Should the english language be required for employment in the United States?

Question

reasons why or why not ...

Answer 1

We don't need additional legal requirements to change a situation that is not a problem. Employers already set requirements for employment when they create job descriptions for their employees! When necessary, the ability to speak English is part of those requirements. The person who supervises that employee and the business that employs them is the one who can decide if English should be required for employment. They're the experts on that business and that job! If an employer doesn't require English for a job that really ought to require it, then customers will become frustrated and business will suffer, forcing the employer to remedy the situation and require English (or else lose customers to competing businesses that do require English).

Also, requiring English for employment is just an unenforceable law. There's no reason to create it if there's no way to enforce it.

Plus, sometimes the best person for the job is not the one who speaks the best English. For example, I recently saw an ad seeking a daytime companion for an elderly Spanish-speaking woman. It was posted by her son-in-law, who speaks English and Spanish. To be the woman's companion, you would need to be fluent in Spanish. Because your employer (her son-in-law) speaks Spanish, too, you would not *need* to know English at all to be the best person for this job. You would just need to be caring and responsible and willing to keep an old woman company... and that means talking with her in Spanish.

Learning a new language takes YEARS, even if you're immersed in it! Why require a person to know how to do something very difficult but very unrelated to the job in order to be hired?

Answer 2

Yes. English is the "common" language in the US. I don't think people have to be pros, just proficient. How would communication work at the job site? Even if you and your co-workers speak a common language other that English, your customers might speak English. I don't expect people in other countries to speak English. When in Rome... School children in the US are required to learn another language, why can't non English speaking US citizens be require to learn English?

Answer 3

I think that any person looking for a job in the united states should have at least a basic knowledge of english... but i dont believe it should be a requirement... that is up to the employers.

Answer 4

There are a number of authorized disorders. There is approximately a hundred and twenty most important langauges spoken in Los Angeles. So if a man is arrested and handiest speaks Arabic, or Hindu, or !Kung (an African language), the U.S. executive has to furnish him with a translator. Now what occurs if rather of having arrested, he needs to vote, he has to now be offered with the entire understanding in his language. The equal factor is going with tax and different executive varieties. This will get very steeply-priced. English goes away. I attempted to reserve a salad in these days and on the grounds that the character serving me did not talk English good, she mistook the phrase cucumbers for carrots and was once shocked whilst I requested for Thousand Island dressing (an assistant needed to translate to her).

Answer 5

No! However the employer could suggest going to an ESL program and if it is not free they should offer to pay for part of the tuition. Why are U. S. citizens so arrogant that don't try to learn a foreign language, This skill also offers better opportunities in the area of employment.

gatita_63109

Answer 6

First of all... I find something very interesting. Everybody above me (with the exception of one person) who said English should be required in order to gain employment in the U.S. either made a grammatical error or misspelled something in their answer. You are the people complaining about foreigners not knowing English, yet you can't even type a few sentences correctly! This is such a joke!

Allow me to oppose your theories.

Let's say I'm a farmer. I speak Spanish, and I would like to hire a few immigrant laborers in order to save myself some money. I instruct them. I answer their questions. I pay them. Then I (not the immigrants, not you, nobody else... just me)... I go to the market to sell the tomatoes that my laborers have grown and harvested for me. My laborers do nothing other than work in the fields, and when necessary, speak to me. I deal with my clients/customers, not them. Their only duty is to harvest my crops.

Here comes the question. Why should they have to speak English to do that? Better yet, why should I be denied the opportunity to hire them for a cheaper wage than an American, just because they can't speak English? If I decide that knowledge of the English language is not a prerequisite for this job, then is it right for the government to tell me that I can't employ these people simply because they don't speak English?

Here's another scenario.

I am a shift supervisor at Macy's. I work with the night staff unloading trucks. All of my night staff employees are foreign, but I speak enough of each of their languages to communicate with them about the job. They don't question or speak to anybody but me. They don't interact with customers. They simply unload trucks throughout the night, very quickly and efficiently. This is the best crew that we have at the store.

Is English necessary for that job as well? Would I have to fire all of them just because they don't speak English?

You cynical people need to think a little outside of the box before criticizing.

On another note, it wouldn't hurt any of you to attempt another language. What you don't realize, is that by interacting with society, these people are learning English. If you went to live in another country where you didn't speak the native language, and you were working two jobs/15 hours a day, and coming home to take care of your children... would you sit down with a book every single day and study the language until you mastered it? Or would you be more concerned about the health of your family, paying the bills, and finally finding some time to relax? Maybe after all of that, when you find some spare time, you could take a little chunk out of your day to try and study the native language... and MAYBE one day, actually be able to speak it.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Rachel

Answer 7

Yes I think so for many reasons. First of all, this is the U.S. If it was a requirement then it would benefit both the employee and the customers since the employee won't have such a hard time understanding customers' demand and the customer won't have a hard time trying to talk to the emloyee. It would make life a whole lot easier for everybody.

Answer 8

I realize that not everybody who works at a job in the US knows English. However, what many of them don't seem to realize is that not learning the language is really holding them back. It's keeping them from pursuing other career opportunities and it's keeping them from assimilating and truly becoming Americans. You can live in a country for years but you won't really understand it or its people unless you know their language.

Answer 9

The US is a multi-cultural, multi-racial land of immigrants. I don't see why another language such as Spanish or a Native Indian language not be used in employment, as well.

Answer 10

If the employer requires it. We need less stupid laws, not more.