why America does not have an official language?

Question

what is the benefit of that and what is the disadvantages of that?

Answer 1

Many people say it's because politicians do not want to upset the Hispanic community, because they will lose votes if they do.

It is claimed that because the United States is a nation of immigrants, that it doesn't want to impose upon the cultures of others. This is a bit ridiculous, because having an official language does not mean that people cannot speak other languages. It just means that there is one language that everyone in the nation can speak.

Answer 2

While the Congress has put forth the idea of having an official language in almost every address, it has been not been adopted. While some would see it as a benefit to legal and jurisdictional processes, others see it as hampering the exploration of cultural identity.
Some feel that it would make the country, at this point, feel as though it is discriminating to immigrants from non-English speaking nations. A semi-valid point. While there are populations of people that are quite intolerant to foreign language speakers, there are far more populations that are tolerable, or even celebrate, cultural diversity. Although in 1780, John Adams tried to put forth a bill stating English as the official language, and it was voted as undemocratic. This notion still dominates today.
By making English as the official language, a great number of the population would find that the government, in some way, is inaccessible, which is intolerable in a country that supposedly stands for accessibility of the masses.
On the other hand, when looking beyond the passions and look at it on a more legal basis, it would good to look at Canada as an example. In 1988, the Official Languages Act was passed. The purpose of this was because of the need to have a clarification in jurisdictional and legislative processes, as well as definitive action with the public school system and other public functions. It has not always been a clean road. The Mahé case of the francophone community in Alberta, an English speaking province, is one of the most clear examples. The community wanted a French school, but because of being in a province with the official language of English, they had to fight, and won, their right for French schools.
But some identity is lost with only having English and French being the official languages. The Marshall case is an example of this, where the tribe's concept of hunting and fishing was not translatable into the courts jurisdiction language, causing problems down the road. But for the majority, having an official language has help preserve a certain je ne sais quoi of Canadian identity.
The US does not have such an identity. Its identity is found in the collection of the languages. It is a problem that will probably never get resolved until the US closes its borders and becomes a tyrannical state.

Answer 3

America was a nation of immigrants. People who came here first were largely British, French, Dutch, and Spanish, with stragglers from various other countries as well. Many came as refugees or explorers. America was founded to be a country "by the people, for the people", and to establish an official national language for a nation whose populace did not generally speak the same language didn't make sense: what is the point of a national language that a large portion of the population doesn't speak? English has become dominant, but that's just a coincidence.

Answer 4

there is no official language in the United States because this is a nation of immigrants (germans, irish, french, mexicans etc) and it would have caused a problem in the past but now the Government is (or at least I hope so) worrying about bigger problems
a benefit is that it allows for diversity and different cultures within the US if you like that sort of thing
a disadvantage is that the ones who do not speak the main language could be taken advantage of and become isolated from society

Answer 5

Californians voted in 1994 to have English as the official state language. The measure passed, but I don't think anything changed. Street signs, etc. in certain parts of the state are still labeled in Spanish as well as English.

The United States of America is a "melting pot" of people from many, many different countries. Some of these people have emigrated to the U.S. without knowing any English, so there are dozens of different languages spoken all over the country. Because the U.S. welcomes people from all over the world, I think it would actually be un-American to have an "official" language.

Answer 6

English has always been the (un)official language until recent. I find it rude that those who are immigrating(legal or illegal)find it OK and remain apart from those of us who are doing nothing to make sure that English be the tradition. A person wanting residency here in America shall speak fluent English. This is the United States of America..all other immigrants who have gained citizenship through the normal channels and have learned English,American history,the Constitution have earned my trust. All others who do not go thought the protocols of becoming a Citizen of the United States should turn around and get the **** out.

Answer 7

Because fewer laws is better than more.



What purpose would an official language serve?
English is a lingua franca of the world, and is in no way threatened by other languages spoken in the U.S.

Spanish and Hawiian are officially protected in New Mexico and Hawaii, respectively.

Answer 8

i dont mind it at all. look at all the different people from different origins we got livin here. i dont think it could work any other way. the #1 laguage spoken in america is american-english and i believe the second is spanish.

Answer 9

English is the Offical Language !
You are currently typing English as well !!