Why doesn't the United States have an official language?

Answer 1

It's English.

It was almost German, but lost it lost by 1 vote.

Answer 2

In the U.S., the national language is English. Since this was not established by law, it is not considered the "official language", but it is the standard usage for contracts and legislation. There has never been a need to codify this. However, it IS codified insofar as immigrants are required to learn English to become citizens.

I like the idea of having a national language that is used as a standard for contracts and legislation. There needs to be some standard so that everyone is on the same page. However, some have tried to push it too far, even restricting public use of other languages or signage. That's just way overboard, and an unreasonable restriction of my freedom.

Answer 3

A move to an official language is not as heavy-handed as our society seems to assume. The point of an official language in the traditional sense is to promote a language "typically used in a nation's legislative bodies" among other unique rights. These rights do not exclude other language usage. However, an official language in American does bring unique and hefty political agendas to the forefront. The real fact is that English is universal in America. As some have stated, it is used for almost all business transactions and spoken in all regions. Despite all the other regional dialects (Native American languages, French/Creole, Spanish) the entire United States is unified by the English language. It is the de facto language till we see fit to enable it full time.

The point that emerges is that English cannot be dubbed as the official language because it is a topic that represents political play. It is not beyond the realm of current day America to enact English as the official language with minority languages being represented as such. Italy has recognized minority languages such as Ladin and Sardinian. We do not have an official language because the people do not need to be told the obvious, (though it is convenient at times), and therefore do not necessarily need to stand behind one. The powers that be seem to find the social power of implementing English as the official language too distracting from issues yet to be resolved. For instance, how might the current border disputes with Mexico, and our illegal immigration problems be affected at a social level should we start gallivanting behind "English as an official language"? The legal language issue is superfluous to political issues. Until courts in Southern California are conducted in Spanish, or that Arabic become the translation for law what political basis is there for an official language. The outcry for an official language continues eludes the true purpose of an official language.

*personal note: I call American as the official language.

Answer 4

ITS ENGLISH. For crying out loud.

And, for the people saying that we should not have an official language, guess what the official languages are in these following countries: Singapore, Phillipines, and Malaysia to name a few. It's English.

Why in the world if it can be English in these foreign countries, can't it be English in a country that started out as a colony of England.

It's because of all the bleeding heart liberals who don't want to hurt the feelings of some illegal immigrant or some 7-11 store owner, by making him have to learn to speak the native language. Boo hoo, cry me a river.

Go back to tree hugging, the official language of the United States is English. Wake up and smell the coffee already.

Answer 5

Everyone who said English, is an idiot.
Just because most people speak English doesn't make it the official language.
We don't have one because the United States is supposed to be an asylum for anyone to come to. Refugees from all over come to live here, and they all speak their own language. Our country is called the melting pot, because at one point, only Native Americans lived here, and then people from every country in the world moved here and made a new country. Obviously it would be insulting to many people if we made English the official language because so many people speak other languages from other countries. If we had an official language then people wonuldn't move here for refuge if they didn't speak English and our country wouldn't be what it is.

Answer 6

The people in the south of France speak a different language than the north. There are six distinct languages in China. Most Americans can barely speak English. Why, suddenly is this an issue?

Shouldn't we require that our President be able to speak coherently.

Answer 7

Although most of us speak American, we do have our own dialics, which makes this a wonderful country. Unfortunetly we are too afraid of pissing some group or lobbist off to really do what is right name an offical language. Most of American wants it to be English. I know most countries teach english to their students and we do offer foreign language as a elective. Because there are really so many languages in America.

I am not sure I answered that right but I think and most of America belives that if you go a country you should have the desency to learn the language so that you can get along with the locals. Too many special interest groups are trying to stop that in America I guess we have to cater to everyone. I don't know why it hurts them for us to have an offical language but they think its wrong.

Sorry I rambled its just a question I think should have been put to rest years ago and its stupid that we even have to discuss it and that people are fighting it.

Answer 8

Technically, we don't have an "official" language country-wide. Some cities and towns have tried to enact such legislation, but it's usually quite controversial due to our being a nation based on diversity and immigration. Although I would bet at least 90% of business (especially government) is primarily conducted in English, accommodation is made at many levels for non-English speakers who've come to this country. For example: My home state of Washington, in my county, produces voting ballots in English, Spanish, and Chinese due to our large Asian population.

My personal opinion is that I would have no problem with English being an "Official" language, with options of other languages offered. My reasoning? If I moved to France, I would improve my French. If I moved to Japan, I would learn Japanese. I would expect to learn the majority language of the nation of which I intended to become a citizen, in addition to my own. But that's just me.

Answer 9

Countries that have official languages have them to accommodate, not to restrict, the groups that are in them.

What you mean by "official language" probably means you want to restrict people to the use of English.

It is not necessary to restrict people to using English in this country, as everything "official" and much more besides is in English, so to cope, people have to learn English. That's all that is needed. Plus I'm for free speech.

Answer 10

Because with today's migration/immigration system it would be nearly impossible. The US is/has been known as the world's melting pot and if the millions of people coming here every year all had to learn a single language, our culture would suck.

Answer 11

Its English unfortunately the politically correct crowd would have a fit because it might hurt someones feeelings.