I never understood why it was considered racist to say that everyone living in America should speak English. I thought that was obvious. If I moved to Russia I'd wanna speak Russian.
I agree with you. However, I THINK people argue that English was never officially/legally made our "national language." Now that we have so many people that speak a multitude of languages, is English still the best choice?
I think yeah you know at least learn conversational English because as a Cashier it's really difficult to have language barriers and try to find someone who speaks their language to help translate. I'm not going to go around and yell at everyone who lives in the U.S to learn English but it would make it a lot easier.
Yes English is still the best choice as probably 98% of people here do speak it. Also, while we may not officially have an official language, you do have to speak it to become a citizen, so basically we do. Fun fact: when the Founding Fathers got together to hammer out our Constitution they also voted on an official language for the new nation. While they never bothered to actually codify it, English beat out German by ONE VOTE.
If I remember correctly, a few years ago conservatives were in an uproar about this and pushed to have english as a national language. However, through various poles they became worried spanish would win the vote and dropped the issue.
I don't recall that coming up but it doesn't surprise me. I'm sure English would still walk away with it but I'd bet we'd end up with two official languages like Canadia.
I've heard whispers over the years but I don't remember a serious call for it. Like I said it doesn't surprise me. I'm not even sure what it would mean to have an "official" language. Would the police arrest you for speaking another language?
Mharaigh mé an fear an phoist
"What did you say, fucker?"
No, wait, officer, I swear, I was speaking English
"You have the right to remain fucking silent-- unless it's in English"
Top 5 most spoken languages in US households in 2009.
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English only – 228,699,523.
Spanish – 35,468,501.
Chinese – 2,600,150.
Tagalog – 1,513,734.
French – 1,305,503.
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English: 80%
Spanish: 12.4%
Indo-Europeans: 3.7%
Asian and Pacific Islanders: 3.0%
Other: 0.9%
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I don't see how in anyway that Spanish could win out against English as the national language.
For one thats a lot more Chinese then I was expecting. Second I figured there would be more german... surprising.
But this remindes me, I am pretty sure it was a state battle at first, south west some where. So thats why spanish had a chance at winning. They probably tried to take it to court, it was briefly talked about, and it got tossed out cause nobody but a few states cared.
Even if they did change the language, its not like things would magically change.
We Germans have mostly assimilated over the past 200 plus years. There are still a shload of us here in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin but you really only hear German spoken by the Amish.
Even if you are going to visit another country, it is probably a good idea to be able to understand and speak some basics of their language. If you are planning to live there, learn the fucking language well enough to get by without inconveniencing people. That is to learn conversational ____ and supplement it with anything additional that is necessary to perform your job. Next point: get a fucking job and pay taxes or whatever. Contribute to the society that took you in.
Most people have to get a job or invest in a US company to get a US visa. I don't know where you got this idea that immigrants don't contribute to our society.
While this is mostly true, not always. Our government does give tax breaks and other incentives, and some immigrants are known to send their money back home so it's waiting for them when they return. The "7/11 owners" (any retail/hotel/etc) at the very least contribute to society with the services they provide whether they may pay taxes or not. @alternate could be thinking of somewhere besides the U.S. or be confusing illegal immigration with legal immigration, I suppose.
"What did you say, fucker?"
No, wait, officer, I swear, I was speaking English
"You have the right to remain fucking silent-- unless it's in English"
-
English only – 228,699,523.
Spanish – 35,468,501.
Chinese – 2,600,150.
Tagalog – 1,513,734.
French – 1,305,503.
-
English: 80%
Spanish: 12.4%
Indo-Europeans: 3.7%
Asian and Pacific Islanders: 3.0%
Other: 0.9%
-
I don't see how in anyway that Spanish could win out against English as the national language.
But this remindes me, I am pretty sure it was a state battle at first, south west some where. So thats why spanish had a chance at winning. They probably tried to take it to court, it was briefly talked about, and it got tossed out cause nobody but a few states cared.
Even if they did change the language, its not like things would magically change.