Should English be the Official Language in the United States?

Declaring English as the official language of the United States is an idea that quite dangerous and culturally insensitive and many issues exist with the creation of an official language that one might not always foresee when making such an argument. One of the most salient aspects of the identity of any national or ethnic group is the language that it uses to communicate among its members. Languages, both oral and written, is the currency of communication within a culture, and the inability of group members to communicate with one another using a shared stock of words and a common acknowledgment of their meanings is likely to inhibit the cohesion, and even the long-term survival of the group. Declaring and institutionalizing the official language of a group or a nation, however, is fraught with political, social, and economic dilemmas, and “is among the most taxing of political issues.”

What do you think.....since an overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens speak English, should it be declared the official language....or is it "culturally insensitive?"

I know that the US is a melting pot, but more people DO speak English here than any other language. So yeah, I don't see how it's insensitive to declare English the official language of the United States. That's just common sense.

IA. I think the U.S.'s resistance to making English its official language is being a little too PC. When probably over 80% of the country speaks English....or is expected to....then just go ahead and make it official.

Forgive my ignorance, but I didn't know that English wasn't already the official language of the US. Canada has two official languages - French and English. I guess I just assumed that the US already had Eng. as the official language. I certainly don't think having two official languages has hurt Canada. Many people keep their own language, and also speak Eng. or French. When I visit my brother and sister in law, Cantonese is spoken by her family and some are more comfortable in Cantonese than Eng, though the kids use Eng. more. when we go shopping, I hear far more Cantonese or Mandarin than Eng. I'd love to learn either lang. but I'm lousy at learning languages and Cantonese is a very difficult lang. to learn due to the different tones. My brother knows some words, but not a lot. My niece is being raised bilingual and her parents are thinking about putting her in French immersion.

I think what is culturally insensitive is to live in another country and never learn the language. If I went to China, I'd make every effort to learn the language. I wouldn't loose or give up Eng. but I'd still want to learn the language of the country I'm living in.

Of course it should be.

TSJFan4Ever wrote:Forgive my ignorance, but I didn't know that English wasn't already the official language of the US. Canada has two official languages - French and English. I guess I just assumed that the US already had Eng. as the official language.

You're not ignorant but English is not the official language of the United States. If it were, you wouldn't be able to take a test for a state issued driver's license or conduct business with the government in anyone of a number of other languages. You wouldn't have to "press 1 to continue in English." I think Marc is right about the PC issue. The only "cultural insensitive" is any immigrant, legal or illegal...sorry, "undocumented", coming to this country and expecting not to have to assimilate.

This basically distills my feeling on "illegal" immigration. I realize that the vast majority of “illegals” are here to try and escape the crushing poverty of their homeland. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" We put out the welcome mat but like everyone who came before them via Ellis Island did, everyone crossing the Rio Grande needs to assimilate at least as far as our language.

I also understand that it’s the greed of our business community that has greatly enabled these visitors not to have to. Look around. How often to you see dual English/Spanish signage? How often do you have to search through a pamphlet for English? Home Depot, Lowes, etc., want that market niche and if they don't cater to Spanish speakers someone else will so let's level the playing field.

We need an amendment to the U.S. Constitution establishing English as the official language of this country. This is not “racist” or “politically incorrect”.

If you get email, you may have received this in one form or another but it seems appropriate to repeat it here. From Theodore Roosevelt:

"In the first place we should insist that the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equity with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming an American and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

It absolutely should be. The hesitance to make English the official language of the United States is irrational.

I think it should be the official language of the US, what is so insensitive about that? My grandparents had to learn the language when they came here from Italy and their parents before them.

"History has blessed [the U.S.] with all the freedom and advantages of multiculturalism. But it has also blessed us, because of the accident of our origins, with a linguistic unity that brings a critically needed cohesion to a nation as diverse, multiracial and multiethnic as America. Why gratuitously throw away that priceless asset?" - Charles Krauthammer, Time Magazine, June 4, 2006

1. To stipulate that although government may use other languages, to be legally binding and authoritative e.g. "official," it must act or communicate in the English language.

