The new bill passed by US Congress says that "unless otherwise authorized or provided by law, no person has a right, entitlement or claim to have the US goverrnment act, communicate, perform or provide services or materilas in any language other than English. Do you agree with that bill?
2006-07-17 06:29:50 · 15 answers · asked by adam 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Other - Arts & Humanities
No, I don't agree at all. This country was founded by speakers of many languages. Not to mention the languages and traditions we destroyed in the process. Why continue this shameful practice? You might as well just rip down the Statue of Liberty with your bare hands.
2006-07-17 06:34:12 · answer #1 · answered by DEATH 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Interestingly, there have been attempts in the past to establish a 'national' language. Almost every country in the world has one, though in some there are dual or multiple lanuages (Belgium for example) and in others, the law requires official documents to be available in a host of languages (Great Britain for example must publish official notices in English and Welsh where they affect local Welsh elections etc).
We could easily have had German as our official language - that was seriously considered at one point. And the 'official' language in America was at one time Spanish or French, prior to the establishment of America by the pilgrims.
I think it is reasonable to make English our official language - it cuts waste, and increases information flow. But along side that, we need to provide the resources to help those Americans who are not English speaking learn the language - you cannot simply abandon part of the population or create an official divide based on language.
Immigrants are not the issue here - you have to be able to pass an English test to be naturalized. The real issue lies with generations of Americans, all born here, who have never learned English.
So - I'd be in favor of the change as something good to unify our country, provided sufficient effort and resources were made available to ensure no-one was excluded from participation in their own country because of it.
2006-07-17 06:38:52 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No....My feeling as an American( family here INCONUS since 1658) is that the U.S. has such a large number of Immigrants; both legal and not so legal, We as a country need to communicate and provide the services in the languages of the immigrant in order for each of them to get the point that they are welcome here....And so that We the Citizens of the U.S.A. can make it perfectly clear that not learning the countries official language is not an option...!!!!
The law should state this and be perfectly clear that citizenship will be denied if you are either unable or unwilling to learn and use English....!!!
2006-07-17 06:54:21 · answer #3 · answered by tincre 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
YES! If people choose to migrate to the US, and they truly want to become a citizen of this country, then they should be required to forfeit their citizenship of their former country and learn to live according to the laws of this country and learn the English language in order to effectively communicate with other citizens. I am not saying that they should give up their religeous beliefs, but they should not be turned loose in this country to do anything they wish because it was a custom in their homeland. Apparently, their homeland was not so great since they decide to leave it to come here.
2006-07-17 06:43:17 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely
2006-07-17 06:33:26 · answer #5 · answered by anothersomeonenew 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do. Because the clause states "unless otherwise authorized or provided by law" which means there can be authorized alternatives.
2006-07-17 06:34:22 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I absolutely do! When in Rome, do as the Romans do. If you don't want to learn English, get the hell out of here.
2006-07-17 06:46:24 · answer #7 · answered by oldman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I DO. MY DAD WAS AN IMMIGRANT AND MY MOTHER'S MOM WAS AN IMMIGRANT. SO I AM NOT DISCRIMINATING. BUT IF YOU COME HERE, YOU HAVE THE BURDEN OF LEARNING THE LANGUAGE, NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. IF I GO TO FRANCE, I WILL LEARN FRENCH AND WALK AROUND WITH A FRENCH TO ENGLISH DICTIONARY JUST IN CASE.I HAVE CHOSEN TO LEARN SPANISH BECAUSE THE WORKFORCE HERE IN AMERICA OFFER IINCENTIVE TO EMPLOYEES WHO ARE BILINGUAL SO THEY CAN REACH MORE CONSUMERS, BUT I STAND BY THE FACT THAT WE ARE NOT OBLIGATED TO LEARN TO COMMUNICATE WITH ANY ONE WHO MIGRATES HERE. IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO LEARN ABOUT YOUR NEW COUNTRY WHEREVER YOU GO.
2006-07-17 06:37:00 · answer #8 · answered by leeleebear2529 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. The United States is supposed to be about diversity, and acceptance.
2006-07-17 06:33:28 · answer #9 · answered by shaun1986 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yup. You live here learn the language. If I moved to Russia I wouldn't expect the whole country to learn English just to please me, I would learn Russian!
2006-07-17 06:36:15 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