After today's discussion we know that by the year 2040 sociologist predict that Spanish will be the most widely spoken language in the USA. Since there is no "official" language in the United States do you think we should add one? If so, should it be Spanish, English, or both? Thoughts....30 November 2011
Official Language...
After today's discussion we know that by the year 2040 sociologist predict that Spanish will be the most widely spoken language in the USA. Since there is no "official" language in the United States do you think we should add one? If so, should it be Spanish, English, or both? Thoughts....
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I think that the default language for the U.S. should be english. There are already other nations that have spanish as there default language, like mexico, spain, and puerto rican, to name the the obvious. Also we have already had english as a default since this country was started. The declorarion of independence, the bill rjghts, the constitution were all written in english. Another thing is that all our text books, our dictionaries, state highway signs and many more. All together the U.S. should have english as its default language and nothing else.
I strongly believe that English should be the default language of the United States. When we go to other countires we are forced to communicate speaking their language, why should it be different here? In order for people to have a job and talk in public, they need to know English. People who are already Enlgish speakers here in the US should not be forced to learn another langugae in their own country when all their life, they grew up speaking English and it has never been a problem. In order to be successful in this country, you need to know how to communicate with others, in the same langugae, which is English, just like if I wanted to be successful in Spain, I'd have to know Spanish.
I think that English should be the official language of the United States. My first reason is because our schools teach in english. Unless you apply to a special school, childrens teachers will speak english in all subjects except forign languages. The school that the American citizens pay for uses english, then the official language should be english. Another reason why i think that English should be the official language, is that all of our street signs are in english. You wont find ALTO on a red 8 sided sign in America, you will find STOP. in addidition, company signs are in English, although some may have spanish translations, and police, and ambulences have English writing, instead of policía, and ambulancia. Although making English the official language will not change anything in our society, I still think it should be done to help preserve the language. From this country's birth, language has been spoken, even important documents such as the Decloration of Independance, and the Constitution have been written in English. Overall, i think that even though making English the Offial language of the USA is not needed, it should still be done.
I believe that the United States should accept all facets of culture in the country and therefore the official language of the United States should be English and Spanish. By accepting both of these languages and making them the official languages of the United States, we are accepting both the future and the past. English is apart of our American heritage, and it is commonly known by many Americans. Simple everyday items such as road signs, street signs, and even restaurant menus are in English. When born in the United States, you are taught English and it is your first and native language. However, Spanish heritage and culture is rapidly spreading in the U.S. and is being accepted by many. Many school systems are providing educational Spanish classes for children starting at younger ages, and you are able to use Spanish with different products such as Shopping at the Self-Check out in a grocery store or an ATM. Spanish is an exciting language and can benefit you in many ways. By defaulting Spanish and English as the official languages we are accepting many different cultures and a large percent of people who live in the United States.
After Mandarin, English is the most important language because it’s spoken throughout the world. I think that English should be the official language in the United States because our street signs are all in English and school text books. It would be difficult and money issues if we make any of the changes. Also, parents usually taught their kids English, if they are born in America. Another thing is that English is spoken by more people than other languages. People shouldn’t be required to learn Spanish in their own country. It would also be a concern for the elder people because it would be tough managing their brain to learn something totally new, unlike children. Having another language in is hard.
I think it's good that we do not have an official language in the U.S. English is clearly the most popular language, but I think we should continue to accept other languages. Making English the official language would be like taking away part of the culture of a group of people in a way. People who don't speak English would not be able to understand anything and that would cause a lot of problems. I think the way we do it now is perfectly acceptable. For example, when you go to a bank there are options for other languages besides English. Why would it be a good idea to make English the official language and take those settings out? It wouldn't make any sense. We are still able to communicate with people who speak other languages as well. We have people who are able to translate between languages. I think making English the official language would just make everything more difficult for our country. All non-English speakers would be upset and that would cause more problems. If it is true that Spanish will be the most popular language in the year 2040, I think that we would have picked up on some of the language from hearing it so often and it wouldn't be extremely hard to learn. But if you don't have an official language now, then you don't have to worry about having an official language later. When Spanish is the most popular language, then we can still use the English option at the ATM, for example. It would be like flipping around the positions and the Spanish speakers saying we should make Spanish the official language of the U.S. and all of us English speakers being in trouble. It goes both ways, so it's not a good idea.
