87% Say English Should Be U.S. Official Language

reply to post by eNumbra


correct me if i am wrong but isn,t america a continent ?
and does this continent not have many countries in it ie peru , mexico chilli ,argentina etc .
so it follows that you should be refering to the u.s.a not america .

People who know multiple languages usually score higher in many different areas of knowledge and IQ measurements. Many other countries accomodate travellers and tourists. There are many places on Earth that have gone to the trouble to learn English ALONG with their native tounge, as well as other dialects from neighboring areas, etc. Why is the USA always so eager to race to the bottom?

Most immigrants learn english when they come here. The one language that ties us all together is english. I worked with hispanics, africans, asians etc. Most of them knew english. I fail miserably when trying to learn another language. The best I can do is a bunch of words and a few greetings.

I never left my country and never had to speak another language. With most people speaking english in the U.S. and always have, I vote for english to be the official language.

Has anyone noticed that some jobs now prefer or require you to be bilingual? One advertisement for a job listing stated: Because most of our employees speak spanish. It was a factory job. WTF?

Our road signs are in english and everywhere you go, you need to speak and understand english. Imagine an accident victom not knowing english? How could you know how to treat their injuries?

[edit on 13-5-2010 by Night Star]

reply to post by K J Gunderson


That is an insult to people like me who just can't grasp learning a whole new language.

I dont see the problem here, a Country can have more than ONE Official Language. IMHO, ALL the Native American languages should be protected under law as Official languages alongside American English and American Spanish.

Put it this way... I'll learn Spanish if I intend to visit Mexico... but not if I want to visit the US.

I'm not racist... I just thought that the US was an English speaking country.

reply to post by Wotan


There is nothing wrong with preserving a language. Many people speak more than one, and teach it to their children in the home. Home is where it should stay though, for purposes of heritage.

In the real world, one language per country to be able to communicate, and run a business is all that is needed.

When in Rome...........

reply to post by K J Gunderson


We are not eagar!?!? The majority of those country's wanted OUR tourism and did what was nessecary to help accommodate us.

Without an official language we can't expect immigrants to speak English. We need to make it official. I had this argument in class with a Mexican girl. Her family immigrated here so she said it's not fair to expect people to learn English right away. I said I don't think it's fair either to make them learn immediately, but most don't even TRY to learn which is the problem. My mother is in the US Army and we've been stationed overseas before. When I lived in Germany they didn't care that I didn't speak German, it was viewed as MY problem. Make English the official language. Case closed.

Alright people.

Where did Latin go? Where is Rome?

It's still here in its corrupted form. Welcome to english and the United States of America.

ALL ROADS.

The only difference is that in Rome, it was considered something of the elite to speak latin and there was common language or vulgar language. It is my belief that the different dialects of latin such as the elite version, the middle class version, and the vulgar version, became what we now know as italian, french, and spanish (in no particular order as I wasn't there to witness whose dialect became which).

Of course, the history of english is more mixed and different, but the same thing is happening.

Now, how insane do you think it is that the elite speak with a european undertone? That the middle-class speak in all kinds of different ways and then even-more-so the lower-class in this country! I mean, brooklyn anyone? Rednecks anyone?

New languages form like this. If y'all want to keep things all solid like Rome tried so hard to do, you're going to be the undoing of this place.

The United States of America was designed (I'm laughing inside at the irony) to be a place of freedom and change. If we start to solidify all these things, we corrupt the very core of what the country is supposed to be AND we follow Rome down the poop-shoot.

Get real, people. Let the change and flow happen. STOP being so overly-sensitive and learn what you can and do what you can. Don't complain over not being able to understand people. Oh, MY, the drama! You can't buy your tickets from ticketmaster because the indian lady cannot enunciate in a way that makes sense to you! Your life is ruined! Make a law! I wanna buy my tickets! I wanna pay my bills! I'm tired of doing Avon!

It sounds like people just don't want to grow up and actually form the true melting pot. It sounds like everyone just wants everything handed to them without any sweat on their brow.

