There is a big debate in Washington at this moment. The issue is should English be the official national language? Some politicians claimed that making English the national language is racist. I personally fail to understand the point. Imagine if people demand the French to make Chinese their official national language. Is this what we elect politicians for? Do you agree with these politicians?
Chess Daily News from Susan Polgar
English IS already the national language of the United States. It always was and always will be. It is becoming a language for the whole world.
Politicians who say otherwise are just pandering.
Everyone who has come to this country or any other has had to learn the language of that country. All my freinds and relatives have glady done so for the privilege of living here.
Interestingly, before world war 1, there was a big push to make German an official language in the US. For some strange reason, the idea was dropped shortly after the war began 🙂
Jonathan O’Connor
What would the alternative be then? Spanish? Here in Canada we have two official languages: English and French. The *only* perceived benefit of having two official languages is that one can theoretically get government service in your choice of language. Of course, your mileage may vary depending on where you live.
That was a complete money pit, in my opinion. I really, really wish Canada would force people to learn English (like the US does) or get no service.
If I were to immigrate to (say) Germany, or The Netherlands, I would expect to learn the language despite the fact that it would not be easy for an adult to do so.
I sure wish the US hockey fans in San Jose would stop booing the Canadian anthem though…swine.
America is a nation of numerous backgrounds and languages. Of course English is the national language. However, to pass a law stating that English is the national language is silly and insulting to all of those people who have a different heritage. Even English is comprised of numerous different languages. This issue shows the insecurity of certain people in our country who need to flex their muscles to show that THEY are the true Americans. We of all people, as chess enthusiasts, should stand up for inclusion. We see how different backgrounds, different ways of speeking, different ways of annotating and different ways of playing make this world a better place. Our country would be a lessor place without other languages, other dialects and other accents. Let’s not discourage anyone from playing at our board.
Not just the national language, but the official language. Official documents and signage ought to be limited to English, the language of our Constitution and laws. And children should be taught exclusively in English.
My father grew up speaking Spanish at home. But he was bilingual by the time he was seven, because nobody pandered to special interest groups. Eventually he went to medical school. I hate to think what would happen if he were born today.
I agree English is already the national language and has been the national language since George Washington took office. I dont believe there should be two National Athems either, one in English and one in Spanish. There are many other people that migrated to America. What about instituting languages for Polish, German, Italian, to name a few, and how about a language/languages for the real Americans, The Native Americans,(Indians)? The reason
Spanish has been implemented in the U.S. is one, most Mexican people come from such a poor country they were never taught English and secondly there is a large economy for Mexican dollars
in the market place of the U.S. Thus they have banks that have Spanish menu’s and drugstores such as Walgreens have Spanish menu’s. The interesting thing to ponder is what happens when in ten or twenty years when it is estimated that Mexican Americans will be the largest percentage of all Americans.
TFK
English is the only language that can be the national language. In a country with immigrants from every continent, English seems to be the one language used to communicate across communities. Imagine Americans of Chinese, Hungarian and Brazilian families having a conversation, it will be in English. Each family can teach its children whatever language they want, but there should be no special recognition to some minorities – this will just cause resentment among others. As it is, Spanish speakers can get way more services than Croatian or Swahili speakers. That’s natural, there are more Spanish speakers than others. But it does not make sense to give any language other than English any special status.
If you allow more than one language in a country there is a strong possibility of segregation. If someone chooses to learn one but not the other then he/she won’t be able to communicate with the other half of the country.
PS
English has been the language of the majority in America for hundreds of years. It should be the official language. If we’re to process government forms, signs, etc in English and Spanish, then why not Italian, Gaelic, French, Polish, etc? Where does it end?
In many ways, Congress passing a[nother] law making English the National Language is alike the once proposed Equal Rights Ammendment to the Constitution:
By passing an Ammedment to the Constitution mandating that male and female are equal, Congress affectively recognizes that male and female are not equal.
Likewise, mandating English as the
National Language would, at the minimum, recognize that circumstances suggest otherwise (possibly).
On the other hand, recognizing English as the unique official language of communication for all public, legal, and property deads is mandatory.
The proposal is symbolic. If adopted, it would have no substantive effect, as English is the de facto national language anyway.
There are plenty of communities where English is not the dominant language. Such communities would continue to exist and flourish.
I wouldn’t call the proposal racist, but it is somewhat insulting, and it is rather pointless. Nothing really would change, but those favoring it (conservative Republicans) would be appeasing their political base.
As an immigrant from the far east who had to learn English when coming to the U.S., I don’t see any reason to oppose making English the official language. I certainly don’t see how it could possibly be “racist.”
This whole debate is useless, there is no challenge to english as the undisputed official language of US and the world
English is clearly the main language of the US. I think it is rather arrogant of some people to think that English is the main language of the rest of the world too!
By number of people who speak a language, I would imagine that English is not 1 or 2… For international business it is clear that English is important.
I agree that the debate is pointless – it cannot in any way be considered “racist” by declaring it so. So often the “racist” card is played now – it is almost as pathetic as many other ‘politically correct’ actions.
it’s stupid. several states recogonize more than one language as their official language, because those states have large populations of non-English speakers, and those elected state officials who do not take measures to communicate with large segments of their population by providing services in their language are irresponsible and have no place representing their state. Why not let English-only police call dispatchers speak in an area where most people know only Spanish? Tough for them, my parents came and had to learn English.
Better than talking about war….
USCF maybe should adopt Russian :}
Is anything different today from how it was last month? No. It always annoys me when elected officials spend my tax money on legislation that doesn’t do anything.
Of course, it often annoys me when the legislation DOES do something, too.
Pretty much a rubish. Some people in US are scared of spanish language, and imigrants. Let me remind you that spanish came and discovered first the most of todays west and mid US, so who is imigrant today in that area I dont know. I supose the names of cities in the area can tell us something about that. We in Europe learned in hard way to apriciate multiculturalism, so I guess its time for americans too.
Europeans apreciate multiculturalism??
lol
If we allow people to not speak english the terrorists have already won.
Susan, since you asked a political question I hope you don’t mind getting a political answer.
This has nothing to do with making English the official language in any practical sense. It is just another way of making people think their problems are coming from someplace else (it used to be blacks, then terrorists, then gays, and now Spanish-speaking immigrants) instead of from the government’s destroying the country’s economy and reputation with the Iraq war and so forth. It’s sleazy politics to take advantage of confusion, not a serious attempt to solve real problems.
I don’t know if you know the expression “dog-whistle politics”. A “dog whistle” is an ultrasonic whistle that dogs can hear but humans cannot, so when you blow the whistle, your dog comes home but other people don’t hear it. “Dog whistle politics” means political maneuvers intended to send a message to a certain group of voters without anyone else noticing. There are maybe better examples than this, but you get the idea.
Maybe they can make the 50%+ majority of them niggas start to speak all that Mexic’n lingo in the ‘hood of the Rio Grande, eh? ‘spucilly since much of the population is immigrants anyhow, whether it be them tar-‘n-feather-dressed injun squaws dodgin’ her majesty’s service by toss’n all the tea in Boston to da harbour, or a bunch of other 2nd class citizens jump’n for joy in Harlem with Uzis, it don’t matter what kinda slang and riddles they try ta talk to me with. That’d make for an hilarious comedy skit…