I think that we should not have an official language in the United States. It's always been that English has been the "unofficial" official language that everyone has either spoken or kept to their own language that they came into America with. As any other country is, there are official languages which you can choose to speak or not, as is the same in America. I believe we shouldn't have an official language because even if we do other cultures will still continue to speak their language just like we speak English when we travel abroad. We can't exepct grown adults to just immediately catch onto grammar and spelling of the English language, it takes time and we shouldn't just spring this official language on anybody. It is better to not have an official language because we already are doing okay with the knowledge we have now and the cultures who speak their own language would be expected to do something that is in a way slightly unreasonable.
I believe that English should be the dominant language in the United States because in schools, stores, offices, restaurants, on the streets, everything is written in English and most people communicate in English. If there was a change, street signs, menus, textbooks, basically everything would have to be altered in order to accomidate to the new "dominant language." If there was a growth in the english speaking population in Spain, that doesnt necessarily mean they would change their dominant language to English. Just because English is the dominant language doesnt mean that other cultures cant speak their languages here. Living in America, you should adapt to the language that everything is written and taught in.
I think we should add an official language in the united States and it should be English. This is because at the time, most of the population in the US speaks English and all of the signs, including street signs, restaraunt signs, newspapers, magazines, most TV channels, menus and more are also in English. Not only do we see mostly English around, but in other countries, English is always learned in their schools, but we don't always learn their languages here.
I think that having English as the unofficial official language is the way it should stay, and will stay. Even though Spanish may be the most widely spoken language in the year 2040, that doesn't mean it's going to change what language our street signs are written in, what language schools teaches, and other things like that. Sure, we have bilingual schools and offer other languages in instruction booklets because it's a known fact that in America there are many different languages widely spoken. America has been said to be a tossed salad of all these different ethnicities, and I think that's a great thing. America doesn't have an official language because of that fact, and I don't think making English the official language would really change anything at all. It is expected for people to learn English when they come to this country, even though it's not the official language, but because that's just what everyone speaks. I find it hard to believe in 2040 Spanish will be statistically what most people in America speak. Granted Spanish is a popular language, but I think English will always be the default.
I believe that English should be the official language of the United States. I believe this because mostly everyone in the U.S. speaks English or knows basic English. Everything in our country is in English mostly too. For example: our street signs, schools, most work places, and even our countries documents are all in English. I also believe that English should be the U.S.'s official language because people from all over the world from different cultures came to America for a fresh start and often became Americanized by American traditions like learning English. We should keep English as our official language so we don't lose the most commonly known language around the world to Spanish.
-Katie May
I believe that English as mandatory language in America and if you go to other countries, you are forced to use their language while they would have to use English while vising in America. My reason is that, everything is comes printed in english everywhere we see. FOr example, there are signs, billboards, and more. Most importantly, school and colleges have use english as a main language to teach. Many professors come from different countries yet they speak english here in colleges.
I think that English should be the official language in the United States. I think this because everywhere you go, there is English. In the United States, road signs, maps, billboards and other means of communication are written in primarily English. People in the U.S. feel comfortable speaking English. Although the Spanish speaking people are more rapidly moving into the U.S., that doesn't mean we should switch our primary language. If I were to go to Spain, or France, in order to feel comfortable I would have to learn either spanish or french. The people moving into the U.S. know that almost everything is written in english so, therefore they should learn at least enough english to get by. It would be very hard to make the United States official language anything but english.
I think that English should be the "official" language in the United States. Every country has it's main language that is well known by outsiders. For example, Poland is known for the Polish language, and Puerto Rico's default language is Spanish. In the U.S, English is written in our books,laws, internet, on the television and most people that live in this country speak it or learn how to. People that live in America are known for speaking English. Therefore, as an American living in America I believe that English should be the official language.
I think that English should be the "official" language in the United States. Every country has it's main language that is well known by outsiders. For example, Poland is known for the Polish language, and Puerto Rico's default language is Spanish. In the U.S, English is written in our books,laws, internet, on the television and most people that live in this country speak it or learn how to. People that live in America are known for speaking English. Therefore, as an American living in America I believe that English should be the official language.
