New Year, Korean & all kinds of holidays, food, drink, & cultural trappings. Yah, the underlying base may be British - who themselves have suffered all kinds of admixtures of nationality, ethnicity, belief, language, culture, throughout their history.

The US is still a growing country, & we attract people from all over the World. They come for education, as refugees, seeking freedom, a place to raise their families, a place to rise in the World. When they come as adults, they may not be able to learn English well nor fluently. They are, nonetheless, welcome. Either that, or we need to demolish the Statue of Liberty - or perhaps pass it on to someone who still holds to that social contract.

& quite frankly, I'm grateful for the Spanish incursion & its inclusion in our cooking. Salsa is a blessing, on otherwise bland food.

[Fish & Chips]

Do Americans even speak English that well themselves though? I think Swedes speak English better, despite it being their second language.

[Packard fan]

Originally Posted by tinytrump

America was founded and established as an immigrant nation. It was a culmination of many countries - the Founders knew that, some were not natives. So this bs about who has to speak what came when immigration laws showed up later. And it just some common sense to speak a language to do business.
What I do not understand. Why does anyone care what language you speak?? Just do your job or obey the laws and rest is personal.
Control freaks. Stop we live in a free country. Stop trying to change that- in all this time. Even when immigration was not a problem, they never had a problem with it.

Not just the US: Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and so on WERE all "immigrant nations". None of those places are in 2016.

[Kawena]

In Hawaii Hawaiian language can be spoken in the court system... lol good luck as the judges don't understand..

[Scotty011]

All of our communications and business should be in English. If they don't learn it everyday life would be complicated for them. I say learn it or deal with the consequences. When in Rome..........

[southwest88]

Originally Posted by Scotty011

All of our communications and business should be in English. If they don't learn it everyday life would be complicated for them. I say learn it or deal with the consequences. When in Rome..........

Yah. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanis...Current_status

"There are more Spanish-speakers in the United States than speakers of French, German, Italian, Hawaiian, and varieties of Chinese and Native American languages combined. According to the 2012 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by 38.3 million people aged five or older, more than twice that of 1990.[5][6]

"The Spanish language has been present in what is now the United States since the 16th and 17th centuries, with the arrival of Spanish colonization in North America that would later become the states of Florida, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and California. The Spanish explorers explored areas of 42 future U.S. states leaving behind a varying range of Hispanic legacy in the North American continent. Additionally, western regions of the Louisiana Territory were under Spanish rule between 1763 and 1800, after the French and Indian War, further extending the Spanish influence throughout the modern-day United States of America."

(My emphasis - more detail @ the URL)

There is no official language @ the US federal level. The individual states with the most Spanish speakers - see above - have varying histories with Spanish. Sometimes Spanish was an official language, other times, there is no official language @ the state level either. In any event, historical events are fixed - as we aren't the society of 1984, we don't have a convenient memory hole down which to drop inconvenient facts.

[mtl1]

We know all the Hispanics coming across the border illegally and legally have no interest to switch to English. What else is knew? That's nothing to be proud of.

[ABQConvict]

Originally Posted by mtl1

We know all the Hispanics coming across the border illegally and legally have no interest to switch to English. What else is knew? That's nothing to be proud of.

That is an awfully suspicious use of broken English. Sir, please gather your belongings and come with me.

[Frank DeForrest]

Once English is declared the official language, we can then work on identifying official words and phrases so citizens are all on the same page. Sounds good huh?