Sun, 06 Jul 2008

A National Language

It's Independence Day (July 4th) here in the U.S. I have been listening to all the programs, news items, and other material about the country and it has brought back my thoughts about a National Language for the U.S. Unlike a lot of countries, we don't have one. English is the predominant language, but not the official one. I think English should be the official language of the country.

Let me pause for a moment and state that I am all for bilingualism. My kids are fluent in English and Spanish and I think it's a great thing. I'm also all for celebrating your heritage. It's great that your relatives are from this country or that country. But, after a couple of centuries, don't you think it's about time to say you're an American and not Italian or polish or African or . . . For most people in the U.S. their heritage is no more from that country or continent than it is from the moon. Just because you enjoy pizza, doesn't mean you are celebrating your Italian heritage. You are Americans, period.

OK, so let's say your ties to another country are a little more recent. Say you or your father or mother decided to some to the U.S. for whatever reason. You are still natives of whatever country you came from, but when you come to the U.S. -- primarily for economic reasons -- learn the language.

I don't have a problem when any business or group decides to conduct their business in a foreign language. For example, when I drive through the Korean part of town and see shops with their signs in Korean, don't resent it. I just don't stop. These shopkeepers have chosen, because of their use of the language on their signs, to not do business with me and that is just fine.

What I DO object to is schools and other tax supported institutions having to spend millions of MY tax dollars printing things in foreign languages and dealing with people who don't learn the language. This affects me directly and I think it should stop. If you wish to do business with the U.S. government and take advantage of programs which it supplies, learn the language! I don't like seeing dollars which might be spent to benefit my children, used for printing in multiple languages just because you do not want to learn the language.

posted 11:38 [/Thoughts] permanent link