I believe that the USA should keep it the same way as it is now with no official language. I think this because this country would be nowhere close to what it is today without people from all over the world. They viewed America as the greatest place to be in the world an that is why the immigrated over here. Although most if not all of the street signs around Newington are in English, if you go to southern parts of states such as Texas, Cali., New Mexico, and Arizona, you will find that street signs are also in Spanish. Most people in the US speak English as their primary language, and will keep speaking it and passing it down for generations. People in the US will not drop everything they know and pick up Spanish in 2040. I really do believe that making an official language will not stop or alter what language or how people speak to eachother.
I strongly feel that English should be America's official language. My logic behind this is that our founding documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were written in English, so why isn't our official language English? Also, many of the first immigrants who came to this country are from European descent like the Germans, Irish and the French. And did they keep their original language? ....No they didn't they learned how to speak, write and read English. That being said, there is no reason why our official language shouldn't be English.
I think that English should be the official language of the United States because it has been the custom and tradition of the United States since it was formed. Our constitution and laws are written in English. Our road signs are also written in English. Our primary newspapers and television stations are also english speaking. It would be difficult to expect all of this to change.
On the otherhand, I think it would be smart to encourage people to learn a second language, especially Spanish. Diversity has also been a part of our country's heritage. It is something that we must continue to respect. Just as English speakers should be encouraged to learn Spanish, so too should Spanish speakers be encouraged to learn English. The ability to communicate effectively is an important part of any society.
Currently, the United States of America do not have an official language, but I strongly believe that one should be established. This is because such a large nation should at least have one primary language determined as a constant. If an official language were to be established, I do believe that it should be English. I believe so because the United States were established as British colonies. The British colonies and our founding fathers spoke English. Not only are both our Constitution and Declaration of Independence written in English, but a large sum of American literary classics are written in English as well. I think that this language as well as the writing of authors must be preserved and honored in their original form. Yes, by the year 2040, Spanish may be the most widely spoken language in the USA, but this would really not be fair to everybody else who has graduated from high school and has grown up with English as their primary language. In addition, establishing Spanish as the main language may be beneficial for those from a Spanish speaking background, but doing so would be extremely unfair for immigrants from Europe and many other different cultural backgrounds. If those immigrants had learned English prior to coming to the USA, it would be very difficult for them to switch to Spanish. Lastly, the labels and street signs are already in English which would make switching them very expensive and time consuming.
I believe the U.S should have both English and Spanish as default languages. By having two official languages this will accommodate a larger portion of the population. Almost everything in the U.S is written in English. For example, street signs, menus, directions, text books, and many more. English is the most commonly used language in the U.S and is very important to know while living in the U.S. Spanish is also another common language spoken. Socioligsts believe Spanish will become the next common world widely spoken language. Since there is a large population of people who speak Spanish in the U.S it would make sense to make it one of the official languages. Although there is a large variety of spoken languages in the U.S, English and Spanish are the two most commonly spoken and would be the best choices for the U.S default language.
In 2040 sociologist predict that Spanish will be the most widely spoken language in the USA. With this being said, I do believe that this will in fact be true because there is such a wide population of Hispanics in the United States, and many people do know the language whether its knowing only a couple words, or knowing the full language because they were taught it in school or they grew up knowing it because of their families. However I do believe that the official language of the United States should be English. You need consistency and it’s already the most comely spoken language in the whole world, so why change that. English is also known as a business language, for example the biggest transactions are made in English. So over all us as Americans don’t like change bottom line. So keeping the language in the USA English and making it official I believe would be the right thing.
I believe the default language for the United States shoul most definitely be English. To start off our country was founded by those who speak the English language. The historical documents we look toward in order to govern our country such as the constitution and the Declaration of Independence are both in English. Also all of our road signs are in English, would we really want to spend the millions of dollars it would take to make them all a different language? I think not. Last, pubic schools in American teach in English, all of our text books are English and all teachers speak it. Changing the primary language would require the change of all school materials and teachers.
