Is this a good reason to make English the official language of the United States?

Question

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/ap_on_re_us/rare_interpreters

Answer 1

Adopting an official language would solve nothing. There will always be people in this country who are just learning or not proficient at speaking English. When rich Americans go to Mexico, do they learn Spanish?

Answer 2

Firstly, it is already the first language of most people in the US. A common language aids communication. The European Union with its multiple languages spends a fortune on translators. Despite this most European leaders in business and politics actually communicate in English with people from other language areas. A common language avoids confusion in meaning in law. This is very important with civil law, especially contract law where subtleties of nuance between language can cause confusion. A common language fosters inclusion. Those people who do not speak the majority language become locked within their minority culture, it can have serious effects upon their job opportunities. Historically minority groups have tended to earn less than the general income. If all languages are officially equal then minority groups could demand that education and other state provided services are made available through the medium of their language. In the UK the provision of such services has allowed some people to live here without ever bothering to try to learn English. Given the number of languages spoken in the US this would be a nightmare. On the other hand: In large parts of the southern US English was always in competition with Spanish which could legitimately claim to be the older language in California, New Mexico, Texas etc. The failure to encourage emigrants to pass on their native tongues to their children and grand-children makes the US less effective in foreign trade, and encourages Isolationism in US culture and politics. e.g. the Americans need to re-make foreign films for the home market, or recent criticism of Mitt Romney for speaking fluent French! The possession of a second language is beneficial to general educational attainment.

Answer 3

My interpretation (no pun intended) of what it means to make English the official language of the United States is simply to provide by law or by an amendment to our Constitution that all official, governmental business in the United States, including the enactment of legislation, the adoption of regulations, the rendering of judicial opinions, the enforcement of the law, and so on, will be deemed sufficient for all legal purposes if conducted or promulgated in the English language.

In other words, among other things nobody could avoid a ticket for running a stop sign merely by alleging or even proving that he or she didn't know what "STOP" in English meant in his or her native language. Just as ignorance of the law has never been an excuse, ignorance of the law as expressed in English would be no excuse. As in days gone by, after settling in the United States immigrants would fail to learn English at some risk.

In the news article referred to in the link following the question, the acquittal of the defendant on the ground that his constitutional right to a speedy trial had been abridged because of the unusually long time required by the court to locate an interpreter who could translate his rare language into English could have been avoided by requiring the defendant to waive his right to a speedy trial to the extent that any delay was caused by the inability of the court to find an interpreter promptly enough, or by requiring in the alternative that the defendant find his own interpreter, whose fee would be paid by the court.

In my view, there would be no need to prohibit the use of other languages in everyday life, including voluntary provision of unofficial translations by either governmental or private entities, nor to inhibit the ability of immigrants to continue to speak their native languages without restriction.

Answer 4

I've heard that English is the hardest language to learn but a lot of stupid people in America learn it!
Joking aside, it is spoken in dozens of other countries and is a pretty common language. Yes, we should have a common language-in America, it already is English. I think anyone who lives here should respect that if they truly want to become American.

Answer 5

You are going to have the language problem even with a national language law because we are required by many international agreements to provide translation services for foreign nationals in the United States as the other nations are required to provide English language legal services to Americans in their respective nation. As long as you have foreign citizens in your nation even just on visas, you might have this issue.

From a constitutional point of view, Congress probably does not have the constitutional authority to establish a national language and make laws enforcing it.

Answer 6

I agree with you. The US Constitution gaurantees the right to a speedy trial, it makes no mention of the defendant being provided with an interpreter that speaks thier language.

Answer 7

I don't think we need the rigamarole of an official language.

I read the article. To me the problem isn't that we've not declared English the official language. It's that the judge presiding the case is not terribly bright, and has made a wrong headed decision.

It's possible to speak English without being smart or honest.

After all, "The question we need to ask is, 'Is our children learning?'"

Answer 8

the problem is we have dumbass judges running this country! both that molesting assh0le and that judge should be hanged publically for her stupidity. the guy knows english forward and backward. of course he's going to pretend he doesn't know english when that act's going to free his ***! dumb wh0re! remember sammy sosa? same damn deal!

Answer 9

He went to elementary school in America, He went to collage in America. So how did he pass not speaking English???

Perhaps we have been had.

And yes English should be spoken in America.

Answer 10

Absolutely.