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English - The Official Language


Chipmonker

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According to the CIA Factbook( greatest tool on Earth when it comes to individual countries,and one thing the American Intelligence system actually did good for their people), the languages are pretty far and varied. In New Zealand, the official languages are English, Maori( originally spoken by the indigenous people but now incorporated into everyday life) and ...sign language!!

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Well, there isn't really an official language in the US, but English is well, the most used. Spanish, I would say is the second un-official language that most people speak. French I would say is the third.

where i live the laguage s mostly spanish even though i dont speak it. there are a lot of illegal immigrants where i live. no im not racist some of them are my closest friends

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well, where I lived there were all sorts of languages including Chinese and Spanish, so I don't really think English is an 'official language'. It just seems that the majority of people speak English because of the history.

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Because of the colonial rule? That's quite a part of the reason. Actually, I think Chinese (Mandarine) is catching up other popular languages, pacing up very fast, and is going to take a lead sooner or later.

 

And, English is always "recognized" as an official language of US due to its popularity. You can't doubt it.

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Because of the colonial rule? That's quite a part of the reason. Actually, I think Chinese (Mandarine) is catching up other popular languages, pacing up very fast, and is going to take a lead sooner or later.

 

And, English is always "recognized" as an official language of US due to its popularity. You can't doubt it.

im not sure about that because where i live the population that speaks Mandarin is about 3% or something. and by the way ths just annoys me but theres no such thing as a inese person. there can be Chinese food, etc. but there cant be a hinese person

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Actually, English is NOT an official language of the US. Despite being the most developed country in the world, with a couple of exceptions, the USA does NOT have an official language(s).

 

Also, a piece of trivia. If there are any people who remember this, and I don't think there are, FRENCH, amazingly, used to be the world's language. For proof, ask air traffic contollers. Flight commands used to be in French, and only recently, say 2-3 years, are they switching to English. Oh, and ask your parents.

 

Ok, that's my argument.

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I guess I should have put this in the first post, but I digress

 

Declaring English the official language means that official government business at all levels must be conducted solely in English. This includes all public documents, records, legislation and regulations, as well as hearings, official ceremonies and public meetings.
and not including things of Common Sense.

 

Right now, 28 / 50 states recognize English as the official language of their state government and bill HR 997 (making English official) was introduced into the 109th congress. While most Americans strongly agree that English should be the official language, some people *cough* ACLU *cough,* think it is discriminatory towards non-English citizens.

 

Also I heard a bunch of people mentioning Spanish. According to projections from the last census (2000)

  • English was ~ 80%
  • Spanish was ~ 10%
  • French was ~ 3%
  • The rest was ~ 7%

These are stats of people's native languages - So some Englishers can speak Spanish and so on and so on

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Even though English is US's most popular language, I don't think it counts as an official language. It just seems a bit weird to me, because I know people who spoke so many different languages back in the states.

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^That's true, but then again, many people speak different languages in every country. I think each country has the right to have an official language. I mean, you have to know a basic English or more to find a job in the States. So in the end, most of us have to speak English to communicate with others in the States. When somebody moves to the States, you KNOW they have to speak English or that they will have to learn it when they get there. It's not like "oh yea she's moving to the States, she has to learn every language in the world."

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Did you know at the BMV, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, offers driving manuals in both English AND Spanish? Which is stupid because all the road signs in the United States are in ENGLISH!!

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Did you know at the BMV, Bureau of Motor Vehicles, offers driving manuals in both English AND Spanish? Which is stupid because all the road signs in the United States are in ENGLISH!!

 

You mean the signs on the manual are also in Spanish? Or do they have the signs in English and just the explanation in Spanish?

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I think we should have an official language. If 80% have english as their native language, more than 80% speak it, and the few people who don't (mostly elderly) usually have relatives to help them. It would make everything much easier.

 

But its much better to not have an official language than to have more than one. I used to live in Canada, and it is the most annoying thing in the world to see everything in the country in English and French.

 

Also, French is a required class in Canadian school, despite the fact that most kids hate it (from my experience). Maybe it different elsewhere (Quebec) but I don't know.

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English is a required course for me, I am not sure about the rest of you. I say, here in Indiana, English is the unofficial official language. We should just leave it at that.

 

 

Isn't it the DMV? Not the BMV?

In some states it is Bureau, in the others it is Department.

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I think that even considering English as America's sole language is racist and show's the person's stupidity. America is meant to be " land of the free,democracy and all that" isn't it?

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I think that even considering English as America's sole language is racist and show's the person's stupidity. America is meant to be " land of the free,democracy and all that" isn't it?

 

How is it racist to make an official language? That means that most (or at least half) of the countries in the world are racist .

 

"Almost every sovereign state in the world has at least one official language, as declared in national constitutions, government websites, embassies, or other official sources."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_language

 

"half the countries of the world have official languages"

http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/officialamerican/

 

And creating an official language does not infringe upon democracy. If it does, I don't see how.

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English is a required course for me, I am not sure about the rest of you. I say, here in Indiana, English is the unofficial official language. We should just leave it at that.

Actually in this case, you are partially wrong . Your state recognized English as the official language back in 1984! It's people like Wisconsin that need to get with the program. o_O

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  • 2 weeks later...
I think that even considering English as America's sole language is racist and show's the person's stupidity. America is meant to be " land of the free,democracy and all that" isn't it?

 

You know what I think is stupid? People who want to live in America and call themselves citizens when they cant even speak English. Those are the stupid people in this country. English should definitely be the official language of the US. It doesn't mean its the SOLE language you fool. It just recognizes that English is the primary language of the US. I believe there should be some sort of law to make people learn English.

 

Like I always say,

"Welcome to America, NOW LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH!"

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Yes, i think it should be. If you get into the country, but insist to not speak English, you aren't a citizen. People who aren't speaking english, aren't contributing to the Community.

 

(OMG! WEVIL!)

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Well you can ask those people this question: "would you like it if we all went to your country and made a different language, official?". The answer they will give you is simple, "NO". Imagine if we all went to Argentina and debate that Italian should become the official language (because of their italian heritage), even thought they all speak Spanish down there?

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