There's been some debate in the United States about whether English should be the official language. It should not. Making English the official language would send an unequivocal message of unwelcome to the non-English parts of the world, completely counter to the melting pot ideal which makes the U.S. so great.
THEN WHAT SHOULD THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE BE??
There shouldn't be an official language. If that sounds extreme, realize that there is currently no official language in the U.S. (except in certain states), nor has there ever been one.
An official language would be like an official race. Proponents of "English Only" argue that language is something you can change and learn. This is true, as I've learned over several years as a polyglot-wannabe, studying Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Esperanto. However, the general public isn't generally up to date with the most sophisticated language-learning methods, methods like sentence mining and spaced repetition, which make learning a new language really realistic. For most people, including most university language teachers, language learning is a dark-age process of grammar rules and tedium. Even if second language acquisition technology were up to speed across the board, language learning would still take a tremendous amount of time, time that not many people realistically have. The reality is, immigrants will gradually pick up English, but not overnight!
AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE WOULD "ACCOMPLISH" NOTHING
It's not like making English the official language would magically make everyone in the U.S. speak English. Making English the official language wouldn't even stop other languages from making appearances here. It wouldn't remove those "Para español, marque ocho" messages from our telephones. Those messages aren't there because of some sinister plot by archliberals to destroy the U.S. with political correctness. They're there because their presence brings in more money for the companies running the recording. It's the free market at work!
LEAVE IT UP TO THE STATES
One consequence of making English the official language of the U.S. is that this would rule out any individual states having any say in the matter. Since the U.S. was founded, there's been a gradual erosion of power for the states. Originally, it was like there were four nodes in the famous and oft-cited "system of checks and balances" of the U.S. government: the executive branch, the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and the states. At the time I'm writing this article, some U.S. states have enshrined English as the official language, and some have not.
In New Mexico, 30% of the population speaks Spanish. It would make no sense for the federal government to order New Mexico to make English the sole official language.
And what if Puerto Rico ever gained statehood? Spanish is the predominant language there.
WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS?
Some of the people arguing for English as an official language say, it's already the de-facto official language (that is, for all practical intents and purposes, it's what people here speak). So, it's a no-brainer English should be the official language. Right? But, by that logic, the official language should've originally been a mishmash of native american tongues. Early colonists and immigrants from Europe should've cast away English and learned the language of North America, not of Britain!
FURTHER READING
To get a greater appreciation of a little of what immigrants have to cope with when they're learning English, read my article, 10 Reasons English Is A Hard Language.
The official language debate is a little bit analogous to the prescriptivist-descriptivist dichotomy in linguistics. Read more at: Prescriptive Linguistics Vs. Descriptive Linguistics.
Language acquisition works both ways. I learned this when I started going out with my girlfriend, whose first language is Japanese! Sure, she's been picking up tons of English from me, but we realized I've also been picking up some English from her! Read more: Leadership And Language.
The whole "language" thing might just become moot in a few millenia anyway. Read my article on that subject: Will The Languages Of The World Ever Merge?
THEN WHAT SHOULD THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE BE??
There shouldn't be an official language. If that sounds extreme, realize that there is currently no official language in the U.S. (except in certain states), nor has there ever been one.
An official language would be like an official race. Proponents of "English Only" argue that language is something you can change and learn. This is true, as I've learned over several years as a polyglot-wannabe, studying Japanese, German, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Esperanto. However, the general public isn't generally up to date with the most sophisticated language-learning methods, methods like sentence mining and spaced repetition, which make learning a new language really realistic. For most people, including most university language teachers, language learning is a dark-age process of grammar rules and tedium. Even if second language acquisition technology were up to speed across the board, language learning would still take a tremendous amount of time, time that not many people realistically have. The reality is, immigrants will gradually pick up English, but not overnight!
AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE WOULD "ACCOMPLISH" NOTHING
It's not like making English the official language would magically make everyone in the U.S. speak English. Making English the official language wouldn't even stop other languages from making appearances here. It wouldn't remove those "Para español, marque ocho" messages from our telephones. Those messages aren't there because of some sinister plot by archliberals to destroy the U.S. with political correctness. They're there because their presence brings in more money for the companies running the recording. It's the free market at work!
LEAVE IT UP TO THE STATES
One consequence of making English the official language of the U.S. is that this would rule out any individual states having any say in the matter. Since the U.S. was founded, there's been a gradual erosion of power for the states. Originally, it was like there were four nodes in the famous and oft-cited "system of checks and balances" of the U.S. government: the executive branch, the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and the states. At the time I'm writing this article, some U.S. states have enshrined English as the official language, and some have not.
In New Mexico, 30% of the population speaks Spanish. It would make no sense for the federal government to order New Mexico to make English the sole official language.
And what if Puerto Rico ever gained statehood? Spanish is the predominant language there.
WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF THE NATIVE AMERICANS?
Some of the people arguing for English as an official language say, it's already the de-facto official language (that is, for all practical intents and purposes, it's what people here speak). So, it's a no-brainer English should be the official language. Right? But, by that logic, the official language should've originally been a mishmash of native american tongues. Early colonists and immigrants from Europe should've cast away English and learned the language of North America, not of Britain!
FURTHER READING
To get a greater appreciation of a little of what immigrants have to cope with when they're learning English, read my article, 10 Reasons English Is A Hard Language.
The official language debate is a little bit analogous to the prescriptivist-descriptivist dichotomy in linguistics. Read more at: Prescriptive Linguistics Vs. Descriptive Linguistics.
Language acquisition works both ways. I learned this when I started going out with my girlfriend, whose first language is Japanese! Sure, she's been picking up tons of English from me, but we realized I've also been picking up some English from her! Read more: Leadership And Language.
The whole "language" thing might just become moot in a few millenia anyway. Read my article on that subject: Will The Languages Of The World Ever Merge?
Posts
4 comments:
Couldn't disagree with you more on this. As native Italian speakers, we found English to be the great unifier when we settled in the US. By using English (which we became quite comfortable with without the high tech bells and whistles), we were not only able to speak to our neighbors from other parts of the world, but to other Italians who spoke regional dialects which were radically different from ours. None of us resented English as the de-facto lingua franca. On the contrary, it was comforting to know that wherever we traveled in the country, we could count on everyone understanding us and as such it was easier for us and others like us to assimilate by using the common language.
ur the best man. i completely agree with you...forget about the italina dude up there.
Our Italian friend here is absolutely correct, although, Mr. Alexander, though some of his statements are flawed, makes some very logical and excellent points.
Dude, you got to be kidding! english is the nation's gift from god, love it or leave it!
Post a Comment