Should there be a law making English the official language?....?

Question

of the United States, and should it be strictly enforced?

. .......... yes/no, why/why not...

uhh....... no, but our founding fathers were.. are they spanish in mexico? no, theyre mexican, but they speak spanish dont they?

um enforced as in, to be a resident you must speak the language.. to an extent at least..
You have to be able to communicate, read, etc.
No more advertisements, or company hotlines offering more than one language...specifically spanish in addiction to english.....

And in that case. why just spanish offered? Do people of other nationalities find it offensive that they had to learn the language, but then there are so many opportunties for Spanish speakers?

I'm doing a project on this, I am a college student.. We had to pick a controversial issue, and I'm curious on what everyone thinks, since I can easily access people from many diff backgrounds on this site........

Oo and one more thing, im not anti-immigration, as my mother is an immigrant....

Answer 1

Yes English should be the official language of the United States, and it should be a requirment for citizenship, I really dont know what you mean by stricltly enforced, you should elaborate.

Answer 2

YES, YES, YES, YES, and YES!!! We spend SO much money printing DMV documents alone in multiple language, not just Mexican, but a variety of Asian, Filipino, and many, many more. If you can't speak or read English, why the heck should you be driving here? That's ridiculous!

If you are going to be paid here, file a tax return here, rent here, buy a home here, buy a car here, if you don't speak the language of the land you will live in then what's the point? And I mean what's the point for America?

I've seen a man get on the bus every day trying to get on for free shrugging his shoulders when he's told to pay and saying "no hablo Inglis". That's crap! He's using that to do something free. If you don't want to be a part of this country, then GO HOME!

We have voted that in before, a long, long time ago and not a darned thing happened. And it was a huge % of a yes vote. What more do we need to do to show our patriotism, our love for this country, the honor of those who came and started these United States of America and SPOKE ENGLISH?!

Answer 3

Most other countries have similar laws, however there are thorny issues involved with the U.S. There were different natives Algonquin, Iriqois, etc. speaking a different language before the English got here, and the southwest used to be part of Mexico. So to make English the official language by law would be perceived, rightly or wrongly, as arrogant, and what would be accomplished? We're not about to deport people for speaking other languages, so what's the point?

Answer 4

It's been on the local ballots in Arizona two times in the last 8 years, English was voted the official language both times. I would think, any attempt to make it official would or should only come from individual states.

English should be the official language for most cities since most communication, government, emergency and local is generally broadcast or printed in English.

I say leave the other language issues to public television, cable and other private foreign media.

Answer 5

No, not at all. any country with more than one language must adopt them all as official languages or none at all. Citizens are already required to know the english language, so i think that is fair enough for integration.

Sad thing is, most of the anti-immigrant people support English as the official language, while also opposing public education for illegals. This is only going to further alienate those who cant speak English, not integrate them.

Even if it is passed, what kind of action is the governemnt going to take ? Stop people from speaking Spanish/Chinese/Hmong/Russian, etc?

Answer 6

We do not need a stricktly enforced language law, Many of our forefathers spoke many languages. In the state of WI our original constitution was written in three languages. I think we need a law saying that English is acknowledged as the language of the law in the USA and that while all legal documents will be written in English as a matter of course, that interpreting those documents is optional but encouraged.

Answer 7

Yes, if you are here and cannot learn the language or have someone to interpret for you you are the one having difficulty communicating and U.S. citizens for personnel shouldn't have to hire bilingual people to interpret for you.

If I went to any other country it would be MY responsibility to learn how to communicate with them - not burden them with understanding me.

I don't know about strictly enforced but if immigrants cannot obtain services because no one is able to understand them, this would be incentive to learn the language or 'go home'.

Answer 8

yes, trust me. You do not want the same mess we have in Canada. Where 10 percent of the population speaks french and 90 percent speaks English, yet both are official languages. It then becomes hard to get government jobs unless you speak both languages, especially in politics.
Peace,

Answer 9

Uh, if this were to happen would that mean that our president would also have to be able to speak proper English?

if so I'm all for it. Even so, his past actions prove him incapable of speaking Spanish, either. He tried, in Spain, and the Spanish people laughed at him.

Answer 10

Yes, I don't think it should be strictly enforced by language police. I do think that we need to stop paying to have everything that's in English,put in Spanish, Like government brochures,highway signs,school literature etc. We live in America,Our language is English,You want to live here then learn Our language. Why should we change for every1 else,Their countries don't change for us.