Has it come to the point where the US has to make English its official language?

interesting because your first posts you sure as hell were implying otherwise..
in fact you never mentioned "government" till now..

way to change horses in mid stream.. you should be a politician.. wouldnt get my vote but you have a lot of similarities....

 

Its quite simple private companies do what they want,government English only.Thats it.Yes I did change my mind on this issue,because "hippiehillbilly" brought up a very valid and true point.

 

And how will the US Government deal with Cherokee, Iroquois, Algonquin, Assiniboine, Blackfoot, Apache, Chippewean, Cree, Lakota, Crow, Dakota, Hawaiian, Creole, Muskagee, Oneida, Mohawk, Navajo, Aleut, and etc. speakers?

I mean, those languages are all Native American languages. Should these millions of speakers not be provided the same services that the white man insists by making the official language English in the USA?

 

"Aristartle" I've never seen a government sign or form in any of the languages/cultures you mentioned ,so good point.So yes lets have 20 different languages on government forms. LMAO!

 

Okay here's my 2 cents worth.

I would like to see English made the official language of the US.

The reason is entirely selfish.

I was born and raised in the US and the only language I've ever known or used was English, although I do know bits and pieces of other languages. Now after 60 years I find that Spanish is quickly becoming the national language of the US and I find that a bit scary. Not that I have anything against Spanish or those who speak it, in fact I've tried to learn it several times but I find I have enough trouble with English. But the thing is living in Denver, maybe this isn't a problem where you live, but in Denver it seems Spanish is taking over and that I'm no longer welcome. I'm sorry but it just seems scary to me, that soon I'll be living in a foreign country and I didn't even move.

So I feel that making English the official language of the US might slow the change down. I least I might be able live out the rest my life still knowing the language of the country I live in.

 

Umokaysurewhynot?

Cool, so let's employ people to write forms. YAY!

 

How about we get the good guys at microsoft to run us up some translation software.

 

Racists want English as the official language. That does not imply that those who want English as the official language of the USA are racists. (Are the laws that require Quebec signage in both English and French racist?)

In a country with free speech, forbidding the writting or speaking of pig-Latin (or any other language) is unconstitutional.

I can't think of a down-side to requiring English for public notices, etc., while permitting the appending of pig-Latin.

 

A few of you are quite politically correct.Political correctness is a form censorship,and a way to lie about things.

 

Official or Preferred ?

I'm thinking the worst that could happen is you might learn a few words of (creole).

As hard as it is to learn a second language, i don't mind it at all.

What about Road Signs, should we just let the foreigners guess at em?

 

Maybe road signs should be written in 5 languages....or how bout 10.

 

Heres one.

English will be the preeminent global language because it has the most versatile technical nomenclature.

 

I agree with HHB, I think.

People will speak what they want. This is great, good for them.

But perhaps there should a unified language in regards to official documents, as you could be printing out forms in hundreds of languages which is inefficient and a waste of money. If you live in a certain country you should have a decent enough grasp on the most popular language of that country to adequately fill out important forms in said language, be it French in France, Russian in Russia or English here. But in your private life, could care less how many different languages are spoken, good for diversity I say.

 

^ I agree with CFF.

I could give a rats ass about how many different languages are spoken here. I grew up in Los Angeles so diversity is no stranger to me. Hearing people speak in their native tongue is lovely. But, if I moved to Germany, you bet your ass I'd be learning me some German. Via night courses, audio tapes - whatever it took. When you choose to move to an entire new country you have to know there are going to be major changes for you.

I can't imagine being peeved if I went to another country and their menus, directions, signage, etc were not geared to "where I came from".

Government forms, yes. At that point people are trying to assimilate to a new culture. That should definitely be accomidated. And no, we don't just drop it at that. You offer night classes, etc.

And Aristartle, I respect you greatly. But, I don't get where you're coming from with the Native American references. The poor bastards have been assimilated into american (I know, it was originally their land, you get my meaning though I hope) culture long ago, and I'd assume most of them speak english or have representatives from their tribes to speak for them if they can't. Maybe I misunderstood your reference, not sure.

*And when I say 'poor bastards', that's a reference to what happened to them when the English came across the pond. Not a slam on their race.

 

Let me guess, you can't speak any other language beside english?

 

I don't get it. You want everything to be in English, but you seem exasperated with the idea that America should have to have an official language. Why?

We have an official language in England and it doesn't prevent things from being written in other languages, often without an English translation. Once you get used to it it's absolutely not a big deal. I keep thinking I should try and learn some Polish, but they'll probably all fuck off home if I do, so...

 

Thing is, learning some German is a lot different from learning enough German to, say, do your tax return, or apply for medical insurance, or any number of other things. Even if you've studied the language for a long time, legal documents and official forms can be complicated, jargon-laden and, mainly, way too important to fuck up purely because you don't understand them. I speak a bit of French, probably enough to go shopping or whatever, but even if I made a concerted effort to learn to speak it well, there are going to be things which are hard enough to do in English, let alone a second language.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no bleeding heart. But if it's absolutely no inconvenience whatsoever to be able to get a health insurance contract in Spanish rather than English, even though you are - shock horror! - in America, why is it such a bad thing? Yes, people should be encouraged to speak the language of the country they've moved to, and no, people shouldn't be expected to bend over backwards for them. But if it's a situation where someone's life could be severely and adversely affected by them not really understanding what it is that they're signing, I don't think it would stunt their cultural integration to give them a helping hand.

 

Just something to consider for the argument of, 'well if I was going to move to ____, I'd learn their language.'

Most of the spanish speaking population in our country weren't just hanging out at home in Mexico and said.. "hey kids, wouldn't it be swell if we all moved to Texas?"

It would be a little extreme to call them refugees, but it's not the same as some middle class person from the US deciding to move to Europe.

-Mike

 

What road sign might be translated?

Do you see "STOP" or do you see a red octagon?

 

An official language? dumbest idea. If you can't be bothered to learn what your neighbors are speaking (spanish, french, sioux, whatever) then you got to expand your vocabulary, not restrict theirs. again, dumb idea.