Official Languages for the US

[Rapscallion]

This one crops up on the CS boards every so often. There are two main languages spoken in the US - English and Spanish (the latter being predominantly in the South of the country).

Fact - there is no official language in the United States.

Should there be? Which one should it be? Should official languages be decided on a state-by-state basis? After all, the state has to pay to put up signs in the recognised languages in the area it has responsibility for.

Go for it.

Rapscallion

[Isios]

Well my feeling on this is the predominate language is English here in the US. If I were to travel to Mexico I would be expected to speak some spanish, or at least enough to get around. Why should the US be so lenient on language here? I may be wrong but I thought they named english as the national language this past year, but don't quote me on that.

If I were planning on moving to Spain or France permanently I sure would want to learn the language. It's a big handicap to understand the native language in the country you are in, and you can miss out on so much.

[AFPheonix]

In a country like this, we HAVE to have one main language common to all, and by default it's English. Should we make it the official language? No, and here's why I think so:
Unlike most every other country, well, perhaps with the exception of Canada, we are predominantly a nation of immigrants, all of whom have their own set of languages and backgrounds. It's the melding together of all of these that makes this such a cool place.

I do think that everyone should have at least one other language under their belts, however. I also think that second languages need to start being offered in grade school as opposed to high school, because the ability to learn and retain that language will be much higher if learned earlier. Part of the reason why my place of work is getting to be so popular is because there's a variety of languages spoken by employees, it makes it a nicer experience for everyone.

And like I've stated before, there may very well be lazy people who "refuse" to learn the language, but in my experience with migrant workers and customers, most really try to learn rudimentary English skills. They have to if they want to be able to move up. One of the stall cleaners at my Trainer's barn would work his ass off all day at a lot of different barns, then go to class by night to learn, and he'd stop me a lot if he had questions on vocabulary and grammar. He was a cool guy, I'm glad he got to go back home to hang with his wife again.

[rahmota]

So first off, according to the US Govt CIA World fact Book there is no federal level official language though english is the defacto language of trade in this ocuntry. All documents must be available in english or spanish with other translations available as needed or translation help.

Some states do have an official language of record which is English.

Personally I would like to see the official language designated as english. I mean if I where to go overseas or south of the border the people and govt are not goin to bend over backwards and go out of their way to provide me with english documents and translations as we do in this country.

Also even though we are a melting pot and to paraphrase the army's new recruitment slogan we are a nation of individuals we should still have certain things in common to cement that diverse group of individuals into a nation. A common ground brings people together into a sense of unity that lessons the us vs them attitude which makes people easier prey for the hatred and manipulation of those who would take advantage of nay cracks in a society, region or group to foment unrest and trouble. And the whole point of a melting pot is for everything to join together and increase the worht of the whole thing.

This is not to say make it illegal to keep your home language or to have a second language. One can have unity without total uniformity. Just have the language of trade, government, and public information be english. If this is to be a multicultural world, country or society then part of that culture is learning the main language of the country you are living in.

[Scottya21]

I think

I think that both English should be the official language, and everyone should be forced to take accent reduction classes until they're comprehensible. I misunderstand more people because I can't tell that they're speaking english... Granted I'm used to having people of various native languages come up and try to talk with me, so I'm conditioned to attempt to identify other languages first, but still.



More seriously, one way or another english has evolved as the main language of this country. It's still the majority's native language. People should expect to converse in english by default. Of course, we could go into all the parallels with the situation with the EU , and the massive amounts of money they spend on translation, blah blah blah, but that's no fun.

[linguist]

I think that both English should be the official language, and everyone should be forced to take accent reduction classes until they're comprehensible. I misunderstand more people because I can't tell that they're speaking english... Granted I'm used to having people of various native languages come up and try to talk with me, so I'm conditioned to attempt to identify other languages first, but still.

and who then is to be the arbiter of comprehensibility? i for one have never had trouble understanding anyone whose native language is other than english, but there are some native english speakers i've found incomprehensible.

accent isn't something that can be just trained away. english has a phonological inventory containing numerous sounds not found in other languages, which can be very difficult for a non native speaker to pronounce. in vowels alone, we have 14, whereas most languages have less than half that. from birth our neurological pathways begin being set by what we hear, and that translates into ease of articulation when we begin speaking. that's what accent is--applying native phonology, tone, and stress patterns to non-native language. i've been speaking spanish most of my life, but as it's not my native language, i'll never be able to do it without an accent.

