Current Events > What's wrong with America making English the official language?

(+) Yeah! (+)

English being an official language doesn't suddenly make it illegal to speak other languages.
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I'm glad you all agree with me.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw2kKyJu9gY" data-time="&start=125
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What benefits does making it the official language bring? I only see negatives from it.
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It really wouldn't have any benefit other than preventing obnoxious liberals from going "English isn't the official language you know!"

One disadvantage: It could potentially become a burden to small businesses in places like Chinatown where they have signs and menus exclusively in Chinese who would have to pay to get that stuff reprinted to meet certain legal codes that could arise from such a law.

I can't really think of a tangible advantage to legally recognizing it as the official language. Actually, I don't see why we couldn't have multiple official languages, if you did want to go that route. Obviously Spanish would be a pretty valid contender.
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It'll be more paperwork for our chinese overlords to fill out to change it once they conquer us.
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Hexenherz posted...

I can't really think of a tangible advantage to legally recognizing it as the official language. Actually, I don't see why we couldn't have multiple official languages, if you did want to go that route. Obviously Spanish would be a pretty valid contender.

Sure, I don't mind.

English
Spanish
Various Native American languages

Those can be the official languages of the USA.
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AmericaTheBrave posted...

Hexenherz posted...

I can't really think of a tangible advantage to legally recognizing it as the official language. Actually, I don't see why we couldn't have multiple official languages, if you did want to go that route. Obviously Spanish would be a pretty valid contender.

Sure, I don't mind.

English
Spanish
Various Native American languages

Those can be the official languages of the USA.

I really love the idea of making Native American languages official langues within states but how would you handle that at a federal level?
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Land of the free. Is banning languages freedom?
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creativerealms posted...

Land of the free. Is banning languages freedom?

I don't think those two are mutually inclusive...

You can have an official state language and not ban other languages.

Unless you live in a Baltic state or something.
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AmericaTheBrave posted...

Various Native American languages

even among tribes and on native lands, barely anyone speaks most of those languages anymore. and even the ones who do, English is usually their first language and they just learned their ancestor's language later through study

Hexenherz posted...

One disadvantage: It could potentially become a burden to small businesses in places like Chinatown where they have signs and menus exclusively in Chinese who would have to pay to get that stuff reprinted to meet certain legal codes that could arise from such a law.

I can't really think of a tangible advantage to legally recognizing it as the official language. Actually, I don't see why we couldn't have multiple official languages, if you did want to go that route. Obviously Spanish would be a pretty valid contender.

Making it the official language doesn't have to equal making it illegal to not have menus in it. (That's the case here - official languages is only meaningful in relation to government / court proceedings, anything in private business is up to the company. Most that don't primarily cater to English speakers, though, have found it's very good for business to have menus in English or whatever the equivalent for their industry would be - but the point is, nothing is forcing them to, they do so because they figure it's good for business. The conditions that lead to that are the prevalence of English, not its status as official, and English is the prevalent language in the US with or without official status.)
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I don't see any benefit to doing it... plus the various native dialects hold a truer claim rather than one of many that immigrants brought over.

ArchiePeck posted...

I don't see any benefit to doing it... plus the various native dialects hold a truer claim rather than one of many that immigrants brought over.

English has the claim on the grounds of "it's what the vast majority of people here speak, it's what the laws are written in, it's what legal proceedings happen in, it's what most business is done in, it's pretty much a de facto official language already".

No other language - native or otherwise - has that claim in the US, and that's far more important than "which was here first?" And several non-native languages (most notably Spanish) come far closer to that than any native language does.
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RoboLaserGandhi posted...

It really wouldn't have any benefit other than preventing obnoxious liberals from going "English isn't the official language you know!"

Support
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It's completely against the tradition that this country has and it's a conservative or a traditionalist belief that it should not be changed. I share that belief too, and I'll say it. It's fucking anti-American to want to change it.
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DarkTransient posted...

ArchiePeck posted...

I don't see any benefit to doing it... plus the various native dialects hold a truer claim rather than one of many that immigrants brought over.

English has the claim on the grounds of "it's what the vast majority of people here speak, it's what the laws are written in, it's what legal proceedings happen in, it's what most business is done in, it's pretty much a de facto official language already".

