Five-in-six Americans support making English the official language of the United States

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Oy, Gary... for awhile there I thought you might have gotten past that hurdle...thinking in absolutes (he told a lie, therefore he must be a liar).

Sorry to dissapoint you Steve. I will always think of the illegals as gatecrashers and criminals. You need to rethink your position.

Actually, I was referring to your implication that because I don't see illegal immigration as you do, that I have no regard for law.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I'm assuming then you know the history between Mexico and the U.S. over the last century.

Who cares what the history is. The reality is there are 20 million illegals here now. You need to get your head in the present man.

History can't be cherry picked, Gary.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Has anyone actually qualified what "making English the official language of the US" would involve - practically speaking - aside from a purely symbolic declaration?

I'd be interested to know exactly what is mean't by "English legislation". I mean aside from telling everyone that English is the official language - what exactly is the point? I mean... how do you do it?

[russ 1]

Polling data means nothing unless you know EXACTLY the question that was asked. Even slight variations in the question greatly impact the result of the poll. Good polls (1,000 is a good sample size) need to weigh this very carefully. Good polling is very expensive, only presidential candidates can usually pay for it ($150,000/poll is reasonable).

993 out of 300 million US population?

Doesn't sound like much of a statistic to shout about when you put it into perspective...

[Mirorgate 0]

I'm assuming then you know the history between Mexico and the U.S. over the last century.

Who cares what the history is. The reality is there are 20 million illegals here now. You need to get your head in the present man.

History can't be cherry picked, Gary.

Steven, you keep bringing the history aspect up as if it somehow trumps the US history with say.. England, Spain, France, Canada, China, Germany, Japan... even the african continent.... why is that?

[Mirorgate 0]

Has anyone actually qualified what "making English the official language of the US" would involve - practically speaking - aside from a purely symbolic declaration?

I'd be interested to know exactly what is mean't by "English legislation". I mean aside from telling everyone that English is the official language - what exactly is the point? I mean... how do you do it?

Government offices will be regarded as only doing business in english as per norm. Do you honestly expect to goto another country and deal with the bureaucracy there in your native tongue? Perhaps the person behind the desk can speak it... doesn't imply that the entire process will cater though.

[russ 1]

Has anyone actually qualified what "making English the official language of the US" would involve - practically speaking - aside from a purely symbolic declaration?

It is purely a political question. We have never had an official language before, and we seem to be doing fine.

We have freedom of speech here, and fundamentally, that should mean the freedom to speak any language you like. My wife and I freely speak English, Russian, French and some German. Why do we need an official language?

We already have a good free-market, capitalist answer to this. Learn English because it is easier here, and you will be more succesfull in life. Passing some law won't change that fact.

I hope that Spanish becomes necessary in America. It will be good for us to speak two languages fluently. It isn't that hard. Tell someone from Switzerland how hard it is to speak two languages...they will tell you how easy it is to speak five.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Has anyone actually qualified what "making English the official language of the US" would involve - practically speaking - aside from a purely symbolic declaration?

I'd be interested to know exactly what is mean't by "English legislation". I mean aside from telling everyone that English is the official language - what exactly is the point? I mean... how do you do it?

Government offices will be regarded as only doing business in english as per norm. Do you honestly expect to goto another country and deal with the bureaucracy there in your native tongue? Perhaps the person behind the desk can speak it... doesn't imply that the entire process will cater though.

True - but we're really only talking about Spanish here. Spanish has always been the second language of the US. No doubt illegal immigration has given spanish greater prominence - but its always been here... all the way back to the when the USA was founded.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Has anyone actually qualified what "making English the official language of the US" would involve - practically speaking - aside from a purely symbolic declaration?

It is purely a political question. We have never had an official language before, and we seem to be doing fine.

That's what I'm having trouble with - what exactly will be gained by designating an "official language"?

There has to be some point to it - other than refusing to accomodate other language versions of government forms. Many people do speak both languages fluently...

[Mirorgate 0]

Has anyone actually qualified what "making English the official language of the US" would involve - practically speaking - aside from a purely symbolic declaration?

I'd be interested to know exactly what is mean't by "English legislation". I mean aside from telling everyone that English is the official language - what exactly is the point? I mean... how do you do it?

Government offices will be regarded as only doing business in english as per norm. Do you honestly expect to goto another country and deal with the bureaucracy there in your native tongue? Perhaps the person behind the desk can speak it... doesn't imply that the entire process will cater though.

True - but we're really only talking about Spanish here. Spanish has always been the second language of the US. No doubt illegal immigration has given spanish greater prominence - but its always been here... all the way back to the when the USA was founded.

regionally speaking the Southwest sure, I'll give you that. But in Pennsylvania, it's Dutch/German. Louisiana has French/Creole... and Minnisota/Michigan is more Norwegian. Illegal Immigration has brought Spanish to be more prevelant now.

[russ 1]

That's what I'm having trouble with - what exactly will be gained by designating an "official language"?

There has to be some point to it - other than refusing to accomodate other language versions of government forms. Many people do speak both languages fluently...

Exactly. It gains nothing, other than making things difficult. It is not a big deal to print forms in a few languages.

Do we really want to have the 'language police' in the US? It seemed to be a real pain in the butt to me in Quebec. (my French is reasonably good)

Most of us want America to be an accepting and welcoming place. We are free to encourage people to speak English, but there is no good reason to require it. Most people in the world have the common sense to learn the languages in the countries they spend time in. If they are successful without doing so, who cares?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Well it would make sense to require prospective immigrants to demonstrate a certain level of English proficiency - something that I believe is already a requirement for people applying for naturalisation. That's an example of something practical and tangible.

But making English the "official" language doesn't seem to be about that - but rather trying to impose (I suppose reclaim is the better word) some sort of national identity. As you say its hard to see how or why that is necessary - certainly not in any practical sense.

[JoeMama 0]

Here in California, there's no shortage of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-speaking people. What I don't get is when I go into a department store, like Target, and I ask a worker there where I can find something, they don't speak a word of American English. Go figure why someone who doesn't speak this language would be forced to feel alienated all they've known language-wise since their birth. Especially, in their own country!

Edited May 24, 2007 by altimixdj

[russ 1]

Here in California, there's no shortage of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-speaking people. What I don't get is when I go into a department store, like Target, and I ask a worker there where I can find something, they don't speak a word of American English.

Here in Florida there are is no shortage of Spanish speaking people. I don't expect any type of service in Walmart or Target, so language doesn't matter much there.

Also, "Mexican" isn't a language as far as I know -- not much different than calling "American" a language.

[pedroh 21]

Here in California, there's no shortage of Mexican immigrants and Mexican-speaking people. What I don't get is when I go into a department store, like Target, and I ask a worker there where I can find something, they don't speak a word of American English. Go figure why someone who doesn't speak this language would be forced to feel alienated all they've known language-wise since their birth. Especially, in their own country!

amh, Mexican is not a language.. stop acting stupid as if u didnt know..

besides, Cali, and the southwest have always been bilingual.. it's not new.. so u're being alienated because u want to..

Edited May 24, 2007 by pedroh