My father-in-law and I have been arguing about this for a while. I knew that the US did not have an official language. Recently, it came up again, and he said that it finally did pass, and that English is now our official language. Is this true?
2006-06-28 07:34:40 · 11 answers · asked by possum_stella 3 in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
English is the dominant language of the US. It is the common language of our culture. It is also the language for economic success in the US.
However, one of our nation's strengths is our diversity. Passage of an "official language" would automatically impose discrimination against those who have legally immigrated and who have gone through the long, rigorous process of acquiring citizenship...many of whom just haven't had time to learn English yet. Learning another language can be quite difficult.
Generally speaking, those who immigrate from another country and learn English as a second language master it somewhat, poorly, or not at all. Their children, however, who grow up in the US will learn English in the schools and on TV;their mastery of English will be substantially better and not markedly different than the children of non-immigrants. Finally, the grandchildren of the immigrants will identify almost completely as American, their command of English will be every bit as good as any other American's, and almost all of their cultural values will stem largely from American culture.
There was a time when everyone was fearful of all those German immigrants...or Italians...or Eastern Europeans...etc., etc. But, they're all Americans now, and no sane person is going to suggest that we ban hot dogs, Columbus Day, or the polka.
2006-06-28 08:14:31 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
No, but some of the states do.
"English has never been legally made the official language of the United States. Hundreds of world languages (in fact every language on the face of the globe) are spoken in America among immigrant communities. Native American tribes, especially the larger tribes such as the Navajo in the southwest, maintain their own vital languages. "
"Although the U.S. has no official language, it is largely monolingual with English being the national language,[59] which is spoken by about 82 percent of the population as a native language and nearly everyone as a daily language. Even though English is not the official language, knowledge of it is required to become a naturalized citizen. There have been moves by citizens recently to make English the official language, which is the present case for many states. Twenty-seven states recognize English as an official language, and three states recognize other languages along with English - French in Louisiana, Hawaiian in Hawaii, and Spanish in New Mexico.[60] Other commonly languages spoken by at least one million people inside the US include Spanish (which is spoken by roughly 10% of the poptulation), French, German and Chinese (mostly Mandarin (linguistics)).[61]"
2006-06-28 07:41:09 · answer #2 · answered by johnslat 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i imagine they are truly stay good - there will be no replace contained in the status of those languages merely because the ecu is a federal state. for sure, it would advise a huge headache in that each and absolutely everyone authorities files (tax files, motive force license applications etc) would could be accessible in Maltese and Irish - even in Slovakia - yet international places would kick up a huge fuss if their language became held to be inferior. as well, why use in person-friendly words German and English, French is spoken by utilizing a great number of persons contained in the ecu. And why no longer Spanish? Or Italian? and also you've were given to have Danish. And Dutch. also Portuguese...
2016-10-13 22:20:04 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no. there is nothing in the constitution that designates English as the official language of the United States.
2006-06-28 07:38:36 · answer #4 · answered by Blake H 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it is not true. Have him double check again. As of the last time I checked, English is not our official language, yet.
2006-06-28 07:38:33 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not yet. It's going up again though, and many states (including mine, MI) it's on the ballot as well.
2006-06-28 07:39:35 · answer #6 · answered by Crys H. 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, it hasn't passed, and it probably won't. tell your father-in-law to pay more attention to the news.
2006-06-28 07:41:40 · answer #7 · answered by eatmorec11h17no3 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its America we speak English retard.
2006-06-28 07:37:55 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO!!! But unoffically it is English.
2006-06-28 07:41:17 · answer #9 · answered by Vagabond5879 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In a word no.
2006-06-28 07:37:51 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