Anyone who makes the excuse that they can't learn another language is pulling your leg. It's a sympathy ploy.

Anyone who makes the excuse that they can't get along with certain other people - well, that means people should stay away from you by your own admittance.

It's unreal... all the hypocrisy here.

Here's a phrase I taught myself if french people talk with me (sometimes I play Diablo2 online and french people often play) : "Je ne parle pas francais parce qu'il y a beaucoup d'accents!" Then they usually say, "Ah, good. How are you?" "Ah, bien bien, merci. Comment-allez vous?" "Good thanks. It's okay you can speak english." No, teach me something.

Now that I think about it, everyone should just learn latin. It's an unbelievable thing to say, I know, but really. If you want to learn to understand language and the rest of the world, learn latin. You will be able to know what spanish, french, italian, portugues, and countless other peoples' are talking about generally if you just learn latin. You may not be able to respond perfectly... but you have a basis for -communication-.

Learning latin also helped me to learn japanese. The grammar structure is remarkably similar. In fact, I believe they're pretty much identical in structure! Japanese is also what they call a SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) language. English of course is an SVO language and it's one of the few. It is probably one of the confusing things with which to deal when learning english.

English is much more simple to learn the basics of simply conversing and writing. But english is much more complicated in the long run. All other languages seem difficult at first, but they generally MAKE SENSE.

It is foolish for anyone speaking english to not try to speak another language. And if anyone should try, learn latin first.

Finnish sounds particularly awesome in song. It's one I've long wanted to atleast learn how to say, "I like to dance with the elves in the forest," because that's what their languages says to me.

Originally posted by MonteroReal
Of course i understand what you are trying to say, and of course i understand that now one country have a monopoly in the use of the word "America", but it sounds like even the hispanic and french speaking countries must change to english to make you all happy.

North America is a continent, South America is a continent, "The Americas" are the land mass you are referring to.

America is a colloquial term referring to the United States of America. It's short hand; nothing more.

Originally posted by tom.farnhill
reply to post by eNumbra

 

correct me if i am wrong but isn,t america a continent ?
and does this continent not have many countries in it ie peru , mexico chilli ,argentina etc.

South America. See reply above.

[edit on 5/13/2010 by eNumbra]

Originally posted by K J Gunderson
People who know multiple languages usually score higher in many different areas of knowledge and IQ measurements. Many other countries accomodate travellers and tourists. There are many places on Earth that have gone to the trouble to learn English ALONG with their native tounge, as well as other dialects from neighboring areas, etc. Why is the USA always so eager to race to the bottom?

It's not that we don't want to learn other languages (I'm learning Japanese in fact, a damn tough language for a westerner), it's that we want people to be able to communicate properly, without the use of their 13 year old son about financial issues regarding their foreclosure on a house you're renting from them, because they don't know a lick of English, the language that over 90% of USA citizens speak. (Yes that happened to me, and damn was it obnoxious).

Once an 'official' language is put in place, then all forms can be put into English without worrying about what other languages you have to translate it to. Not saying you wouldn't want to, just that the government shouldn't be wasting my tax money printing things in 30 languages that are only meant for citizens. It's a waste of money, time effort to accommodate all these languages.

In all seriousness, would you move a country like say, Uganda, and expect to live and communicate with the populace without ever learning Runyankore, Rutooro, Chiga, or Nyoro?!

Try it and see how far you get. There's no reason why we need to spend our tax money to support these people if they don't even want to properly integrate into the society that inhabits the country they want to live in.

[edit on 5/13/2010 by Arcane Demesne]

I have nothing against immigration to the United States to better the lives of the immigrants and their families, heck, that's why most of us are here today...our ancestors made that choice to do the same thing.

But if you come here, you need to learn the ways and customs of our country...we should not have to change our lifestyles to suit someone else's.

"When in Rome..."

