Should there be an official nationalized language in America?

[qihqi]

<p>English IS the Official language right now as it is the language accepted by the Gov…
Otherwise any official documents should be in more than 2 languages.
Singapore have English as official language too even you can speak Chinese on street.</p>

[vosamim]

<p>

Mesquite_girl24 :
English should be the official language - and everyone should have to learn it. I think that before anyone becomes a citizen, they should be fluent in English. I also believe that teens such as ourselves should learn to speak in english as well- instead of the LOL, OMG ROFL, LMAO, G2G texting language we always speak in.
Mind you, I talk like that sometimes, but when people use it in everyday conversation CONSTANTLY, i get a little ticked off.

</p>

<p>This is a specific register that is used. There is absolutely nothing wrong with, as long as you know the appropriate times to use (i.e. with friend etc). Saying not to speak “text language” would be like saying not to speak a certain dialect of English. </p>

<p>Citizenship= S3 (would be nice) or at least S2 on the ILR scale ([ILR</a> scale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILR_scale]ILR”>ILR scale - Wikipedia))</p>

<p>But again, I’m not a big fan of the English language, soooo I propose some other languge, nonetheless still standardized</p>

[vosamim]

<p>There is no official language of the United States (<a href=“Languages of the United States - Wikipedia”>Languages of the United States - Wikipedia)</p>

[LogicWarrior]

<p>From when I was in kindergarten to second grade everyone had to learn English and Spanish in school. They got rid of that though. (this is California)</p>

[silence_kit]

<p>Why force immigrants to speak english? There is nothing wrong with speaking another language. I don’t see why we should force people to communicate in one form or another. That’s a little weird, I think.</p>

[Alix2012]

<p>

Well immigrants don’t have motivation to learn it. Being from California you should know this, particularly Southern California. There’s no incentive to learn it because everything is displayed in Spanish anyway, and there are many up springing Latino/Hispanic/Spanish communities where immigrants don’t need to speak English nor have incentive to do so. If they interact and are immersed in a Spanish community and speak spanish and deal with others who do speak English but also Spanish, they really never have to learn English on their own.

Whenever a new ethnic group immigrates to this country, it takes a while for them to learn the language and assimilate. When Germans started immigrating, they lived in Germantowns, similar to the Latino communities you described, and they faced much discrimination. Everytime there’s a new major ethnic group, people worry they won’t learn English and assimilate, and it works out just fine. My family moved to this country in 1713 when the Northeast was dominated by Englishmen, and they were non-English speaking Scandinavians, isolated from Anglo colonists and British imperialists, yet you’ll find my ancestor’s name on the declaration of independence. You see, in a couple of decades the new ethnic group assimilates into mainstream culture while contributing part of their own culture to America. It’s not as though these Hispanic immigrants are refusing to learn English; pretend you’re a middle-aged Mexican working immigrant, it’ll be really hard to learn English, it’s not like you can take classes with all your free time and money. But their children go to American public schools and learn, and the family becomes bilingual.

Why force immigrants to speak english? There is nothing wrong with speaking another language. I don’t see why we should force people to communicate in one form or another.

There was a famous lawsuit where an immigrant was sick and died because he couldn’t communicate to his physicians in English; obviously speaking English is an important skill in this country. The US is the most multi-ethnic nation in the world, imagine if each ethnic group had refused to learn English - we couldn’t communicate to each other, and there needs to be a common language in order to work and live together. Maybe the 1st Generation doesn’t speak English and that’s fine if they can get by, but of course their descendents learn so it’s not like there’s a major problem where large masses of people are having trouble. I volunteer at a hospital and I’ve seen sick immigrants bring their children to translate.</p>

[silence_kit]

<p>

There was a famous lawsuit where an immigrant was sick and died because he couldn’t communicate to his physicians in English; obviously speaking English is an important skill in this country. The US is the most multi-ethnic nation in the world, imagine if each ethnic group had refused to learn English - we couldn’t communicate to each other, and there needs to be a common language in order to work and live together. Maybe the 1st Generation doesn’t speak English and that’s fine if they can get by, but of course their descendents learn so it’s not like there’s a major problem where large masses of people are having trouble. I volunteer at a hospital and I’ve seen sick immigrants bring their children to translate.

</p>

<p>I agree with you. I just don’t see why we should force immigrants to speak english. Eventually, they and/or their descendants will pick it up as they need it–and they will need it eventually. The government and big companies conduct their business in english. </p>

<p>Even if they do accommodate foreign languages a little, I don’t see what is so horrible about having to press 1 for english.</p>

[qihqi]

<p>"There is no official language of the United States (<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languag...anguage_status[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languag...anguage_status&lt;/a&gt;) "
WOW…
I feel so ignorant…
btw so in theory the federal reserve note(money) should printed in several languages</p>

[rsala004]

<p>you do in fact need to speak english to become a citizen, and you need to know how to say the pledge (which im sure most americans do not know) and you should be able to say who your senators are…etc.</p>

[erhswimming]

<p>I think first we need to establish whether or not it is degrading for immigrants to be forced to learn another language upon arrival. I think people are opposed to this idea for different reasons, some because it is an unnecessary inconvenience and others seeing it as antithetical to our cultural melting pot we live in. I would like to see a pros/cons list for this.</p>

[dshinka]

<p>I think for citizenship one should have to either know English or be granted a conditional citizenship for a few years under the premise that they will learn English…</p>

[lockn]

<p>How long have countries been doing the “official language” thing? If it was common to have an official language when our country was created, and the Founders did not give the U.S. one, that sounds like something intentional.</p>

[dshinka]

<p>Our constitution was designed to be amended so that our state could adapt to domestic and foreign changes. Just because it wasn’t reasonable to have a national language back then doesn’t mean we don’t need one now.</p>

[Another_Adam]

<p>

I think first we need to establish whether or not it is degrading for immigrants to be forced to learn another language upon arrival. I think people are opposed to this idea for different reasons, some because it is an unnecessary inconvenience and others seeing it as antithetical to our cultural melting pot we live in. I would like to see a pros/cons list for this.

