Current Events > Why I think English should be the official language of the United States.

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Countries with serious linguistic divides tend to have serious tensions that exist between the various linguistic groups. Even Belgium has tensions that exist between its French and Dutch speaking regions. It is no coincidence that language has often been a dividing line between one nation and another.

Throughout the history of the United States, immigrant groups have all eventually assimilated and learned English. Not only did they learn English, but within a few generations, they had usually completely lost their original languages (if it wasn't already English). Very few third generation descendants of Italian or German immigrants speak those languages.

However, starting in about the 1970s, the United States has experienced a very large wave of Spanish speaking immigrants, some legal and some illegal. Setting aside the legality issue, one thing that is different about this wave of immigration is the rhetoric that has surrounded the adoption of the English language. It is no longer clear that the English language will be the dominant language in the United States.

When I was in middle school, our guidance counselor came in one day and tried to convince people to take Spanish. He was telling us that by the year 2050 or something, half of this country would be speaking Spanish. Has this rhetoric ever happened with another immigrant group? Were there people saying that half of America would be speaking Italian or German? What will this half-Spanish speaking America be like? Will there be certain regions where it is expected that everyone speaks Spanish?

What about other immigrant groups? Are immigrants from Korea supposed to learn both Spanish and English? Nobody is learning Korean for them. The same goes for every non-Spanish speaking immigrant group. I have no problem with people choosing to speak other languages among themselves, but when that starts to become demanding that others learn their language so that they don't have to learn English, I start to take an issue with it.

I believe that if this country becomes divided into Spanish-speaking and English-speaking areas, we will have severe tensions and conflict in the future. It would be much preferable to remain an overall monolingual society. Therefore, I propose that we amend the United States Constitution to make English the official language of the United States.
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President Teddy Roosevelt said it better
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Thank you!

I made a similar topic the other day, but with a far more shitposty slant, and without a well thought out argument like this.
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american should be the official language. the change should be worldwide, and dissenting countries should be threatened with armed invasion

Just declare the official language to be Russian or Chinese. The resulting shitstorm would be hilarious.
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Its the best language
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I don't know about you but Canada and Quebec seem to be doing just fine. Aside from a small, non-effective independence movement from the Quebec side, everything appears to be a-okay.

Kurumiee posted...

I don't know about you but Canada and Quebec seem to be doing just fine. Aside from a small, non-effective independence movement from the Quebec side, everything appears to be a-okay.

TC is literally a 19 year old stoner who has never left the country. Dont expect him to know anything about politics, culture, or sociolinguistics
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Sativa_Rose posted...

What will this half-Spanish speaking America be like? Will there be certain regions where it is expected that everyone speaks Spanish?

No, I don't expect that
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It wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing to start brushing up on your Spanish. In 20-25 years the Mexicans will have spread further northeast and the Cubans northwest. It will get to the point where if you are looking for a job and don't speak Spanish they're going to pick the other person who does. Personally I am more into Italian.

Also,

but when that starts to become demanding that others learn their language so that they don't have to learn English, I start to take an issue with it.

some guy called my office the other day and asked me a bunch of questions in Spanish. Then finally he says "do you speak Spanish?" and I said "sorry, no" and he sighed all dramatically and started cursing at me and then hung up. lol. So I get your point. That kind of thing does irritate me.
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What foreign languages do you all take in grade school? Growing up in Florida, Spanish was the default.

Why not just roll with the punches and adopt both English and Spanish?
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The pattern of immigration is almost always the same. First generation immigrants tend to have a significant non-English speaking population, second generation is bilingual, and third generation is overwhelmingly English-only speakers. That's happened with past waves from Latin America, from Chinese/Japanese immigrants to the West coast in the 1880s-1920s, and happened with each wave of immigrants from Europe as well. There was no need for an official language at any point, and the prevalence of a segment of the population that doesn't speak English is nothing new. English will always be the dominant language regardless of demographic changes in the coming decades.
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Hopefully technology will just make this irrelevant for this most part soon enough.
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Bandit_Keith posted...

Thank you!

I made a similar topic the other day, but with a far more shitposty slant, and without a well thought out argument like this.

You're welcome.

SauI_Goodman posted...

some guy called my office the other day and asked me a bunch of questions in Spanish. Then finally he says "do you speak Spanish?" and I said "sorry, no" and he sighed all dramatically and started cursing at me and then hung up. lol. So I get your point. That kind of thing does irritate me.

Exactly, this isn't just something I am making up.
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