Should English be the official language of the U.S?

(My bold)

A lingua franca, sure. But Latin was only used as such in Medieval Europe by the literate, not even by the so-called ruling elites. So the scribes, scholars & maybe some priests could communicate (read & write) across the length & breadth of Europe in Latin. But if you wanted to talk to the neighbor, & he/she wasn't literate, you had to know the local language.

 

Pour is sounded with a long "O"; tour is not.

Pour does, however, rhyme with four.

 

I see, so because people know and speak languages other than English here (freakin' duh).....English is not official regardless of virtually everything official being in English?

 

Almost everything official in Boston gets translated into a dozen languages.
Why have an official language?
What exactly is the difference that it would make?
And is declaring an official language a power granted to congress in the constitution?

 

(My bold)

US English speakers were born here, usually. But not even Chomsky argues that babies are born speaking English or some other language; @ most, there's a predisposition to learn/understand/speak some language, not a specific one. & Americans covers a lot of ground - the precise term is US citizens.

If immigrants were universally to show respect to the adoptive culture/language, wouldn't UK (& other) immigrants have learned an Athabascan Native People language & culture? That's the language area that the Pilgrims, etc. landed in. What's the difference there? Why didn't the Native Peoples get any of this respect?

The Native Peoples far outnumbered & out produced in economic terms - the incoming colonists. Isn't that the criterion we're waving around now? Even in terms of reproduction - if not for help from the Native Peoples, the European colonists would have simply starved to death those first few winters.

 

(My bold)

TMK, there is no such law, certainly not @ the federal level.

 

Yes, and in the US, the local language is always English, even if your neighborhood largely speaks something else. This is not the middle ages, and we want and need everyone to be able to communicate. To repeat, people can use any language they want, but if there is to be such a thing as the United States, with a functioning economy and government, there must be a common language.

In the middle ages, life was wholly local for all but a few. Today, life is wholly local for none but a few. Such people are trapped in a small cultural prison, unable to participate in the larger society. That's a recipe for poverty and powerlessness. With hundreds of languages spoken here, it's obviously impossible for government or business to function that way. We need only look at multi-linguistic societies such as India to see the costs and inefficiencies imposed by the lack of a common language.
But as I mentioned, pols ambitious for their own power at other's expense are happy to see the country dissolve into Babel.

Generations of immigrants, including my grandparents, learned English, not because anyone forced them, but because it was an obvious advantage to know the language of the country in which you lived. Learning a new language is a difficulty faced by all immigrants, except those who already know it. Suppose that you, Hoosier88, move to Japan, intending to live there indefinitely. Would you not learn Japanese? Can you not see the disadvantage of not doing so? What would you say about people who discouraged you from learning Japanese, claiming to protect you from "cultural imperialism," and saying the Japanese should all learn to communicate with you rather than you with them? Would these people he helping you or hurting you succeed in your new life? And why is the US different from Japan in this regard?

 

How did they qualify to vote and not speak English? Not major and have a degree, not even write it very well, but without a working knowledge of English? If they went to school and failed to learn to speak and read English on an elementary level the government and society has no obligation to make accommodations for them.

They aren't artificial they develop quite naturally.

You mistake me for someone who could give hoot about what you think of our culture.

 

Forcing one segment of te community to learn te dominant langage assumes cultural superiority of the dominant langage. American settlers didn't all learn the local native dialects when they were the majority.

Let everyone go their own ways.

 

(My bold)

No, the local language can be anything - including English. It's the national language - or even transnational, if you like - that is English.

I would never go to Japan to live there for an extended period of time. To visit the sights, see the Ginza, the markets, take in the latest in video gear, sure. I might even study Japanese, although learning 3 syllabaries simultaneously seems a bit much. I like their visual arts - animae, manga, Mifune, Miyazaki, Kurosawa. But the Yamato are wholly in love with themselves, & there is no room on their altar for anybody else, & certainly not round-eyes.

I'd likelier visit the Ainu or the ethnic Koreans who were born there, speak Japanese, but will never be accepted as Japanese. They can't marry into Japanese bloodlines, & on & on. Mind you, the Koreans have been there since 1931 or so. Everybody there (in Asia) has v. long memories, something that isn't true about the US - perhaps just as well.

The US is different in that we don't enshrine our past - or @ least, not our personal family histories - in a totally exclusionary way. If you have enough money or talent or even just personality - you can pass for an elite - @ least provisionally. So no, I'm quite content here in my little niche in the good ol' US of A, domo arigato.

