Apparently I'm Racist

[daleduke17]

and a hick, and a xenophobe....

Today the Springfield newspaper website (www.sj-r.com) posted a letter to the editor about asking why someone has to press a button for english at the voting booth. The letter stated that English should be the national language. I agree with that, especially at a monetary standpoint (I'll get into that later). Well, the people replying to this letter feel the writer and all that agree with her are racist and xenophobic. I guess I am one as well according to them. Is it wrong to ask the government to consider having an official language? Other countries have official languages, but don't demand people speak it all of the time, just in official situations.

Look at it from a monetary standpoint. Right now all governmental documents are produced in English, Spanish, French, Russian (I think) and several other languages. For my example, we'll keep it at four languages. That is four times the manufacturing costs for all printed materials. If the government was to say that all official documents are to be in English only, they could cut a lot of costs out of the budget. Plus, it would be a boon to private companies (like H&R Block) to assist people in doing their taxes and so forth with translators. Also, wouldn't going to one official language also curb some of this illegal immigration going on? If I go to Japan I am expected to conduct my official business in Japanese, right? Or France, Russia, Pakistan, or the like. I know our country was built as a melting pot, but, hasn't the point been reached where one ingredient powers through?



To expand my subtitle, the paper (and my local one) had an article about the local World Market going out of business (they're closing 18 nationwide). The responses to that were to the effect of the towns not having enough culture and the "hick attitudes" made the stores close. Just because people don't shop at a store called "World Market" they are hicks and xenophobic? I am just a little offended by that. Yes, I do like my country fried steak and drive a pick up truck but I am not a hick. I may not like opera (some is ok) or jazz but I am not a hick. I don't shop at a place called World Market since I can get about the same stuff at Target.

[Saydrah]

I don't think it's racist to suggest a national language- I do think it's a little xenophobic to be offended by any time there is an option to do anything in another language, though.

That said, I DISAGREE with naming a national language. In countries where there is an official national language, that language arose there. Our national language arose in England, with some slight differences evolving in accent and the meanings of words over time. If we were going to have a national language, I nominate Navajo, or one of the other American Indian languages- the only languages that DID originate within our borders.

It would be disingenuous to claim English/American English as our national language when it didn't originate here, and when America has long carried the title "Melting Pot" for the way multiple cultures blend together in this country. English naturally became the language of preference here simply by majority, not by any God-given right; I don't see anything threatening about the idea that Spanish might eventually become the predominant language here by the same process- and this coming from a girl whose Spanish extends to asking where the bathroom is, and that's it!

[ThePhoneGoddess]

People are obviously expressing strong opinions on both sides in your newspaper. It is not nice to call someone racist and zenophobic for having different opinions, but people often feel so strongly about it they let their bad judgment get in the way.

First, if we require all official documents to be in one language only, it will cause many more problems than it solves. A lot of paperwork, especially legal and medical, that is done requires the recipient of that paperwork to fully understand what they are signing. If they have only been here for a couple of months, they will not have a very good grasp of basic English, much less be able to understand an official form with lots of medical or legal terminology. This can cause problems later, which often end up in court and cost us lots more money then it would have to simply have the information in Spanish or whatever in the first place.

Second, many states have implemented English only statutes. Most of these states do not have significant minority or indigenous populations, so they feel they are able to do so.

In Hawaii, for example, the official languages are listed as English and Hawaiian. Do you really want to deny the state of Hawaii the right to list Hawaiian as an official language, even though there is a large population of people there who consider it to be their Native cultural language? Or what about New Mexico, where the people there have spoken Spanish in their homes for 400 years, and continue to do so? What about Maine and Louisiana, which have large French-descent populations, who still speak French culturally in their homes? Do you really want to piss off all these people, who have been Americans for centuries, and would take such an action as a personal insult?

We've gone down this road before. In 1868 the Indian Peace Commission recommended English-only schooling for the Native Americans. It nearly caused cultural annihilation.

[Seshat]

In Australia, most official documentation is in English - but translations are available in many languages, about half of which don't even use the same alphabet as English.

It isn't a problem to us. But then, I live in a suburb where about a third of the women wear hijab. You know you're multicultural where you see girls with baseball caps or sunhats over their hair-covering hijab veil!

Those girls are NOT going to get sunburned, I can tell you that. Hijab is actually sensible clothing in the sun!

[daleduke17]

Those girls are NOT going to get sunburned, I can tell you that. Hijab is actually sensible clothing in the sun!

No they are not.

TPG - After I posted my original post, I got to thinking about giving the power to the states to name an official language. Or, going a different way entirely: percentages. If a language is spoken by more than 2% of citizens then the state government makes forms in that language. That way the states can tailor the lists to what they need. The reason I picked 2% is that if there is less than that, there's really no need to print forms in that language to post in every office in every state.

Lousiana would have French and English, Illinois would have Spanish and English, New York would have English, Chinese and Spanish.

[AFPheonix]

...Or just don't and call it good. Too complicated otherwise. Besides, although 1st generation immigrants may have a hard time assimilating well with culture and language, by the time the 2nd generation is coming in, they're pretty well naturalized.
Immigrants for the most part are pretty hampered without a grasp of english out in public, unless they're sticking only with ethnic stores and other places of business. For anything else they've got to at least have an interpreter along if they don't understand themselves.