Is the English Language Proposal Racist?

[Leonel]

Makes sense to me, really. If I expect to live in Germany, I would certainly need to learn German in order to go about daily life there. Same applies with any nation. America's language isn't officially English but a VAST majority of American's speak the language and it would make sense that in order to maximize success in America, one has to learn the local language.

 

[CaptainF]

Not racist, just ********.

 

[Mise]

That's precisely the thing I'd like to get away from. I don't so much mind the bi-lingual signs at Lowe's, or the bi-lingual automated telephone menus. But voter registration, indicating that one is now a US citizen, should only be in English.

In the UK we have Welsh Language versions of every official document circulated in Wales. Confuses the hell out of me, but whatever, I see the point in it.

 

[Shadylookin]

To those who don't see a benefit to this it means all contracts and laws will only be legally bound by english versions. That means people can't get out by technicalities just because something gets lost in translation.

 

[blackheart]

To those who don't see a benefit to this it means all contracts and laws will only be legally bound by english versions. That means people can't get out by technicalities just because something gets lost in translation.

I haven't heard of anyone doing contracts in anything BUT English in America... have you?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

If deporting illegal aliens is racist, controlling the borders is racist, and liking the English language is racist, then what these people are saying is that continuing the existence of the United States is itself a racist act. Without citizenship, secure borders, or a language, you cant have a nation, so apparently its the very existence of this nation that bothers them.

 

[Shadylookin]

I haven't heard of anyone doing contracts in anything BUT English in America... have you?

No, but I've seen translations of laws. Sure it's not a huge deal, but the senate doesn't always have to vote on something that's a dire emergency does it?

 

[Riesstiu IV]

I speak 'Merican, not English.

 

[Elrohir]

How can a language be racist? Many non-whites speak English, and many whites worldwide do not. That's stupid.

 

[allhailIndia]

'Racist' obviously indicates the learned Senator's penchant for bandying words without a context or meaning merely to set off alarm bells of panic and pander to the sufficiently frightened minorities of his credentials as an unconquerable knight in plastic armour..

Does Senator Reid mean to say that ONLY whites are capable of speaking and understanding English? or does he mean that inherently English is the pre-rogative of a certain race?

As long as the USA is able to appreciate and accept diversity in the tongues its citizens choose to express their First Amendment rights in, I think it is competely irrelevant what language their government tries to rule them with.

English itself is an 'imported' language which gained dominance because the English speaking people of the USA gained dominance. Linguistic identity not being such a key dividing (or differentiating) aspect as say race, it is a largely symbolic move with great scope for meaningless one-upmanship and fear mongering.

 

[Eukaryote]

Lots of Countries have so called an official languge. I didn't know they made you rasist. Here in Canada we got two, so I guess we must be about as rasist as those stupid Frenchmen! Oopps. That did sound a little rasist didn't it?

 

[Kamilian]

what's racist about it? i don't get it.
if they would make spanish an official language, alongside english, i could just as easily get with non-spanish-speaking immigrant populations here in the US and start saying that it's racist and directed against the "non-spanish AND non-english speaking population" and end up demanding that every single language spoken by anyone in the USA should be official, in effect nullifying the original single- or double-language law.
to say that it's racist to make english an/the official language in the USA is stupid - not only is it already that in all but name, but it's basically calling most, if not all, countries in the world racist as well as there are official languages in other countries across the world

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

I don't see what the problem is with making English the official language of the US. I'm not saying you can't speak your native language, just that you should learn English, as that's the predominant language in this country. I mean, if I were to move to, say, Brazil, I wouldn't expect to NOT have to learn Portuguese, as thats the main language spoken there, even if there are other langauges spoken in Brazil. I think its good that we're adopting, or at least trying to adopt, some set of regularity in our country; too much is just... there, and not well defined.

 

[IglooDame]

In general I also fail to see any point to the legislation other than being a convenient and timely political football which the Reps are scoring serious points with against the Dems.

But, a more narrow question with substantial impact is, should ballots be printed in multiple languages? AFAIK we require conversational knowledge of spoken and written English for citizenship tests, and a segment of legally-required and universally-provided (even, apparently, to illegal immigrants' children) primary education is fluency in English. So, why isn't effectively denying the vote to those who can't read a ballot unfair?

 

[Keshik]

Calling this proposal racist is more racist than the proposal itself.

 

[GeorgeOP]

I live no where near Mexico. Yet I once recieved a phone call at work where the lady asked in broken english to talk to the Spanish translator. I told her we didn't have one and she was aghast. She asked why we didn't have one. Why should the buisness be responsible for providing translators for her? What if a German speaker called in? (The area I live in has a large German population)

In a college education class, a majority of future teachers thought that it was a good idea to simply make Spanish the national language. They argued with me that we should all learn Spanish so we can communicate with the Mexicans that come here.

This is a pre-emptive move to prevent crazy liberals from introducing more bad legislation.

 

[blackheart]

I live no where near Mexico. Yet I once recieved a phone call at work where the lady asked in broken english to talk to the Spanish translator. I told her we didn't have one and she was aghast. She asked why we didn't have one. Why should the buisness be responsible for providing translators for her? What if a German speaker called in? (The area I live in has a large German population)

Having a German translator would have been a good idea then. Businesses serve the customer do they not?

 

[Marmoset]

I always thought that English WAS the official language of the U.S. until this issue popped up. I certainly think it makes sense to make that a reailty. It's the one language used by the vast majority of the population.

In Canada, we have two official languages, English and French. This comes mainly from history, as Britain and France were essentially the founding nations of Canada (leaving aside the issue of the aboriginal peoples, which is for another topic). And of course, they are still by far the two most commonly spoken languages.

What it means in practice is that any Canadian is entitled to government services in English or French anywhere in Canada. This isn't always 100% true (some controversial laws in Quebec stand out), but for the most part it is. While there's certainly nothing to prevent people from getting services in other languages, it is not a RIGHT under the law. I happen to feel this is how it should be - people should learn the language of a country they immigrate to. The government has no obligation to provide any help to immigrants in their native languages - although there are obviously many situations where this makes sense. But it's not an obligation. I think that's what the bill in the U.S. is about - clarifying that English is the only language you have a right to use in government. If other languages are used, that's fine, but nobody is forced to do so.

 

[MobBoss]

Having a German translator would have been a good idea then. Businesses serve the customer do they not?

When 99.9% of your customer base speaks english, just exactly how efficient is it to hire a German translator?

 

[blackheart]

When 99.9% of your customer base speaks english, just exactly how efficient is it to hire a German translator?

Because GeorgeOP wrote "What if a German speaker called in? (The area I live in has a large German population)". So I assume that the area he lives in has a large population that SPEAKS Germany better than English.