Do you think English should be America's only language?

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Posted by KathleenG

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Posted by don424

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Posted by lolita4life

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Posted by don424

i think it should be a prerequisite for citizenship

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yes, definatly!

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we're gonna get flammmmmeddddd

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No, I happen to agree with you both as well. Very good points.

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I agree with you too. It is not to exclude anybody. I ahve seen sitautons war people cannot commincate for help b/c they don't speak English & even today I was awatchign the woman who works in the store in my deli, who speaks enough to help the customers, but she was struggling with a vendor--she showed him a sign with when she was going to be on vacation, I guess b/c it was easier & she knew it woudl be clear. ( not sure who made the dsign)

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Posted by don424

i think it should be a prerequisite for citizenship

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I agree. Especially when you can take adult ESL classes for free.

As a teacher, I have found it frustrating to work with parents who speak little to no English. I do know enough Spanish to get by, but it's hard for a parent to fully participate in a child's education if he or she does not know the language.

I am not talking about kids who have just arrived themselves. I am referring to kids who were born here (or came here a very long time ago) and have spent most of their schooling in a monolingual classroom. I think their parents would have had time and opportunity to learn English, which would also open more opportunity to them also.

I misunderstood the poll and voted no. I mean yes, if we're talking official status here.

I was just thinking the other day about how my great grandparents came to this country determined that they and their children would be Americans. Almost no one in my family speaks Yiddish anymore. The parents, going down the line, would only use Yiddish when they didn't want their children to understand (much like spelling words in front of children).

Now it's like we are too demanding, asking people to learn the language of their new country. If I were to move to France, I'd learn French. If I were to move to Israel, I'd learn Hebrew. If I were to move to England, I'd learn... oh wait. Umm nevermind.

official language? yes!!! only language?? no.

i think it is important for a country to have one language that is universally understood by its citizens. here, it is english. if i moved to france, i would have to speak french, so what is the difference?

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Posted by lolita4life

I feel very strongly about this......
YES i think it should be the official language....

I CAN NOT STAND that I have to try to learn someone ELSES language in AMERICA!!!! They get mad at you when you cant speak their language. I have NO tolerance for it....

My view is this:
MY grandparents had to learn English when they came here, so YOU have to learn English when you come here.

IMO its rude & ignorant to live in a country and NOT try to learn their language and inconvience everyone. Even try the tiniest bit! The country shouldnt have to accomodate you b/c you are too lazy, stubborn, etc to learn this language..

Sorry.. these are my feelings.. hope im not too harsh!

ETA: i would NEVER go to another country and expect them to cater me. I would learn the language.

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Well said!

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Posted by lolita4life

I feel very strongly about this......
YES i think it should be the official language....

I CAN NOT STAND that I have to try to learn someone ELSES language in AMERICA!!!! They get mad at you when you cant speak their language. I have NO tolerance for it....

My view is this:
MY grandparents had to learn English when they came here, so YOU have to learn English when you come here.

IMO its rude & ignorant to live in a country and NOT try to learn their language and inconvience everyone. Even try the tiniest bit! The country shouldnt have to accomodate you b/c you are too lazy, stubborn, etc to learn this language..

Sorry.. these are my feelings.. hope im not too harsh!

ETA: i would NEVER go to another country and expect them to cater me. I would learn the language.

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Very well said, I totally agree!!!

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Posted by boosh78201

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Posted by lolita4life

I feel very strongly about this......
YES i think it should be the official language....

I CAN NOT STAND that I have to try to learn someone ELSES language in AMERICA!!!! They get mad at you when you cant speak their language. I have NO tolerance for it....

My view is this:
MY grandparents had to learn English when they came here, so YOU have to learn English when you come here.

IMO its rude & ignorant to live in a country and NOT try to learn their language and inconvience everyone. Even try the tiniest bit! The country shouldnt have to accomodate you b/c you are too lazy, stubborn, etc to learn this language..

Sorry.. these are my feelings.. hope im not too harsh!

ETA: i would NEVER go to another country and expect them to cater me. I would learn the language.

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Very well said, I totally agree!!!

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Bravo

wow! i never thought anyone would ever agree with me!!!!

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Posted by PrincessRose

The parents, going down the line, would only use Yiddish when they didn't want their children to understand (much like spelling words in front of children).