Originally posted by Arcane Demesne

It's not that we don't want to learn other languages (I'm learning Japanese in fact, a damn tough language for a westerner),

Yes it is. That is exactly the sentiment I was responding to. You may be an exception but not the rule. Btw, I took Japanese for 3 years in high school so I do sympathize. I think it is a hard language for anyone who is not Japanese or Chinese.

it's that we want people to be able to communicate properly, without the use of their 13 year old son about financial issues regarding their foreclosure on a house you're renting from them, because they don't know a lick of English, the language that over 90% of USA citizens speak. (Yes that happened to me, and damn was it obnoxious).

That was kind of my point. Basically that is saying we are too lazy or too stupid to communicate in a global market so everyone needs to dumb down to us. Instead of us being able to demonstrate how well we can speak two or more languages, we insist the poor and uneducated learn a second language in order to keep us from having to put an effort into understanding.

I understand the sentiment but it hardly seems like the best solution.

It is the same thing as crying that you are too weak to fight so that anyone coming to deal with you needs to check their strength, speed, and skills at the door to better accommodate you. It just seems kind of sad.

When I go to Canada, I can speak, read, and write in English or French. There are even plenty of places in Ontario that understand English, French, and luckily enough - Japanese.

As a kid, I always thought it seemed odd that other countries are full of multilingual people but in America we insist we are better and smarter and that is why we will only communicate in English and not well at that.

Once an 'official' language is put in place, then all forms can be put into English without worrying about what other languages you have to translate it to.

How do you plan on telling Hawaii this?

Not saying you wouldn't want to, just that the government shouldn't be wasting my tax money printing things in 30 languages that are only meant for citizens. It's a waste of money, time effort to accommodate all these languages.

I honestly have no argument against that. That is a perfectly solid point. The only thing I can say is that we waste plenty of tax dollars on all kinds of other pointless crap so if I were in position to decide, I would certainly be more interested in funding multilingual documents than say $400 hammers and toilets seats for the Pentagon or say more nuclear weapons on top of the amount already sufficient to destroy EVERYTHING. That is just me but since that is not that case, ok you got me there.

In all seriousness, would you move a country like say, Uganda, and expect to live and communicate with the populace without ever learning Runyankore, Rutooro, Chiga, or Nyoro?!

LOL. Nice example. The official language of Uganda is ENGLISH. That means that I can move there and be a lazy, ignorant English speaking person all I want. The people of Uganda took the time to learn English without eradicating their own culture and languages. THAT IS MY POINT!

If I move somewhere, I should be expected to learn the language. I have no problem with wanting people to speak English when they move to a mostly English speaking country. My problem is the specific sentiment that we ain't learnin' no other languages so everyone that comes here better be more educated than us! It is specifically that right there I have a problem with.

Try it and see how far you get. There's no reason why we need to spend our tax money to support these people if they don't even want to properly integrate into the society that inhabits the country they want to live in.

Well, you almost had me. Unfortunately I do not recognize the dialect of Iroquois you are using.

There are very certain people that are specifically stating that the best way for others to integrate into America is by US NOT learning any other langues cuz we dont need no learnin' they do! It is that particular sentiment. It seems to me that if you speak Spanish and can tell someone in Spanish that they need to read English to understand our state forms, you have a way better argument. Until then it just sounds a lot like 'even though other countries speak many languages us here in amiruca refuse to.' That ought to make you proud of your country eh?

There are not many Mexicans in my city, but there are several enclaves of Guatemalans spread throughout. People think they are Mexican. They are of very small stature. The top of a grown man's head won't reach my shoulder. They must feel like they are in the "land of the giants". lol.

They are also very mild-mannered, and apologetic if they have difficulty speaking. Seems to me they are trying, and will tell you they are. When they fumble over a word, it seems to embarrass them.

So, no evidence of a "hostile takeover" here. Whether making a "declaration" that English is our official language is a moot point.

It has been, and always will be, regardless of making it "official". imo.

This thread is moot. Nothing against the op.

