The Official "Should the US Have an Official Language" Thread

[valkyrie]

Originally posted by 33girl
So none of the federal offices have to go to the expense of hanging notices in multiple languages or offering Spanish language on their phone lines. That's my main reason why I think we should do it.

How expensive is it to hang notices in multiple languages or offer Spanish phone recordings/assistance?

How expensive would enforcement of an "English is the Official Language of the U.S." law/policy be? How much money would be spent enacting such a thing?

I have no idea what the answers are, but it just seems to me that it's likely the costs wouldn't outweigh any benefits.

[Kevin]

valkyrie:

From the other side of things, what are the benefits of not having an official language?

[valkyrie]

Originally posted by ktsnake
valkyrie:

From the other side of things, what are the benefits of not having an official language?

I don't think I've ever tried to advocate for the benefits of not doing something that didn't seem necessary -- but I'll try. Not having an official language is nice and hippie-wonderful inclusive -- how's that?

In all seriousness, if many people in a given area speak a particular language that isn't English, governmental offices having signs/employees/recordings/websites in said language makes things easier for everyone -- for the people who speak that language and for the people who don't want to stand behind them in line at the DMV. Would taking down the signs in whatever language really make the people who need them go out and learn English at that very second? If not, it's just going to complicate things, isn't it? So what's the point?

I'm pulling that out of the air because I don't think of this as a question of benefits v. benefits -- I still think it's benefits v. costs.

[KillarneyRose]

Yes
(oui)
(ja)
(ναι )
(sì)
(да )
(はい )
(그렇다 )
(sim)

[kstar]

Originally posted by AlphaFrog
I did a search and could not find this discussed, except as a side-bar to other debates.

So, should the US have (an) official Language(s)?

Sorry, but it just isn't that simple. There are laws and treaties that prohibit the federal government from establishing an official language, that would be difficult to ammend.

I don't see the advantages of establishing an official language, when most countries in the world don't have one. Every nation has a de facto language, and isn't that enough?

[Taualumna]

Originally posted by bcdphie
Most days I am all for multi-culturalism. That is one of the things that makes living in Vancouver (and Canada) such a treat, but the official Canadian languages are English and French.

I have no problems with people keeping their culture, speaking their native tongue, but I wish the Canadian government would stress that fact that to live and work in Canada you should be able to converse reasonably well in English and/or French.

I have had days where I am out running errands and the person helping me can barely speak a word of English (and I know they can't speak any French). I just find that so frustrating. I feel like I'm the foreigner who can't speak their language, yet I'm the one born and raised in Canada.

I don't get it. If I moved to a country that does not speak my native tongue (in this case English) I would learn how to speak their language. I would definately show off my Canadian/British heritage, but at the same time immerse myself into my new culture as well.

Easier said than done. I guess.

People shouldn't be given jobs they aren't qualified for. If speaking English reasonably well is one of the qualifications, then they shouldn't have been given the job in the first place. Really, the only people who should be exempted from proficient English and/or French skills are the elderly.

[AlphaFrog]

Originally posted by kstar
Sorry, but it just isn't that simple. There are laws and treaties that prohibit the federal government from establishing an official language, that would be difficult to ammend.

I don't see the advantages of establishing an official language, when most countries in the world don't have one. Every nation has a de facto language, and isn't that enough?

I realize that it's not that simple. I also do not believe that we should have an official language. This thread was an attempt to keep another thread (the Spanish Star Spangled Banner) more on topic, and so I brought this debate to another thread.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by valkyrie
I don't think I've ever tried to advocate for the benefits of not doing something that didn't seem necessary -- but I'll try. Not having an official language is nice and hippie-wonderful inclusive -- how's that?

In all seriousness, if many people in a given area speak a particular language that isn't English, governmental offices having signs/employees/recordings/websites in said language makes things easier for everyone -- for the people who speak that language and for the people who don't want to stand behind them in line at the DMV. Would taking down the signs in whatever language really make the people who need them go out and learn English at that very second? If not, it's just going to complicate things, isn't it? So what's the point?

I'm pulling that out of the air because I don't think of this as a question of benefits v. benefits -- I still think it's benefits v. costs.