Now it's like we are too demanding, asking people to learn the language of their new country. If I were to move to France, I'd learn French. If I were to move to Israel, I'd learn Hebrew. If I were to move to England, I'd learn... oh wait. Umm nevermind.

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My mom said her parents were talking in Yiddish all the time until they figured she understood, then it switched to Polish. They ALL knew English though.

My father's father came here too with Russian as his first language. He learned English, established multiple businesses and did not get any form of assistance from the US Government.

What I resent is that when I had to collect unemployment years ago, I was handed the instructions in Spanish. Mind you I am as about as Anglo looking as can be and couldn't possibly be mistaken for someone of latin descent. I was floored and frankly pis*ed off as all hell. Why is someone who hasn't mastered enough of the English language to fill out a form, collecting money from our government?

This is my opinion for just about people who collect SOME form of government assistance without knowing the language. If you come to this country and expect a handout, bi*ch and moan about not having enough, then you can make a U-turn and go right back.

We forget that it is a requirement in most High Schools to take a foreign language. I had to have at least 6 college credits in a foreign language (I chose Spanish)to get my permanent teaching certificates.

I am very confident in my ability to communicate in a language that isn't English. If I was born and raised in this country, and I speak two languages (one of which was NOT spoken in my childhood home), then any immigrant can learn the language spoken here.

As an aside, it is fun to pretend that I don't know a language spoken in front of me. People speak Spanish in front of me all the time and I BUST them when they say somethng obnoxious or innapropriate.

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Posted by lolita4life

I feel very strongly about this......
YES i think it should be the official language....

I CAN NOT STAND that I have to try to learn someone ELSES language in AMERICA!!!! They get mad at you when you cant speak their language. I have NO tolerance for it....

My view is this:
MY grandparents had to learn English when they came here, so YOU have to learn English when you come here.

IMO its rude & ignorant to live in a country and NOT try to learn their language and inconvience everyone. Even try the tiniest bit! The country shouldnt have to accomodate you b/c you are too lazy, stubborn, etc to learn this language..

Sorry.. these are my feelings.. hope im not too harsh!

ETA: i would NEVER go to another country and expect them to cater me. I would learn the language.

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I agree with this as well and so does DH who immigrated to the US from Argentina when he was 9. He speaks perfect English as well as perfect Spanish. I think if you are going to come to this country then you should speak the language. No one says that you have to give up the cultural background that you came here with. That is what makes the US so great! That you can you into the city and have every type of cuisine, shop in different markets and experience cultures and religons from all over the world.

I also agree that we should start teaching our children a foreign language earlier in life. We are planning on teaching the baby Spanish from birth, by having my MIL speak to the baby in Spanish only. I am taking a Spanish course now and it is very hard to learn later in life. I think being bi-lingual is such an advantage in this global world but I do feel that the US should maintain English as the official language.

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Posted by lolita4life

I feel very strongly about this......
YES i think it should be the official language....

I CAN NOT STAND that I have to try to learn someone ELSES language in AMERICA!!!! They get mad at you when you cant speak their language. I have NO tolerance for it....

My view is this:
MY grandparents had to learn English when they came here, so YOU have to learn English when you come here.

IMO its rude & ignorant to live in a country and NOT try to learn their language and inconvience everyone. Even try the tiniest bit! The country shouldnt have to accomodate you b/c you are too lazy, stubborn, etc to learn this language..

Sorry.. these are my feelings.. hope im not too harsh!

ETA: i would NEVER go to another country and expect them to cater me. I would learn the language.

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To be honest i understand what you are saying but i don't think you realize is that there are plenty of other countries that you can go to live and NEVER have to speak their language..
I went to Italy this past october and was SHOCKED that EVERYONE there spoke English. I spoke to friends about this when i got back and they said they saw the same in France as well as a few other countries...

I would LOVE to live in Italy one day and i know as an adult, learning how to speak another language is VERY difficult so for anyone to judge someone comming here to have to have the prereq. skills of speaking English, imo is UNFAIR.

