What is the official language of the United States?

Question

back up your answer please

Answer 1

There is no "official" language of the United States. That's why you have bilingual ballots in many states, and in California there are a dozen different languages on the ballots....

Answer 2

Currently, the United States federal government specifies no official language, but there are official languages in these states:

English alone:
Alabama (1990)
Arkansas (1987)
California (1986)
Colorado (1988)
Florida (1988)
Georgia (1996)
Illinois (1969)
Indiana (1984)
Iowa (2002)
Kentucky (1984)
Massachusetts (1975)
Mississippi (1987)
Missouri (1998)
Montana (1995)
Nebraska (1920)
New Hampshire (1995)
North Carolina (1987)
North Dakota (1987)
South Carolina (1987)
South Dakota (1995)
Tennessee (1984)
Utah (2000)
Virginia (1996)
West Virginia (2005)
Wyoming (1996)

English and Hawaiian:
Hawaii (1978)

English and French:
Louisiana

English and Spanish:
New Mexico

"English Plus" resolutions:
New Mexico (1989)
Oregon (1989)
Rhode Island (1992)
Washington (1989)

None:
In addition to the states not otherwise mentioned:
Alaska's 1998 Official English amendment was overturned by the Alaska State Supreme Court in 2002.
Arizona's 1988 Official English amendment was overturned by the Arizona State Supreme Court in April, 1998.
Also, English and Spanish are official in Puerto Rico. English and Chamorro are the official languages of Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands

Answer 3

Actually, looks like there soon will be an official language - see extract from wiki on immigration reform bill.

"Although the United States currently has no official language, it is largely monolingual with English being the de facto national language. English is spoken by about 82% of the population as a native language and nearly everyone in the United States uses it as a daily language. On May 18, 2006 the Senate voted on an amendment to an immigration reform bill that would declare English the national language of the United States.[1] The immigration reform bill itself, S. 2611, was passed in the Senate on May 25, 2006, and now has to go back to the House of Representatives in conference to make sure amendments are agreed upon."

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Answer 4

There is no official language in the U.S. although some would like to say that it is English. Some communities have made English the official language, but in larger cities where they have tried to do this there have been many protests.
A few years ago there was a huge protest in Chicago when they tried to do this. The bill never went through. Schools are required to help all students whether they speak English or not. While English is not the official language it is certainly the most common in business and public.

Answer 5

The offical language of the United States is English. The second language is Spanish. The main language is english because the United States has people from all over the world, and since most people know english, the offical language is English. And I think since the British used to own the United States and in Britian they talk in english. The second language is spanish because there are also a lot of Mexican in the US. And in the south, if you know spanish, it could be really useful to you your whole life! That's because most Mexican's can't speak english very well, so spanish is useful.

Answer 6

American English because in school the teacher told you that the English (Britian) had settled here in America in New England. But also Spanish is another official language because Mexico is bordering us and alot of immigrants come from Mexico for a better life. Also Native American was a langauge a while ago, and people still speak it today. But it's mostly American English that is the official Language of the US.

I hope this answer helps!

Answer 7

The United States has no official federal language. There is no law regarding this topic. Several states and US territories have official languages, mostly English, but some also have other languages alongside English. Three examples: French in Louisiana, German in Pennsylvania, and Hawaiian in Hawaii.

Answer 8

There is no "official" language of the United States according to the law, though several states do list English as their official language.

Even so, all an official language is, is the language that official acts are recorded in -- laws, judicial decisions, etc. You can't make somebody speak English or deny them the right to speak whatever other language they want.

Answer 9

Man, you people are uninformed. After the revolution a vote WAS taken to establish the language of the new United States. This was necessary because the HUGE numbers of foreign-language speakers--especially Germans--made a common language for commerce an absolute "must".

English won over German by ONE vote. (Das ist "Eins" for you hardcore types).

However, as the nation grew and English simply swamped everything else out; this fact was simply forgotten. It wasn't necessary to remind everyone of this because it was a simple day-to-day fact that was never challenged. Now, of course, the issue IS being challenged in some areas of the country--especially the southwest. The original vote is not deemed as "valid" anymore because it's so old -a silly argument, I think (I mean, the Constitution is just as old, right?)

Anyway...that's the scoop. We speak English because it WAS decided by vote, but that vote is not regarded as official anymore. Just think, eet could half gone zee ozer vay, und vee could all be shpeekink Deutch!

Answer 10

There is actually no official language that has been declared by the U.S. but the accepted language is American English.
Esperanto was a language designed to be the official language of the world, but no one really speaks it, it failed.
Hope that answers your question.