I do not think we should add an official language in the United States for several reasons. First, this country was founded on the idea that everyone would be accepted (and accepting), and that everyone would be free. If we set an official language, it would be forcing a large group of people to learn a new language, a new culture, and a new way of life. This would take away many of the freedoms given to them by the founders of our country. Second, our country is rapidly changing, and as shown by the sociologists' predictions, the language spoken by the majority of people in this country can change too. In the Civil Rights Era, segregation, discrimination, and prejudice were all made illegal, and it was at that point in time when immigrants flooded to the United States to seek refuge. Now, less than fifty years later, sociologists are already predicting a new "majority" language. As our country grows, so does the diversity within it. Unless our government is willing to spend billions of dollars to translate every word in our country every time there is a new majority group, we should all continue to live as we do now. An official language would just create a barrier between cultures, something we've spent decades trying to eliminate.
I believe that english should strongly stay the main language in the United States. This country was started with english as the main language so why change it now? This nation was created its way with english for a reason; there are a few other countries that have spanish as their official language so i dont think that we have to change the official language for america because the spanish population is getting bigger. Since sociologist predict that the official language in 2040 will be spanish, maybe thats a hint that we need to change something so that english stays the same language because people migrate to other countries but those countries arent changing their language because people of different ethnicites are being more populated in those countries. English is what is known around the world and just imagine what would happen if we didnt have that anymore? What would happen to the U.S.? People come to the U.S. and have to learn to speak and write english because its such a world wide language so therefor i dont think that the official language should be changed.
I don’t really agree with the idea that the United States should have one official language. I think it would be ignorant to make everyone learn English because not only is it an extremely difficult language to learn, but it would also be ignoring the fact that Spanish is becoming widely spoken. It would be equally as difficult to teach every English speaking person Spanish. I think efforts should be made to learn both languages if those are going to be the most common, however there are many people that don’t speak either of these languages, which means they would have two languages to learn. I think the United States should be more accommodating in general, because it’s unrealistic to want thousands of people with different backgrounds to narrow themselves down to two main languages. It’s not the most convenient, since language is something devised to make communication as easy as possible, but I think making only one official language contradicts the “tossed salad” that America is supposed to be.
Stephanie Kiback
I believe that there should not be an official language in the USA. The way this country has been ran so far, it is evident that English seems to be the dominant language. I am saying this due to the fact that this language is seen on street signs, virtual media, heard in schools, etc. However, when it comes to having a specific language that needs to be learned and valued in the United States, I believe it is not necessary. American is known to be the land of the free. That is why I feel that people should have the option to what language they would like to dominate their verbal communication. We Americans have even made the first amendment be the freedom of speech. This allows people to look at this as a wide interpretation in whether this claims the freedom to say what you want in the language of your choice. This should be allowed. What a lot of people don’t realize is there is not true American Nationality. For example, when people ask, “What are you?” many answer American. Although, this is not necessarily correct. They might live in America, but America is not a heritage. It is just simply a landmark that all different types of people with different heritages conformed to make a population. That is why we have the classic name of the “melting pot” better known now as the “tossed salad”.
Stephanie Kiback
In my opinion I believe that the U.S. official language should be in English. The reason being that when you read in the history books it does not say that the colonies and historians where speaking Spanish everything is spoken in English and written down in English. Also most people in history and now speak english and everything seems to have been working out so far. So I believe that English should be the official language because it has been working for us so far and should not change due the increase in the Spanish speaking population.
In my opinion I believe that the U.S. official language should be in English. The reason being that when you read in the history books it does not say that the colonies and historians where speaking Spanish everything is spoken in English and written down in English. Also most people in history and now speak english and everything seems to have been working out so far. So I believe that English should be the official language because it has been working for us so far and should not change due the increase in the Spanish speaking population.
I believe that we should not add an official language because this would only add to America's ignorance of other cultures. Our country was built on a foundation of freedom and diversity, there was even a time when it was reffered to as the melting pot because so many cultures came together into one nation. So why should we limit our country to one language and force all other nationalities to bend to it. There are regions such as China Towns and other areas where the language is completely different tha English or spanish and we should be proud of the existence of such places not attempt to eliminate them by setting an official language. And setting a language would be confusing because how would we dictate which language is chosen whether it be by changing majorities or the text in which some of our fonding documents are written in. Setting an official language for America simply promotes ignorance and changes what America represents.
