If the US were to make English the "official" language, what happens to all the cities in California?

Question

Los Angeles? San Francisco? Santa Barbara? And so on.... None of these are English names.

The English didn't let New Amsterdam keep its name when they took it over...did our forefathers screw up in California?

Answer 1

Sorry but its the federal government which decides what our national language is. States don't hand out Visa's or green cards, the feds do.

And for the person that said cities were named by legal immigrants, ok I am ashamed of the school system becuase of you. California belonged to the Spanish, they named most of the cities. Why do you think they all have catholic/religious names? San this, Santa that...simple clue..spanish missionairies.

Now a question for all you so called TRUE Americans...were immigrants to the US required to speaks English?

Answer 2

My opinion about the English language is, it kind of like the time of Babylon, the language is very complicated words of the same has many different meaning, the so called government redefines words that only benefit those of who are in power or in control, such as the true meaning of liberty has been redefined by the so called US government, and will not acknowledge the true meaning. Giving US Government, the power to take away our liberties. When one person knows the true definition of a word, the government or other people appear to have made up their own opinion or definition of the word, to me this English language was created by alcoholic due to the fact alcoholics have been know to complicate the simples things. The US government appears to operated and controlled under of They the People, anti Americans.Open your eyes and look closely around you and you will see clearly what I am saying is true. This is probably why they want every one to speak this English language to keep people total confused and living in Chaos.

Answer 3

They would HAVE to learn the language. If I move to France how long do you think I would be able to live there without learning the language. How am I going to get a job if i can not speak French. This is the only country that I know of where you have to print as many as 15 languages on a ballet for voting. AS far as the cities you name , remember who founded them & when.

Answer 4

Sadly, I don't think Congress has the huevos to pass such a law... even though it is a requirement to speak & read English to become a Naturalized Citizen.

I'm a California-Native and would LOVE for this to happen for ONE reason... the Money the State would SAVE !! NO longer having to print voting materials and DMV materials in 12 or more languages would save billions !

Now I'm not going to say you can't have business signs in Thai, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Persian, Pushtu, or Spanish...

I'm a firm lover of ethnic diversity, but I'm sick of our country's leaders today being too politically correct to make such changes... then again, these are the fools (of both parties) who can't simple BUILD the damned fence on our southern border.

Answer 5

English is already the official language in California.

Guess you didn't know that, did you?

Shows how effective laws like that are, doesn't it?

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/JWCRAWFORD/prop63.htm

"The indigenous languages of California number more than one hundred and show great diversity making California one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world. All of California's indigenous languages are endangered, although there are now efforts toward language revitalization.

Since 1986, the California Constitution has specified that English is the common and official language of the state. The politics of language is a major political issue in the state, especially in regard to language policy controlling the teaching and official use of immigrant languages. In actual practice, however, California's official-English law is not strictly enforced; many state, city, and local government agencies continue to print official public documents in numerous languages. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California

Answer 6

Nothing will happen to the names, it will just save a lot of man hours that go toward translating our laws, printing, shipping, and so on. No more having to translate things into spanish. They have already done that in a lot of states. Find out if your state has an official language on wikipedia. com, just look up your state, and it will tell you, if your state does not, then write to your elected officials and make it known that it is an issue that is important to you.

Answer 7

LEGAL immigrants came up with those names. And our "forefathers" were pretty much gone when California became a state. Also, there are many French town names in the midwest, many spanish names in Texas, etc. So, I don't think you've fully thought this through. And there will never be an official language in a country as diverse as ours. Learn to live with it.

Answer 8

Nothing, except the government would save itself a lot on printing pamphlets in multiple languages, and court translators. People can still speak freely amongst themselves. Judges would most likely be referred to as Bendejos, Cabrones, Hueros, and maybe even Pinche Putas; but couldn't do anything about it because they wouldn't be able to officially recognize the insult.

Answer 9

Neither are a large number of words in the "English" dictionary muppet! cul-de-sac, etc(etcetera), tete a tete and so on. I lve in England but I still call Paris Paris and it's French u mug.
Oh and just another pointer: English IS the official language in the US, else your signs would all be multi ligual and your president would give his speaches in more than just one language too. Are all Americans as stupid as you?

Answer 10

'the angels' 'st. francis', 'st. barbara', well, you've got something there, it's been many many moons since those cities were named, maybe it's time for an update...'angel city', 'francistown', 'barbaraville'...something a little snappier, without so much in the way of catholic/hispanic overtones, identifiably american, at any rate. Or, alternatively, you just slice California off the Union, let them follow their communist leanings, and become one with the People's Paradise that is Mexico...either way, american taxpayers won't be paying child support for Mexico anymore...