Just about the whole world is offering to tech their citizens English and yet many in America are worried about English being replaced with Spanish.

I know Hispanics who don't even know Spanish.

All about fear.

reply to post by jam321


Agreed. Anytime I read anything about the development of a
"world language", it is designated as English. I guess for business and commerce reasons. (?)

Some day there might be other countries trying to protect their language....from the takeover of English.

reply to post by K J Gunderson


Well...damn, you make some good points. But...

If you're a Native and people came and colonized without your consent, but you never really bothered to learn their language, then you shouldn't have to. At the same time, I'm a Libertarian, and I don't feel they (the 'new' people) should require you to do anything thing to/for/with them by force either, so everyone can live side by side (though I realize real world isn't as friendly as you and I'd like it to be, unfortunately).

But when an immigrant comes, and lives in a city where most of the inhabitants speak a different language...you'd think they'd take the time to learn it. I don't care for a federal language either (though I wouldn't mind State...or better yet, county...official language(s)), it's just annoying when people feel like they're being treated unfairly, when they're the ones not playing fair.

When I went to Montreal, I learned French/Canadian terms. When my Fiance when to Germany, she learned German terms...And we were just visiting. If we had intention to stay, we'd sure learn the language to the full extent.

I think we both have valid points, and generally agree that when you visit or move to a place with a different culture/language, it does you good to learn it.

I just think that if you're the minority...you should be the one putting for the effort, or you should expect the bad service and dirty looks.

Originally posted by Arcane Demesne
reply to post by K J Gunderson

 

Well...damn, you make some good points. But...

But what? You are going to make some? That just takes all the fun out of it.

If you're a Native and people came and colonized without your consent, but you never really bothered to learn their language, then you shouldn't have to. At the same time, I'm a Libertarian, and I don't feel they (the 'new' people) should require you to do anything thing to/for/with them by force either, so everyone can live side by side (though I realize real world isn't as friendly as you and I'd like it to be, unfortunately).

I cannot really argue with that. I never felt anyone should be able to force anyone to learn anything, regardless of who "won" or whatever.

But when an immigrant comes, and lives in a city where most of the inhabitants speak a different language...you'd think they'd take the time to learn it. I don't care for a federal language either (though I wouldn't mind State...or better yet, county...official language(s)), it's just annoying when people feel like they're being treated unfairly, when they're the ones not playing fair.

Hey, if people are whining because we did not take the time to learn Mandarin before they showed up, I agree it is their loss. That is certainly not what I am arguing for either.

When I went to Montreal, I learned French/Canadian terms. When my Fiance when to Germany, she learned German terms...And we were just visiting. If we had intention to stay, we'd sure learn the language to the full extent.

That is the kind of spirit I just wish more Americans would choose but many of the "English Only" crowd I run into and see around this board could care less about Germany and French Canadadadia because they love America too much to leave and go where people talk funny. The ones that go to the Indian Reservation on weekends to gamble crack me up. All English there though.

I think we both have valid points, and generally agree that when you visit or move to a place with a different culture/language, it does you good to learn it.

I have no problem with the idea that people should learn English before they come to America. It is not our official language but obviously the predominate one here. It is also the language of international business so it seems good to learn anyway. I was never against people learning English to be able to operate in a successful manner in the US.

I just think that if you're the minority...you should be the one putting for the effort, or you should expect the bad service and dirty looks.

I do not disagree. My problem is not with any of that. My problem is the simple attitude displayed by many that it is just simply better to stay ignorant Americans and everyone else MUST learn English because there is no way in hell America is going to learn anything it dont need ta! Jesus spoke good English, right?

Basically it boils down to this with me. If you refuse to learn English, then you do deserve to be lost and looked at as such if you choose to live in an English speaking environment. Unfortunately when I hear or read things along the lines of "We aint learnin' no other language so you better learn you some English" it just makes me sad.

[edit on 16-5-2010 by Thirty_Foot_Smurf]