Do you think that there would be a benefit in incurring the cost requiring people to learn (and facilitating that learning) english?

It certainly could be a benefit vs. benefit argument. Is it hard to see the inherent advantages when everyone in the same workforce speaks the same language? How about all of the people voting for candidates seeking offices? Many candidates are forced to run dual language campaigns...

I'm not sure the cost vs. benefit is as clear as you make it out out to be. Like you though, my 'thought' here is pure conjecture.

I can definitely see your side of things here -- and I will agree, your view is much more hippie and inclusive

[AlphaFrog]

Originally posted by ktsnake
How about all of the people voting for candidates seeking offices? Many candidates are forced to run dual language campaigns...

This just stuck out at me. Unless we made it illegal to campaign in a foreign language, I don't think politicians would stop running dual-language campaigns, and frankly, if they have enough constituents to warrant a duel language campaign, then they need to put in the effort to reach out to them. As someone said earlier, just making English the official language would not force people to learn it.

[kstar]

Originally posted by AlphaFrog
I realize that it's not that simple. I also do not believe that we should have an official language. This thread was an attempt to keep another thread (the Spanish Star Spangled Banner) more on topic, and so I brought this debate to another thread.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean that you thought it was simple. I replied to you because it was the first post, however, many people on here are implying that it is that simple.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by ktsnake
Do you think that there would be a benefit in incurring the cost requiring people to learn (and facilitating that learning) english?

It certainly could be a benefit vs. benefit argument. Is it hard to see the inherent advantages when everyone in the same workforce speaks the same language? How about all of the people voting for candidates seeking offices? Many candidates are forced to run dual language campaigns...

I'm not sure the cost vs. benefit is as clear as you make it out out to be. Like you though, my 'thought' here is pure conjecture.

I can definitely see your side of things here -- and I will agree, your view is much more hippie and inclusive

Let's take Spanish and the Mexican sub-population for example. I'd love to know what Mexicans have available to them in terms of work when they don't speak English. Well I guess most cleaning people and the people in the back of kitchens as well as the guys that wait on street corners make it painfully obvious of what they can do.

Aside from opportunities like that, it bridges the cultural divide. Europe often has clashes between people who came there and didn't integrate for whatever reasons and natives. That's why countries like France now won't let Muslims wear headscarves in schools.

-Rudey

[Optimist Prime]

Originally posted by Drolefille
This is actually an urban legend: http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/german.htm

In short, no such law was proposed, though they did suggest that they print federal laws in German as well as English, this was never even voted on. IT was decided to only print the laws in English.

Thank you for clearing up my mis-con-sceptions

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by kstar
I'm sorry. I didn't mean that you thought it was simple. I replied to you because it was the first post, however, many people on here are implying that it is that simple.

I'm not sure anyone implied it would be "simple" - instead, they replied that they felt English should be the official language (disregarding the difficulty of the task altogether).

[Kevin]

Originally posted by AlphaFrog
This just stuck out at me. Unless we made it illegal to campaign in a foreign language, I don't think politicians would stop running dual-language campaigns, and frankly, if they have enough constituents to warrant a duel language campaign, then they need to put in the effort to reach out to them. As someone said earlier, just making English the official language would not force people to learn it.

My thought is that if they are eligible to vote in American elections, they must be citizens. If they are citizens, they should be able to speak english.

Actually, I would be all in favor of a law against dual-language campaigns. I don't think such a law would be quite constitutional unfortunately.

[ZTAngel]

If you come to the US, you should learn English. Growing up in South Florida, it was frustrating to walk into a store at the mall and have the employees not be able to conversate with you. There were numerous occasions where an employee had to get their manager to help them because they weren't able to answer a simple question from me. They were only trained to ring something up....anything more than that caused blank stares. I'll bet these employees still haven't learned English. Why? Because they don't have to. The Americans have catered to them by putting signs up in their language, learning some of their language, etc. The South Florida newspapers constantly did stories on the immigrants from Spanish countries who were quoted as saying, "Why bother learning Engligh? It's unnecessary."

When my family moved to Japan for 2 years, my parents took Japanese language courses and I was taught Japanese at my school. We didn't expect the Japanese to cater to us.