[rahmota]

I know what you mean about accents. I've run across non native english speakers who have less of an "accent" than some of the people I know who have been born and raised in appalachia.

It can be difficult to train away an accent, especially if in your daily speech you don't make conscious thought to catch yourself and stop using the accent. I took some speech/public speaking/theator classes in college and when i started I was told I have a definate appalachian accent which I had to stop and think about.

I would just be happy to have a person speaking english enough to understand what is going on and communicate the basic idea of the transaction/issue/problem.

[rdp78]

Well, I really didn't know that the US didn't have a national langauge until I saw something about it on cs.com however I always have throught it was like millions of my countrymen and women because this is the first language that we were taught in school not to mention learn to speak. I mean in order to be an US citizen you have to learn English. I also remember when studying US history that when this country was forming Congress had to decided on a official language and it was English however, I heard French was close but maybe it was just how they were conducting the meetings. I'm still not sure if an official language will be great idea but I think its more of a state issue then of national issue.

[protege]

I know what you mean about accents. I've run across non native english speakers who have less of an "accent" than some of the people I know who have been born and raised in appalachia.

This is true. I've run into several non-native people who can speak English better than some of the idiots who were *born* here, mainly the ebonics speakers and the stereotypical 'trailer trash' citizens.

[AFPheonix]

Heh we had a customer yesterday who just cracked me up. He was being helped by our intern, who is Indian. He asked her if she was from India, and then complimented her English skills, and just kind of generally made an ass of himself. After he left, I told her she should have said "Thank you, come again" ala Apu from the Simpsons.

She about died laughing.

[BusBus]

Accent reduction classes? Are you kidding me? I have a much easier time understanding non-native english speakers than some folks who are from english speaking countries (I have the worse time with the Kiwi accent). Maybe this comes from living in a city where 50% of the residences were born abroad, so accents don't faze me.

Living in a country with two official languages (French and English), I can tell you this: it probably won't change anything. I cannot go to a store and get service in French. Signs are not bilingual, unless you're at a federal government office or at the airport. In fact, lots of stores display signs in non-official languages (hell, sometimes not even in English). Most places will have service and signs in the language(s) most spoken in that particular community.

And yes, there are people who refuse to learn English. There are people who send their elderly, non-english speaking parents out and about and expect the world to conform to their needs. It's frustrating when all you can say is, "I can only speak English and French".

As far as I can say, declaring a language as official will not motivate anyone to learn to speak english.

[rahmota]

Protege: I know what you mean about that. Its like they are trying to go out of their way to reinforce the stereotypes. What really makes me laugh and cry about the future of humanity is the white gangsta rapper wanna bes that people call "wiggers" doing the whole ebonics crud. The closest these white bread suburbia born kids have gotten to the real hood is watching Vh1.

BusBus: true declaring an official language probably will be just like many of the other laws people ignore because it isnt convenient or acceptable for them.

[suchislife]

this is a quote from an e-mail I recieved that I thought would be very relevant to this debate, it's mainly based on whats been happening in Auz, but the same principle would apply to any country really.

"We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us."

"If the Southern Cross offends you, or you don't like "A Fair Go", then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet.
We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. By all means, keep your culture, but do not force it on others.

"This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'."

"If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted."

[rahmota]

Well the thread on CS about the racist person wanting to make an appointment brought me over here to respond to this.

The comment was made about businesses haivng the spanish (or other language) option available on their automated system. Or as has been on a few I've called they will say the greeting in english then repeat it in the other language.

To me thats more of the degredation of the english language here in america. Another chance that the immigrants or others who came to this country to practice their language skills. I'd personally like to see it kept to plain english on the automated systems.

[Rubystars]

.

I'd personally like to see it kept to plain english on the automated systems.

It just makes it easier for them not to assimilate, which is bad.