Offical Lanuage for the US

Absolutely!

Choosing to accomodate those who choose not to learn the language of the country is just wrong. :BangHead:

 

Ingles, solamente.

 

I dont think a law should be made to tell people what language to speak, but I think private employers should be allowed to decide whether or not they want to hire someone who cant speak English. No English, no job. A person who decides to live in the United States and chooses not to learn the language of this country will not be as successful as someone who does, but to pass a law is a trivial use of our legislative system.

 

Why do we need a law for that.

 

Enforcing present laws for immigration would be a good start. (Hey POTUS, what an original idea).

 

I don't even remember the last President we had that advocated enforcement of immigration laws.

And there doesn't seem to be one on the horizon.:BangHead:

 

Ma'am, Ah'm from Texas. What makes you think the 'language of the country' is English? English is not now and never has been the 'language of the country' in much of the territory within the administration of the federal government.

Refusing to accomodate native speakers of Spanish or any other language in dealing with the federal or state governments would be sooo counterproductive. I don't suppose we could expect to see much tax money coming from them, or have them comply with immigration or traffic laws, send their children to school, file for social security, run businesses, etc. Bilingualism is as much to 'our' advantage as it is to 'theirs.'

 

When the Italians, Polish, Germans, and other immigrants came to this country they learned English while preserving their own cultural heritage. They assimilated and became successful Americans. If you choose not to learn the language of this country it is to your own detriment. They shouldnt make laws to make English the official language but at the same time dont force employers and businesses to accomodate those who dont want to learn it.

 

No amendment or new laws for English only are required, as it is already a requirement of the U.S. Naturalization process to read, write and speak English. The problem is the Naturalization process is being skipped. Thus, what we really could use is a border and a return to being a nation of law.

 

See Dwight Eisenhower's Operation Wetback.

 

What is "other"? Another language besides those mentioned?

 

I know for a fact that there are a number of communities in the country where German is still "the language of the country," and probably still communities where Polish and Italian and Chinese and Malay are the first language as well. And much moreso with Spanish because the Spanish-speaking communities never "came here", but were here before the U.S. was. Do not assume we are speaking only of immigrants, and there is no good reason to force everyone to "melt" into the pot. It will not work and only breeds antipathy. Go ahead and print the documents in a language the Amish can understand, for Pete's sake! What does it hurt? I am NOT going to spend the entire month of March translating Form 1040 into Spanish for my neighbors, you best believe, even if I could. So what are you going to do about that? Most federal publications are tough enough even in one's native language. As a former longtime expatriate I can assure you that Anglo-Americans rarely ever bother to learn the "language of the country" they are living in when that language is not English, so let's not be haughty.

Now the only thing that makes English "the language of the country" is the fact that many people from more insular parts of the country think that it is. English is NOT and never was the "language of the country." It depends entirely on what community one lives in.

 

Yes.:thumbs:

 

If I was going to live in a non-English speaking country, I would expect to have to learn their language so I can communicate with them. Anyone who comes to the US to live should learn our language and not expect us to accomodate them.

 

The U.S. is only an "English-speaking country" in the very loosest and most abstract sense of the word. Most people here do speak English as their native language, but this is not France and there is no such thing as "our language." That is my whole point. If the Canadians can get the hang of this thing, so should we.

Are you volunteering your time to teach them? And truly anyone whose first language is X is going to have a long haul ahead of them to learn English well enough to handle government documents.

But if you would TRULY be willing to invest your time to learn a second language if living overseas AND would take on the responsibility of teaching non-English speakers here, then hats off to you. You still don't get to determine public policy based on "the principle of the thing", though. Hundreds of thousands of government bureaucrats could not deal with having to process paperwork filled out in confused English by millions who do not speak it well enough to communicate in bureaucrateze. The system we have now works. English-only would not.

 

English is a universal language. When I went to Switzerland a few years back, which is a multi-language country (German, French, and Italian), I had very little trouble finding anyone who spoke English. It is also the international language of business and from what I understand English is required to become an air traffic controller anywhere in the world. I would be the last person in the world to tell a person what language to speak. All I am trying to say is that in The U.S., you will be at a disadvantage if Spanish (or any other foreign language) is the only language that you speak.
I lived about an hour and a half from Amish country when I lived in Pennsylvania and even though they kept to themselves and spoke Dutch among themselves they all spoke English also. They know what a tourist attraction they are in Lancaster Co. Pa. and understand capitalism very well. But I digress.

 

Oh, well, never mind then. It is a "universal language," so everyone already speaks it. So we have nothing to talk about. Anyone who only speaks ENGLISH is at a great handicap in the world as well as in the U.S.

Yes, the Amish pretty much all do speak English, but they have their own community based schools which teach in Deitsch, and do they always speak English well enough to fill out documents? That is the real issue here, is it not?

 

Having grown up very near the Amish area of PA (approx. 50 mi. from Lancaster PA) and in and among the Mennonites, I can attest to the fact that I never had one bit of trouble communicating in English with any of them.

One reason to require at least a working knowledge of English:

Suppose a non-English speaker needed to call 911 for a life-threatening emergency and the only person in that 911 center who knew how to understand Spanish happened to be on vacation?