2. To clarify that whenever there is a conflict in meaning between government laws, regulations, or pronouncements issued in more than one language, the English version is the authoritative one.

3. To clarify that unless government decides to provide it, no one has an entitlement or right to government services or documents in a language other than English.

4. To recognize the historical fact that the United States has been an overwhelmingly English speaking nation since it was created and that its constitution and foundational documents are in English.

5. To recognize that while the people United States value and respect diversity, they want to preserve English as their common language and therefore immigrants have the responsibility to learn English. [1]

6. To conform to the majority of the states (30) that already have made English their official language.

7. To respond to the will of the American people, 85 percent of whom believe English should be our official language, according to a June 2006 Rasmussen Reports survey.

8. To conform to the rest of the world: Eighty-five percent of the UN's member nations have official languages. Fifty-three (53) of those nations have adopted English as their official language. [2]

9. To avoid the costs, burdens, and conflicts that arise in nations like Canada or international organizations like the European Union that attempt to conduct business in more than one official language.

10. To bring the federal government into conformity with national institutions like the U.S. Army and the federal court system, who for practical reasons have decided to operate in English.

I'm all for English being declared the official language of the US, but here's what a naysayer has to say about it...

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There’s been some debate in the United States about whether English should be the official language. It should not. Making English the official language would send an unequivocal message of unwelcome to the non-English parts of the world, completely counter to the melting pot ideal which makes the U.S. so great.

THEN WHAT SHOULD THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE BE??

There shouldn’t be an official language. If that sounds extreme, realize that there is currently no official language in the U.S. (except in certain states), nor has there ever been one.

An official language would be like an official race. Proponents of “English Only” argue that language is something you can change and learn. This is true, as I’ve learned over several years as a polyglot-wannabe, studying Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Esperanto. However, the general public isn’t generally up to date with the most sophisticated language-learning methods, methods like sentence mining and spaced repetition, which make learning a new language really realistic. For most people, including most university language teachers, language learning is a dark-age process of grammar rules and tedium. Even if second language acquisition technology were up to speed across the board, language learning would still take a tremendous amount of time, time that not many people realistically have. The reality is, immigrants will gradually pick up English, but not overnight!

AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE WOULD “ACCOMPLISH” NOTHING

It’s not like making English the official language would magically make everyone in the U.S. speak English. Making English the official language wouldn’t even stop other languages from making appearances here. It wouldn’t remove those “Para español, marque ocho” messages from our telephones. Those messages aren’t there because of some sinister plot by archliberals to destroy the U.S. with political correctness. They’re there because their presence brings in more money for the companies running the recording. It’s the free market at work!

LEAVE IT UP TO THE STATES

One consequence of making English the official language of the U.S. is that this would rule out any individual states having any say in the matter. Since the U.S. was founded, there’s been a gradual erosion of power for the states. Originally, it was like there were four nodes in the famous and oft-cited “system of checks and balances” of the U.S. government: the executive branch, the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and the states. At the time I’m writing this article, some U.S. states have enshrined English as the official language, and some have not.

In New Mexico, 30% of the population speaks Spanish. It would make no sense for the federal government to order New Mexico to make English the sole official language.

And what if Puerto Rico ever gained statehood? Spanish is the predominant language there.

WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS?

Some of the people arguing for English as an official language say, it’s already the de-facto official language (that is, for all practical intents and purposes, it’s what people here speak). So, it’s a no-brainer English should be the official language. Right? But, by that logic, the official language should’ve originally been a mishmash of native american tongues. Early colonists and immigrants from Europe should’ve cast away English and learned the language of North America, not of Britain!
FURTHER READING

To get a greater appreciation of a little of what immigrants have to cope with when they’re learning English, read my article, 10 Reasons English Is A Hard Language.

The official language debate is a little bit analogous to the prescriptivist-descriptivist dichotomy in linguistics. Read more at: Prescriptive Linguistics Vs. Descriptive Linguistics.

Language acquisition works both ways. I learned this when I started going out with my girlfriend, whose first language is Japanese! Sure, she’s been picking up tons of English from me, but we realized I’ve also been picking up some English from her! Read more: Leadership And Language.

The whole “language” thing might just become moot in a few millenia anyway.