I would LOVE to see how quickly you would be able to just pick up another language. It is VERY hard...I took Spanish for about 10 years and CANNOT speak it. I can understand others talking and throw out a few sentences myself but that is it...UNLESS you are forced to live in it and forced to learn it as a matter of survival...IT IS VERY HARD...ANd i think you are being a little bit judgemental on the people that come to visit or live in this country. Some of them do not have the means or the time to 'learn' english.

I think English should be the official language and I would like to see my children learn another language (primarily Spanish because of everythign going on in the US) MUCH MUCH earlier, like they do in other countries!!

ETA - I think the US is too accommodating. JMO

I found this interesting:
Languages Other Than English in the U.S.

According to 1990 U.S. Census Data, at least 329 languages are spoken in the United States. Listed alphabetically, they are:
Achinese, Achumawi, African, Afrikaans, Ahtena, Alabama, Albanian, Aleut, Algonquian, American Indian, Amharic, Apache, Arabic, Arapaho, Arawakian, Arikara, Armenian, Assamese, Athapascan, Atsina, Aymara, Azerbaijani, Aztecan, Balinese, Balochi, Bantu, Basque, Bengali, Berber, Bielorussian, Bihari, Bikol, Bisayan, Blackfoot, Brahui, Bulgarian, Burmese, Caddo, Cahuilla, Cajun, Carolinian, Catalonian, Caucasian, Cayuga, Chadic, Cham, Chamorro, Chasta Costa, Chemehuevi, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Chibchan, Chinese, Chinook Jargon, Chiricahua, Chiwere, Choctaw, Clallam, Cocomaricopa, Coeur d'Alene, Columbia, Comanche, Cree, Croatian, Crow, Cupeno, Cushite, Czech, Dakota, Danish, Delaware, Delta River Yuman, Diegueno, Dravidian, Dutch, Efik, English, Eskimo, Estonian, Faroese, Fijian, Finnish, Foothill No. Yokuts, Formosan, Fox, French, French Cree, French Creole, Frisian, Fuchow, Fulani, German, Gilbertese, Gondi, Greek, Gujarathi, Gullah, Gur, Haida, Hakka, Han, Havasupai, Hawaiian, Hawaiian Pidgin, Hebrew, Hidatsa, Hindi (Urdu), Hopi, Hungarian, Hupa, Icelandic, Ilocano, Indonesian, Inupik, Irish Gaelic, Iroquois, Italian, Jamaican Creole, Japanese, Javanese, Jicarilla, Kachin, Kalispel, Kannada, Kansa, Karachay, Karen, Karok, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Keres, Khoisan, Kickapoo, Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, Kirghiz, Klamath, Koasati, Korean, Koyukon, Krio, Kru, Kuchin, Kurdish, Kurukh, Kusaiean, Kutenai, Kwakiutl, Ladino, Lapp, Latvian (Lettish), Lithuanian, Luiseno, Lusatian, Luxembourgian, Macedonian, Makah, Malagasy, Malay, Malayalam, Mandan, Mandarin, Mande, Maori, Mapuche, Marathi, Marquesan, Marshallese, Mayan Languages, Mbum (and Related), Melanesian, Menomini, Miami, Miao (Hmong), Miao-Yao, Micmac, Micronesian, Mikasuki, Minangkabau, Misumalpan, Mohave, Mohawk, Mokilese, Mon-Khmer (Cambodian), Mongolian, Mono, Mountain Maidu, Munda, Muong, Muskogee, Navaho, Nepali, Nez Perce, Nilo-Hamitic, Nilo-Sharan, Nilotic, Niuean, Nootsack, Northern Paiute, Norwegian, Nubian, Nukuoro, Ojibwa, Okanogan, Omaha, Oneida, Onondaga, Oriya, Osage, Other Athapascan-Eyak, Other Uralic Languages, Oto-Manguen, Ottowa, Paiute, Palau, Paleo-Siberian, Pampangan, Pangasinan, Panjabi, Papia Mentae, Pashto, Passamaquoddy, Patois, Pawnee, Pennsylvania Dutch, Penobscot, Persian, Picuris, Pidgin, Pima, Polish, Polynesian, Pomo, Ponapean, Ponca, Portuguese, Potawatomi, Provencal, Puget Sound Salish, Quapaw, Quechua, Quinault, Rajasthani, Rhaeto-Romanic, Romany, Rumanian, Russian, Sahaptian, Saharan, Salish, Samoan, San Carlos, Sandia, Sanskrit, Saramacca, Scottic Gaelic, Sebuano, Seneca, Serbian, Serbo-Croatian, Serrano, Shastan, Shawnee, Shoshoni, Sierra Miwok, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Siuslaw, Slovak, Slovene, Sonoran Nec, Spanish, Spokane, St. Lawrence Is. Yupik, Sudanese, Sudanic, Swahili, Swedish, Syriac, Tachi, Tagalog, Tamil, Tanaina, Tarascan, Telugu, Tewa, Thai (Laotian), Tibetan, Tillamook, Tiwa, Tlingit, Tokelauan, Tongan, Tonkawa, Towa, Trukese, Tsimshian, Tungus, Tupi-Guarani, Turkish, Turkmen, Tuscarora, Twana, Uighur, Ukrainian, Ulithean, Upper Chehalis, Upper Chinook, Ute, Vietnamese, Walapai, Washo, Welsh, Wichita, Winnebago, Wintun, Woleai-Ulithi, Wu, Yapese, Yaqui, Yavapai, Yiddish, Yuchi, Yuki, Yuma, Yupik, Yurok, Zuni, and Other (not specified).
Data taken from U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Population Division, Economic and Social Stratification Branch, 1990 Census Special Tabulation, 'Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English For United States, Regions and States: 1990.'