No other language - native or otherwise - has that claim in the US, and that's far more important than "which was here first?" And several non-native languages (most notably Spanish) come far closer to that than any native language does.

Yeah but you still haven't really identified any real benefit to codifying English as the legally recognized official language of the country imo.
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Kineth posted...

It's completely against the tradition that this country has and it's a conservative or a traditionalist belief, that I hold, that it should not be changed. I'll say it. It's fucking anti-American.

You know what else is tradition? Standing for the anthem. Yet you're one hell of a Kaepernick slurper.
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Hexenherz posted...

One disadvantage: It could potentially become a burden to small businesses in places like Chinatown where they have signs and menus exclusively in Chinese who would have to pay to get that stuff reprinted to meet certain legal codes that could arise from such a law.

I can't really think of a tangible advantage to legally recognizing it as the official language. Actually, I don't see why we couldn't have multiple official languages, if you did want to go that route. Obviously Spanish would be a pretty valid contender.

Here in California business must have signage in English in addition to whatever other language is used. Cops & Firefighters couldn't find locations in some places during the early 80's. There's even a requirement for the size of the letters & numbers.
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Hexenherz posted...

DarkTransient posted...

ArchiePeck posted...

I don't see any benefit to doing it... plus the various native dialects hold a truer claim rather than one of many that immigrants brought over.

English has the claim on the grounds of "it's what the vast majority of people here speak, it's what the laws are written in, it's what legal proceedings happen in, it's what most business is done in, it's pretty much a de facto official language already".

No other language - native or otherwise - has that claim in the US, and that's far more important than "which was here first?" And several non-native languages (most notably Spanish) come far closer to that than any native language does.

Yeah but you still haven't really identified any real benefit to codifying English as the legally recognized official language of the country imo.

There isn't any, really, except maybe "officially recognize the current de-facto situation". All I'm saying is that there IS grounds for it to have a claim to that status, if any language is going to.
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DarkTransient posted...

Hexenherz posted...

One disadvantage: It could potentially become a burden to small businesses in places like Chinatown where they have signs and menus exclusively in Chinese who would have to pay to get that stuff reprinted to meet certain legal codes that could arise from such a law.

I can't really think of a tangible advantage to legally recognizing it as the official language. Actually, I don't see why we couldn't have multiple official languages, if you did want to go that route. Obviously Spanish would be a pretty valid contender.

Making it the official language doesn't have to equal making it illegal to not have menus in it. (That's the case here - official languages is only meaningful in relation to government / court proceedings, anything in private business is up to the company. Most that don't primarily cater to English speakers, though, have found it's very good for business to have menus in English or whatever the equivalent for their industry would be - but the point is, nothing is forcing them to, they do so because they figure it's good for business. The conditions that lead to that are the prevalence of English, not its status as official, and English is the prevalent language in the US with or without official status.)

I 100% understand that.

But my point is that the law could be implemented in such a way so as to force cultural centers to have to revise how they present information (because there *are* some places in the US where they don't use English at all, though that's not necessarily common). I'm not saying that that WOULD happen, just that it's a possibility.

I am also not trying to suggest that the other language would be banned, either.
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brestugo posted...

Hexenherz posted...

One disadvantage: It could potentially become a burden to small businesses in places like Chinatown where they have signs and menus exclusively in Chinese who would have to pay to get that stuff reprinted to meet certain legal codes that could arise from such a law.

I can't really think of a tangible advantage to legally recognizing it as the official language. Actually, I don't see why we couldn't have multiple official languages, if you did want to go that route. Obviously Spanish would be a pretty valid contender.

Here in California business must have signage in English in addition to whatever other language is used. Cops & Firefighters couldn't find locations in some places during the early 80's. There's even a requirement for the size of the letters & numbers.

Oh that's cool to know, thank you for that clarification.
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It's anti-american to acknowledge that the language everything is done in here is English

Huh
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Other countries have official languages. It's 2018. Plenty of countries have diverse communities and some countries are a lot more diverse than America and still have an official language. I can't stand the amount of jerking off that goes on CE everyday.
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DarkTransient posted...

Kineth posted...

