For Legzman - Should English be the official language of the USA

[sproing99]

no I meant to say should. It did sound like you meant those 2 policies were racist policies. I'm all for english should be the official language. Though it seems to be that spanish is. Anyway, thats a debate for another thread. As you were.

Firstly, thank you Legzman for not derailing the other thread

Secondly, it's an excellent subject for discussion


I'm afraid that I'm not really qualified to take part in the discussion, I'm British rather than American, but that's never stopped me before.....


One of the great strengths of the United States is that it is excellent at integrating immigrants into its society and gets them to think of themselves are primarily American but of xxxxxxxxxx descent (i.e. Martian Americans). Compare and contrast this to parts of the United Kingdom where second and third generation immigrants identify primarily with their "home" country and culture (i.e. British Martians).

Part of this may be the fact that the Untied States doesn't have an official language, so people don't feel excluded when they arrive and hence are more prepared to integrate.

So my position is that there is nothing to gain from having English as the official language, but there may be plenty to lose.

 

[24788]

No, America is fine without a national language.

Why see it in words? People will still continue to speak in other languages. America is a melting pot of cultures.

 

[capricorn]

I'm neither American nor British but I'll still reply to this thread if you don't mind.

While I don't think it's important what language people use at home, I think it's very important that they all know one common language. If I lived in America I'd be very annoyed by people who don't speak English. OK, if you have two languages - English and Spanish - that's still somewhat acceptable, but imagine what would happen if everyone who came to USA retained their native language and never learned to speak English? Language barriers are very serious ones.

 

[sproing99]

The United States seems to function pretty well without an official language. The vast majority of people in the United States either have English as a first language or speak it well enough to get by.

There are enclaves where there are other predominant languages due, presumably, to the mix of the local population. I can't see that changing if English is adopted as the official language.

 

[Facetious]

Language barriers are always a delight at the scene of an emergency medical detail. Shit ! "How dare YOU not know fluent Tag-a-log ! That's it, I'm filing a lawsuit. :uohs:

Why not just remain in the direction of International Air Traffic Controllers as well as International Business entities and remain in English ? Why is there always such a tendency to tinker with a perfectly working status quo ?

 

[shayd]

Firstly, thank you Legzman for not derailing the other thread

Secondly, it's an excellent subject for discussion


I'm afraid that I'm not really qualified to take part in the discussion, I'm British rather than American, but that's never stopped me before.....


One of the great strengths of the United States is that it is excellent at integrating immigrants into its society and gets them to think of themselves are primarily American but of xxxxxxxxxx descent (i.e. Martian Americans). Compare and contrast this to parts of the United Kingdom where second and third generation immigrants identify primarily with their "home" country and culture (i.e. British Martians).

Part of this may be the fact that the Untied States doesn't have an official language, so people don't feel excluded when they arrive and hence are more prepared to integrate.

So my position is that there is nothing to gain from having English as the official language, but there may be plenty to lose.

For all intents and purposes, English is the national language of America. Sure, there is no law that states that (there was a bill in 2006 that would have) however the historical precedent is English.

 

[sproing99]

Language barriers are always a delight at the scene of an emergency medical detail. Shit ! "How dare YOU not know fluent Tag-a-log ! That's it, I'm filing a lawsuit. :uohs:?

Does this happen a lot in the United States ? (the lawsuits that is)

I'm not aware of this being the case here in the UK but then again, the private medical industry is much smaller here.

Why not just remain in the direction of International Air Traffic Controllers as well as International Business entities and remain in English ? Why is there always such a tendency to tinker with a perfectly working status quo ?

I think that currently, the United States doesn't have an official language. To introduce one would be to tinker, I'm trying to understand what the benefits of having an official language would be.

The example you give above is a good one. It would be up to the individual to provide (and bear the costs of) a translator where their command of the English language is insufficient to do what they need to do. This is certainly the case in France and Spain (except the languages are French and Spanish respectively)

 

[shayd]

Does this happen a lot in the United States ? (the lawsuits that is)

I'm not aware of this being the case here in the UK but then again, the private medical industry is much smaller here.




I think that currently, the United States doesn't have an official language. To introduce one would be to tinker, I'm trying to understand what the benefits of having an official language would be.

The example you give above is a good one. It would be up to the individual to provide (and bear the costs of) a translator where their command of the English language is insufficient to do what they need to do. This is certainly the case in France and Spain (except the languages are French and Spanish respectively)

I think another potential positive would be to give law a specified language. Interpretation between languages has been problematic in the past.

 

[Galactic]

Yes. English absolutely should be the National Language of AMERICA........if you can't at least speak some of it.......then get the fuck out.

Whatever, haters. Bring it, you leftist liberals. Berate me in your best ENGLISH.

 

[Petra]

I think that currently, the United States doesn't have an official language. To introduce one would be to tinker, I'm trying to understand what the benefits of having an official language would be.

Plain and simple...it would cut government spending.

If you walk into any government office in the US, you'll find the same signs, the same pamplets, the same government forms printed in at least spanish if not 3-6 other languages.

Think on how much the US could save if they only had to print everything 1x.

 

[capricorn]

Yup. The European Union maintains literally an army of translators to translate all the relevant documents into all the official languages (every language that is official in some EU member is official in the EU). And they cost quite a bit.

 

[Ace Boobtoucher]

My great-grandmother immigrated from Italy near the turn of the century and never learned a word of English. She lived in south Des Moines, an enclave of Italians and it was kind of a touchstone to her. She was able to visit with friends and family without having to struggle to understand what was going on around her. She tried to murder my great-grandfather and was institutionalized for thirty years because she was unable to communicate with the psychiatrists on the staff in English and they were unable to speak Italian. Had someone been able to teach her English or provided a translator she would have gotten the help she needed. Instead of being able to see successive generations thrive and live the American dream, she died in Clarinda, Iowa alone and unhelped.

The powers that be have determined that bending over backwards to appease Hispanic/Arab/Vietnamese or other sensibilities is easier than encouraging them to assimilate into American society by learning one common language. There's something to be said for appreciating a different culture and its values but when those ideals interfere with instead of promoting unity in our culture something must be done.

 

[Legzman]

I didn't derail the other thread...just made a side point pertinent in that thread. Even mentioned about another thread and low and behold here it is! :hatsoff:

 

[sproing99]

We live to serve....