</p>

<p>I would think it’s more of an inconvenience trying to live somewhere when nobody speaks your language. </p>

<p>I don’t understand how it’s “degrading”. It’s for their own benefit.</p>

<p>I also wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s antithetical to the cultural melting pot. Nobody is being asked to check their cultural background in at the door, but surely you’ve got to expect some sort of adaptation.</p>

[lockn]

<p>

I would think it’s more of an inconvenience trying to live somewhere when nobody speaks your language.

If it’s so inconvenient, they’ll learn it without you making them (in practice, their kids will).</p>

[alamode]

<p>

@dshinka

Our constitution was designed to be amended so that our state could adapt to domestic and foreign changes. Just because it wasn’t reasonable to have a national language back then doesn’t mean we don’t need one now.

</p>

<p>yeah but i think what lockn might have meant was that if it was commonplace at the time the constitution was written to include an “official language” in a nation’s constitution, and the founders did not, it could imply that the founders purposely did not want America to have an official language and that there was reasoning behind this decision. the flexibility of the constitution was developed to allow for changes in the time, like computer technology. for instance, if the whole “official language” idea didn’t start until the 1900s, then it wouldn’t matter. lockn’s point was that the founders may have had specific reasons why they did not want our country to have an official language (open to new cultures, ideas, etc.)</p>

<p>i definitely think english should be required of citizens. and i think it is, since you can’t pass the citizenship test without knowing english. requiring english for immigration is a bit much. i want to go into fashion…what if i decide to work in france? i’m pretty sure i won’t have to pass a french test to live there. obviously, i’ll probably learn how to speak out of neccessity. knowledge of the language will come in time. </p>

<p>but what i’m wondering is what exactly is implied by an official language? if english was made America’s official language, how would it change anything about how our country currently runs. government proceedings are run in english, legislation and court documents are in english, schools teach english, the language is required for citizenship…is there anything that would change?
because if not, then i don’t see the problem with making the language official.</p>

[Batman17]

<p>Perhaps the better question and the one everyone seems to be debating around is whether it should be a requirement for entry, rather than the official language (really I’m not sure what making a language official does other than have the government be able to print in one language and other stuff…). </p>

<p>The reason I bring up this question which I didn’t explain from my op, is that I’m from SoCal and work at place where there are a lot of Spanish-speakers. More than half the people that come into the store cannot speak two simple words such as How much? or cost and proceed to ask me a whole bunch of questions in Spanish. Not being a native Spanish speaker, but knowing enough to get by, I started wondering about language. It takes some effort for me to translate in my head what they’re asking and I’m thinking why am I having to go through all this energy? I realize that knowing other languages is important (trilingual-ish myself or so I’d like to think) but if I go to say France…I would get myself to a library or ask a friend who perhaps knows only the simplest words in French to help me get around. Needless to say, this topic came to because of a longgg day at work. You guys (and girls…haha) put up some good points,:)</p>

[fizix2]

<p>we’re doing just fine without a language</p>

<p>if it ain’t broken, why fix it?</p>

[dshinka]

<p>I think there are certain sects of America that thrive with little to no English. Those sects, I am almost certain, have much lower political participation (i.e. voting). I have no problem with people immigrating but they need to assimilate. Citizens, I believe, have an obligation to become informed and to vote if they’re able. </p>

<p>Learning English should be somehow encouraged. I’m not sure how this should be ideally implemented but if not by a citizen requirement - maybe have regulations on how much of a foreign language a business or signs can have so as to not make it easy to get by without ever learning English.</p>

<p>And this isn’t about not being hypocritical like the people have pointed out about visiting France and how they shouldn’t be forced to learn French. The US has lots of foreign bases in other countries but they don’t have any in our soil (I believe). Hypocritical? Yes. But we’re the US.</p>

<p>Anyway, English is the premier language right now. Almost anyone in the world would benefit from knowing it (not saying English is intrinsically superior, but given the world situation it is pragmatic in most situations to learn - it used to be French, for example…)</p>

[silence_kit]

<p>

I have no problem with people immigrating but they need to assimilate.

</p>

<p>Why can’t people live how they want to? They aren’t hurting anybody by not assimilating.</p>

<p>

Citizens, I believe, have an obligation to become informed and to vote if they’re able.

</p>

<p>You don’t have to know English to make an informed vote. Even if non-speakers have lower turnout rates (please provide some source to back this claim up), they contribute to our economy an awful lot. That’s enough.</p>

<p>

Learning English should be somehow encouraged. I’m not sure how this should be ideally implemented but if not by a citizen requirement - maybe have regulations on how much of a foreign language a business or signs can have so as to not make it easy to get by without ever learning English.

</p>

<p>Why make it harder for people to get by? Why do this except out of spite? Your argument rests on the fact that speaking other languages is somehow shameful.</p>