What would happen if English was the official language of America?

Question

for one thing, it wouldn't be ignoring other english dialects such as spanglish, Singlish, Boston English, ebonics and so many other things that influenced American English.

There can't be a standard English because English is CONSTANTLY influenced. Old english was influenced by Anglo-saxons. Then middle english was influenced by Normans. Finally, Modern english was influenced by both Anglo-saxons, Normans and other languages.

Would making English a offical language contradict the freedoms of America? The freedom to speak what language you want in your personal life? Not business life.

Answer 1

it already is, look at all the road signs, all goverment documents,etc. Its all in english and it always will be.

Answer 2

Economically, the government would save money on having to translate documents. Bilingual classes would be abolished in favor of English as a Second Language instruction. But, people's rights may be violated in that they would not receive due process, etc. - no translator would need to be provided for those that did not speak English.

Many people believe that English is already the official language. Of course, it is not. And as you have pointed out, English has been influenced by many other languages, and continues to grow every day. Many of the words that we use are "borrowed" from other languages.

I don't know if making it the official language would mean that you could not speak whatever language you chose in your personal life, but it might discourage some people from the rich experience of learning a second language.

Answer 3

I think making English the official language is bad news, it's good where it's at right now - defacto. English is English no matter what influences it, even dialects. You can still understand Ebonics and Boston English if you where raised in the mid-west.

And I do think that instating English as the official language would take away free speech. Everything would have to revolve around English, therefore excluding immigrants and newly- acquired americans from other countries in many affairs. I think Americans should not take the easy way out and force others to speak their language, that's barbaric. If anything, we should embrace other languages as our own becoming more educated along the way.

But what I don't get is why would anyone want to limit themselves to only English when there is a world of different languages and cultures out there. Making English the official language of the United States would only turn us into a more ignorant people then we already are.

Look at Europe, mostly everyone there is bi-lingual or even tri-lingual. When did America become to good for the rest of the world?

I think that if the majority of American citizens gained the status of being an educated and multilingual people, the rest of the world would have more respect for us then they do now.