 

(My bold)

GOMER it is. Take as necessary ...

 

I was trying to say that immigrants to the US are no different than immigrants to any other country, and should act the same. Whether you favor Japan is beside the point. America needs a common language. English is it. The notion that we're somehow being unfair or discriminatory to immigrants by urging them to learn is codswallop that hurts immigrants more than anyone.

 

(My bold)

Sorry, I was addressing a different point. The US is not like every other country, & certainly not like the Asian nations, where bloodlines are practically everything. The US is made up wholly of immigrants - unless you count the Native Peoples as the hosts for the rest of us. Even so, grafting UK-style parliamentary government onto the New World, & a willingness to let everyone work & earn their way, we've built something different in the US from the rest of the World.

Sure, participation in the US polity means you learn the language. But some people came here to get away from fatal politics - they may not be interested in a full integration into the body politic. (Not to worry, their children & grandchildren likely will be. & if not, there are succeeding generations to work with.)

Yah, languages are good, the more the better. Especially as we're having to hustle these days, to get our goods/services into other countries. Trade is still the name of the game, after all ...

 

News flash, There are american citizens who don't speak english.

 

I have to laugh at stuff like this (not you the general discussion of dialects and accents) because I remember a long time ago watching an episode of Wheel of Fortune where a lady from somewhere in Texas or the South had to solve the puzzle Rio de Janeiro to get her end of game prize. Throughout the entire episode the host and probably everyone else there had a hard time understanding her incredibly thick accent. She said Rio de Janeiro but she mangled the pronunciation so badly that she ended up losing. It sounded something like Ree yuh die Jun ire oh. I couldn't stop laughing because whats his name had to look to the judges to see if they understood it.

Edit: Pat Sajak was the host name.

 

We agree.

 

It's not "one segement" EVERYONE studies English in school.

So what?

You can learn as many languages as you want but in order to graduate from a school in the US you will be able to speak English and have a working knowledge of it.

So again whom who can vote cannot speak English or have a working knowledge of it?

 

I'm not an immigrant, I'm a native American, I was born and raised here just as my parents were and just as my grand parents were and just as theirs were.

Fine and we are under no obligation to accommodate them in their not learning even basic English and if they do want to become a citizen then they are required to learn English as it should be.

Not necessarily, it is the glue that holds a country and it's society together and actually the world would be a better place if we all spoke the same language which one day far far away that may be the case.

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Where and whom? How did get through school here, or being raised at all here, or become naturalize without speaking English?

 

Yet people often tell Southerns how they love our accent while I've never heard someone say that to someone from the north. Ours is melodic and gentle while a northern accent is harsh and brittle.

 

That is because the Midwest accent is the standard accent of pretty much every TV show and movie you watch so when you hear a Southern accent it stands out from the norm unless you happen to live in the South. I also notice this on shows like Law and Order which take place in New York with New Yorkers as protaganists yet they sound like my next door neighbors and not like how actual New Yorkers talk. I am not one for the Southern accent but I love some of the English accents. It makes everyone sound like James Bond or the Queen of England. There are some English accents which sound just as awful to me as the Boston accent.

 

"Should English be the official language of the U.S?"

¿Qué

 

Americans who were born and raised in foreign countries, are still Americans.
There are people who were born in the US who grew up speaking a different language at home.
There are people who are subject to the jurisdiction of the United States that don't speak english.

 

You still have to speak English to become a citizen, but the government has been producing multi-language information for most of the history of the country.

why? If you are a citizen then you have the right to vote and that right requires information. If you need training wheels to do it I think that is just fine.

Thank God since of course that is protected by the 1st amendment.

Must? there is a law that they have to broadcast in other languages? Can you cite the source of this.

Why? Why limit the Federal government?

Wow, really? So you want English, but not English English.....got it. What do you think of Native American languages????

Funny with all the regional dialects how can this be true.

Think about it.
In the south you "mash the button".
Pop, Soda, Coke, Soft-drink
Do you know what a stoop is?
Should we eliminate words like Chutzpah, Burrito, how about E. Pluribus Unum?

 

except for the entire history of our country there have been pockets other languages. Why are we still a nation?

 

Making them learn English in school is forcing a language upon them. They should have the option if they wish, just as English speaking kids should be able to learn another language.