It's completely against the tradition that this country has and it's a conservative or a traditionalist belief, that I hold, that it should not be changed. I'll say it. It's fucking anti-American.

You know what else is tradition? Standing for the anthem. Yet you're one hell of a Kaepernick slurper.

Like I said, I don't owe you an apology. Anyway, a law change and a protest aren't the same thing.
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An official language doesn't outlaw speaking other languages tmk
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SageHarpuia posted...

It's anti-american to acknowledge that the language everything is done in here is English

Huh

No, it isn't and I never said that. No need to get defensive.
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Anisoptera posted...

Other countries have official languages. It's 2018. Plenty of countries have diverse communities and some countries are a lot more diverse than America and still have an official language. I can't stand the amount of jerking off that goes on CE everyday.

But what's the advantage here? "Other countries do it so we should to" is not really a great argument to use.
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You Americans will look pretty stupid once Chinese becomes the Earth's official language.
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Imagine if America started using the metric system.
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Anisoptera posted...

Imagine if America started using the metric system.

That's a false equivalence for one, and secondly basically all industry and professions that need to use the metric system to coordinate with the international community already do.

It would be nice if we did just finally switch over though, I won't argue that.
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Hexenherz posted...

brestugo posted...

Hexenherz posted...

One disadvantage: It could potentially become a burden to small businesses in places like Chinatown where they have signs and menus exclusively in Chinese who would have to pay to get that stuff reprinted to meet certain legal codes that could arise from such a law.

I can't really think of a tangible advantage to legally recognizing it as the official language. Actually, I don't see why we couldn't have multiple official languages, if you did want to go that route. Obviously Spanish would be a pretty valid contender.

Here in California business must have signage in English in addition to whatever other language is used. Cops & Firefighters couldn't find locations in some places during the early 80's. There's even a requirement for the size of the letters & numbers.

Oh that's cool to know, thank you for that clarification.

Actually, to clarify myself, the characters have to be in Roman numerals and Latin Script (the alphabet) in addition to whatever else is used.
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MonkeyBones23 posted...

What benefits does making it the official language bring? I only see negatives from it.

One obvious advantage is that official documents and other communications only need to be in that one language.

An obvious disadvantage is France-style language police.

In America you learn imperial, but once you get a job you start using metric.
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Questionmarktarius posted...

MonkeyBones23 posted...

What benefits does making it the official language bring? I only see negatives from it.

One obvious advantage is that official documents and other communications only need to be in that one language.

An obvious disadvantage is France-style language police.

Another disadvantage is being unable to process documents in foreign languages in the cases where the person either isn't literate in English or just not quite fluent in it.

An advantage it has created is being able to study and integrate other languages for military intelligence purposes.
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Anisoptera posted...

In America you learn imperial, but once you get a job you start using metric.

I was taught metric starting in at least middle school, if not earlier.

I also believe certain auto and construction work uses Imperial as a standard for certain parts and tools.
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Enforcing an official language is the exact opposite of a country founded on freedom.
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You can still have your freedom to circumcise your infant son while having an official language.
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Tmaster148 posted...

Enforcing an official language is the exact opposite of a country founded on freedom.

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But (I love playing devil's advocate), recognizing a legal, official language does not necessarily infringe on anyone's right to use other languages.
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Anisoptera posted...

In America you learn imperial, but once you get a job you start using metric.

Eh, even some government jobs like road building still use imperial, albeit they use special tapes that divide feet into tenths
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In America you learn how to read analog clocks by 12 hour clock, but once you get a job you use 24-hour clock.
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Hexenherz posted...

But (I love playing devil's advocate), recognizing a legal, official language does not necessarily infringe on anyone's right to use other languages.

If you're not fluent, or even close, it's an added expense and hassle to get official paperwork translated.

Questionmarktarius posted...

Hexenherz posted...

But (I love playing devil's advocate), recognizing a legal, official language does not necessarily infringe on anyone's right to use other languages.

If you're not fluent, or even close, it's an added expense and hassle to get official paperwork translated.

You already have to pay to get official paperwork translated, unless you know someone.
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So... if nothing much actually changes, then what's the point?

Questionmarktarius posted...

So... if nothing much actually changes, then what's the point?

Right? It wouldn't accomplish anything
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