English the Official Language of the USA?

[Leney 0]

Would You Support a Bill to Make English the Official Language of the USA?

Was just curious after reading this: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69708

Edited May 24, 2007 by Leney

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

Would You Support a Bill to Make English the Official Language of the USA?

Was just curious after reading this: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=69708

yer darn tootin!

[Nessa 23]

I always thought english was the national language here

My answer is yes, english should be the official language.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I'm going to say "don't know". Other than a purely symbolic declaration - I wonder what the practical purpose of such a bill would actually be.

I mean - what are we talking about here?

[Arazia 0]

I would vote for English as the official language. I don't know how much it would actually change, but...

[Otto 83]

I'm going to say "don't know". Other than a purely symbolic declaration - I wonder what the practical purpose of such a bill would actually be.

I mean - what are we talking about here?

Check here

[Savanphil 3]

Heck yeah......

[Otto 83]

Twenty-seven states already have laws making English their official language. According to the Census Bureau, eight in 10 U.S. residents speak only English.

~USA Today

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Twenty-seven states already have laws making English their official language. According to the Census Bureau, eight in 10 U.S. residents speak only English.

~USA Today

I’d be interested to know ‘which’ states have done this, and what impact their various policies have had.

So basically we’re talking about doing away with the requirements for government agencies to support multiple languages support.

From that article at least, it seems a little contradictory to me… On the one had they’re making the case that states pay large sums of money on court translator fees – while a few paragraphs down saying that multi-language assistance would still be offered to non-english speaking defendants and victims of crime. Also that the 911 system would continue to cater different languages; and that Govt employees would still would continue to provide multi-language assistance.

Given that we’re really talking about Spanish here (and it really is a second language in the US) – its unlikely that this would make much of a difference to increase the adoption of English. All we’d really be addressing are official support to non-standard languages other than Spanish – which have comparatively far fewer native speakers in the US. So what would it really achieve?

Perhaps I'm being too cynical here - but it seems to me that a lot of support for this is tied to kneejerk reactionism for illegal immigrant problem from Mexico. I honestly can't see it making much of a difference to the linguistic diversity of the country, or reducing people's reliance on spanish.

[ya falaha! 0]

I always kinda figured it was the official language of the US.

[Otto 83]

I'm not so certain it's a knee-jerk reaction since apparently it has been brought up in nearly every session for the last 20 years. And it's certainly not unique to the US, many other countries have either passed or are considering passing an official language.

Curious - what's the official language in other countries?

[Jenn! 918]

I'm not so certain it's a knee-jerk reaction since apparently it has been brought up in nearly every session for the last 20 years. And it's certainly not unique to the US, many other countries have either passed or are considering passing an official language.

Curious - what's the official language in other countries?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_offic...ages_by_country

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I'm not so certain it's a knee-jerk reaction since apparently it has been brought up in nearly every session for the last 20 years. And it's certainly not unique to the US, many other countries have either passed or are considering passing an official language.

Curious - what's the official language in other countries?

Well as I see it - the biggest push for this sort of thing is primarily because of the increasing number of people who only speak spanish (which is by far the biggest immigrant group). So it might sound great on paper - but I'm not certain we'd save as much money as we're claiming, as the only people who would really be affected by it would be smaller immigrant groups.

I'm not against it BTW - just don't think it would be much more than a symbolic gesture.

[Otto 83]

Twenty-seven states already have laws making English their official language. According to the Census Bureau, eight in 10 U.S. residents speak only English.

~USA Today

I’d be interested to know ‘which’ states have done this, and what impact their various policies have had..

(in Alabama, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming)

Hawaiian (in Hawaii)

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

That list also included Puerto Rico (a US territory), which speaks Spanish (primarily)