English as official language amendment

[manifold]

Would you support a constitutional amendment establishing English as the official language of the United States?

Why or Why not?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

It is the language the Country was founded under and should be the acknowledged official language of the Country.

However I also support that all schools 1-8 should teach Spanish as a mandatory second language. And when and if Hispanics become the majority that Spanish be added as an official language.

 

[manifold]

I've read estimates that it costs several billion dollars every year to support multiple language versions of government forms and documents. That alone is a pretty good reason to establish an official language.

 

[Sunni Man]

I voted No.

Language is a living and vibrant form of human communication.

An example is when we have a war. Many foreign language words of the country were fought with become part of our english language.

The English language is dynamic. In that different words are incorporated and disguarded in an almost Darwin like process.

To legislate that English be the official language would slow or stop this process and inhibit one of the greatest features of the English language.

 

[Shogun]

I voted yes because a common language gives coherence to a common nation.

 

[jla1178]

I voted No.

Language is a living and vibrant form of human communication.

An example is when we have a war. Many foreign language words of the country were fought with become part of our english language.

The English language is dynamic. In that different words are incorporated and disguarded in an almost Darwin like process.

To legislate that English be the official language would slow or stop this process and inhibit one of the greatest features of the English language.

No one flamed you. See how easy that is?

 

[Sunni Man]

No one flamed you. See how easy that is?

Wow!! I am starting to feel warm all over!!!!

 

[manifold]

Wow!! I am starting to feel warm all over!!!!

That probably just means you pissed yourself again.

 

[Anguille]

I voted No.

Language is a living and vibrant form of human communication.

An example is when we have a war. Many foreign language words of the country were fought with become part of our english language.

The English language is dynamic. In that different words are incorporated and disguarded in an almost Darwin like process.

To legislate that English be the official language would slow or stop this process and inhibit one of the greatest features of the English language.

Wow! I agree with you on something!

 

[Sunni Man]

Wow! I agree with you on something!

Totally amazing!!! Are we Friends now??


While working on my BA in Sociology during college. I took a course in Linguistics.

That's where I came across the works of Benjamin Whorf. He is the modern founder of contempary linguistics. His work led to the "Whorfian Hypothesis". Which made the case that language is the instrument that shapes our reality and ideas. That some languages by their very essence either constrict our thoughts and awareness. While other languages, by their very nature, expand our ability to visualize and explore new ideas. That language shapes our culture and thought process.

If interested, check out this and other sites on the subject: www.joshmanning.com/friends/whorf.htm

 

[KittenKoder]

Simple point, we don't speak English, we speak American English. Not to mention all the dialects that exist. To make it 'official' at least 80% of the country would have to learn it still.

 

[NOBama]

[youtube]sEJfS1v-fU0[/youtube]

 

[Anguille]

Totally amazing!!! Are we Friends now??


While working on my BA in Sociology during college. I took a course in Linguistics.

That's where I came across the works of Benjamin Whorf. He is the modern founder of contempary linguistics. His work led to the "Whorfian Hypothesis". Which made the case that language is the instrument that shapes our reality and ideas. That some languages by their very essence either constrict our thoughts and awareness. While other languages, by their very nature, expand our ability to visualize and explore new ideas. That language shapes our culture and thought process.

If interested, check out this and other sites on the subject: The Whorfian Hypothesis

Friends??

Whoa!!!

But thanks for the link. I took a course in linguistics once also. Fascinating stuff!

 

[William Joyce]

A band-aid measure.

The real fix is to vote in white as the official RACE of the United States.

Get that straightened out, everything else fixes itself.

 

[Againsheila]

It is the language the Country was founded under and should be the acknowledged official language of the Country.

However I also support that all schools 1-8 should teach Spanish as a mandatory second language. And when and if Hispanics become the majority that Spanish be added as an official language.

I disagree. I have no problems with a mandatory second language, but who says it has to be spanish? Let's face it, you're going to go further in life if you speak Japanese or German or Chinese or even Russian, than if you speak Spanish.

 

[Cecilie1200]

I think it's ridiculous for people to expect to move to another country and not learn the predominant language or assimilate into the culture, and instead expect the natives to accommodate and adjust to THEM.

That being said, I don't see any reason why English specifically HAS to be the official language of the US. It is the de facto predominant language here, ie. the vast majority of people who live in the US speak it. If, at some point, the vast majority of people in the US - legally, let me just throw in right now - spoke something other than English, then THAT should be the language we conduct business in and the one that new immigrants learn to fit into their new home.

In other words, my support is for the common sense idea of expecting the minority of new people to adjust to the majority around them, rather than the other way around. It isn't for English specifically. So no, I don't support an amendment ordaining English as an "official" language. I support the people standing up and telling their government officials to cut the PC, butt-kissing crap and stop costing us money in order to appear "multicultural" and "tolerant".

 

[mattskramer]

It depends on what you mean by “official language”. Will private businesses be required to only use English? Will government be required to only use English? The devil is in the details.

 

[Againsheila]

I think it's ridiculous for people to expect to move to another country and not learn the predominant language or assimilate into the culture, and instead expect the natives to accommodate and adjust to THEM.

That being said, I don't see any reason why English specifically HAS to be the official language of the US. It is the de facto predominant language here, ie. the vast majority of people who live in the US speak it. If, at some point, the vast majority of people in the US - legally, let me just throw in right now - spoke something other than English, then THAT should be the language we conduct business in and the one that new immigrants learn to fit into their new home.

In other words, my support is for the common sense idea of expecting the minority of new people to adjust to the majority around them, rather than the other way around. It isn't for English specifically. So no, I don't support an amendment ordaining English as an "official" language. I support the people standing up and telling their government officials to cut the PC, butt-kissing crap and stop costing us money in order to appear "multicultural" and "tolerant".

When I lived in Mexico, I got a lecture from a Mexican woman all in Spanish of course, about how terrible it was that so many Americans went down there and didn't learn the language. I see no problem with feeling the same as her, when you are in my country you should speak my country's language. Our forefathers settled on English, it could have been Dutch, but they settled on English.

 

[aztech]

Yes it should and all government documents for use within the USA should only be printed in that language. All government offices should only have external communication (spoken or written) in it too.

Too much money is wasted by catering to people who come to a country and expect to be communicated with in their native tongue. If you want to live here, learn the language.

If I go to France, Germany, Sweden, Russia, Nepal, do I expect them to cater for me...no...nor should they.

 

[Cecilie1200]

It depends on what you mean by “official language”. Will private businesses be required to only use English? Will government be required to only use English? The devil is in the details.

Why would anyone care enough to dictate to a private business which languages to conduct business in? It's costing THEM money to be multicultural, not me. With the government, though, it's MY tax money they're spending printing forms in six different languages to accommodate people who think they're too good to learn English.

Where I live, at least, the businesses have a perfectly valid reason for being bilingual in English and Spanish. We're the first big city north of the Mexican border, about an hour away from it. As such, we attract a LOT of tourists (yes, there's such a thing as a Mexican tourist ). Just as Arizonans like to zip down to Nogales for the day to go shopping and sightsee, the Mexicans like to come up for a day or two and shop, visit relatives, whatever. It makes good, capitalistic business sense for the area businesses to have Spanish-speaking employees to cater to these tourist dollars, and it isn't as though they're hard to come by. A lot of the non-Hispanic people around here have learned Spanish as well.

For the most part, though, the government has very little reason to be dealing with people who don't speak English, and I have a limited amount of patience with them spending my money to allow people to come live here and pretend they're still in Sonora.