I think that in the united states, there should be two official languages. Spanish and English. A lot of people in the united states speak English and all of our street signs are in English because this is the most popular language that people here speak. But, many people from south America and Spanish speaking countries and by 2014 I think Spanish speaking people will be here in the US so we need to start making things easier to read for them. Such as our street signs. The number one language that students are now taking in school is spanish. Yes, people do take a lot of other languages but the one language that I see available to take in every single school is a Spanish course. This is why I think that Spanish and english should be the official language of the United States
I do not think that having an official language will change anything in our country. We have not had an official language in all of the 235 years the U.S. has been around. Why bother changing something that has never been a problem? When Spanish does become the prominent language, we will have to be more accepting. Judging by some of the other comments, we already have a problem with that. America is supposed to be about allowing everyone to practice their own believes and cultures, whatever those may be. We should be more accepting of others, they are accepting of us, just look at all of the other countries who learn English.
I think that we should make the official language english. This country started off with English settlers and should stay with what we started. When people go to different countries, they have to learn their language. When people come to the U.S.A they usually come here to learn english. Everything for the U.S. is in enlgish. By putting enlgish the official language there will not be any confusion. If it gets changed to spanish, then all our documents, signs, and books will have to changed. People in the U.S.A hrew up with having to learn English. Why change it? Make the official language english.
I think our government should make English the official language in the United States. This is because our founding fathers wrote our country's most important documents in English. Furthermore, all of the original settlers of our country came from England and spoke English, so it would only make sense that we keep it the same today as it was when it was first settled. Since that day, English has been the most widely spoken language in our country, and although it is slowly declining, I do not believe it will ever die out in the United States. Perhaps the most important reason, though, is that almost every word in our country is written in English, from our books to our street signs. If Spanish will be the most widely spoken language in our country by 2040 as sociologists predict, the arguements for setting our official language to English will then become very weak. If we wait any longer, the decision will just become harder, and if we wait for the majority of the people to speak a new language, it will cost our government and taxpayers billions of dollars to remake everything that is now in English. The government is in enough debt as it is, taxes are high enough, and we certainly don't need the chaos that would erupt from half a country trying to learn a new language. Our safest bet is to make English the official language in the United States, and save our country billions of dollars in taxpayer money before it is too late.
I feel that the United States not only should have an offical language, but also needs one. Because of the fact that everything we witness during the day is mostly English, schools are taught in English, and as of now the majority of people in the US speak English i see why people may think that this should be the dominant language. With America being seen as the "melting pot" or "toss salad" since there are so many differenty races and ethnicities that live here, i understand why people may think that forcing one language on people could cause conformity. However how can a nation of all these languages function. Knowing English is a necessity to get around on an everyday basis even, it needs to be the official language or else groups with other spoken languages will have a difficult time functioning.
I see both the positive and negative by English being the official language, making ethnic groups conform and such. However it only makes lives easier for everyone.
I think that English should be the official language of the U.S. We grow up learning the English language through school. We are not forced to learn any other language in schools, its a choice we make to learn a different language. Our street signs, newspapers, magazines, t.v, and restaurants use English. Every country has there own language. There are already many countries that use Spanish as its official language. Therefore we should have our own. English is already widely spoken throughout the country people should not be forced into learning another language.
I dont think there should be an "official language", however i think there should be an underlying language of English. Some people may consider and underlying language as an official language, but i see it as the main language that everyone knows to come back to when the language changes. Its not an official language but a common one, it would be the language people would know to communicate with if not everyone knew spanish by 2040 or here on...Clearly the dominant language will be spanish by 2040 but the first common language was English.
I believe the default language of the U.S should stay as english. First, because all of our education is taught in english, from classrooms to textbooks. Majority of people wanting to move into American have a good knowledge of the english language, where a lot of americans don't plan on moving to spanish speaking countries so we don't know a lot of spanish. Our whole government is revolved around english. Our laws are written in English, as well as other bills and declarations. To be honest I think it would cost way too much money to change everything from english to spanish.
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