© 2005, U.S. ENGLISH Foundation, Inc.

I'm just curious.
If English is not the official language of America, because we have no 'offical language', then how can we get angry at people for coming here and not learning English?

to whoever thinks i am being rude and harsh or whatever......
yes, i do realize that it is not easy to just pick up another langauge.... that is why i said even if they TRY it would be helpful. i know a good handful of people around where i live who have lived here for YEARS and YEARS and STILL do not even TRY to learn English!! there is a guy Marcelino who helps my boss do things. He is al illegal alien and has been here for about 5 or 6 years. He now has a baby and doesnt even know A LICK of English!!! I dont appreciate that. It is VERY hard to give him directions and all that and it just bnothers me that he puts no effort into it.
Another example is that i live near a Polish community, most speak English as a second language, but some do not. They come into my job and speak to me in Polish (eveeryone thinkgs i am polish) and i tell them 'i am sorry, i do not speak Polish'.. they have also been here for years. One woman got mad AT ME for not speaking her language! i swear!!! it was sooo weird! she said 'you no speak Poland?' and i said 'no, sorry' she slammed somethign down and walked out.....
now those are the sorts of things that get me mad. Why should Englsih speaking people have to go out of our way to accomodate non-speaking English people?
Its not that i hate them or anything, i just think if you have lived here for a few years or move here and are intending on staying for years you should definatly learn some english.

ETA: i found out today (i asked my boss) that that guy has actually been living here for 15 years!! and has been offered FREE classes at the college over here and he wont accept!
Hope that justifies my statement!

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Posted by juju




Yes, You are harsh. How do you know they are not trying to learn. How do you know they are lazy??? You know nothing about them. It's rude to pass judgement. And I don't have a problem with English being the Official Language. I don't think english should be the only language spoken.

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i never said that EVERYONE who doesnt speak Englsih is lazy and not trying to learn... i said those who ARE lazy and do not try to learn bother me.

Tough topic-
I think that it should be...or at least you should learn English. If I went to live in France, i would learn to speak French or risk some seriously upset people who expected me too, why not the same for here?

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Posted by RedHead

I think as an official language YES English should be the only one.
The wide range of dialects across the counrty is soo big i feel l ike we do have other languages

BUT I do think that i would love my child to be proficient in another language...And that doesn't mean starting to learn it in the 6th grade...

I think it should be taught much earlier

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I wanted to say well put. I agree that I think it should be the PRIMARY language and if you cant speak it, dont expect living here to be easy, but other languages should be learned. In the US, Spanish is the 2nd most spoken language, I think kids would be well off if its learned. My 2 nephews are in the dual language program in Bayshore SD. They are in the same class with the same 15 kids ALL throughout school and they speak both Spanish and ENglish, and learn in both. Their test scores are in the top 2 percent of the NATION.. That is AMAZING in itself. My 8 year old nephew can watch a spanish TV show and follow right along.
a little OT there..sorry