English Should be the National Language Essay

“No Habla English”. “21 million people living in the United States cannot speak English. Citizens are not just speaking Spanish, but Chinese and Russian are rising fast.” (U.S. Bureau of Census, 2009) To force a citizen to speak a new language is discrimination. Non-English speaking citizens and immigrants that are without good English skills will fall academically, in the judicial system and when receiving proper medical care.

Although the Constitution does not legislate that English is the national language of the United States, “it has always been taken for granted that English is the national language” (King 317). After all, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the national anthem, the Emancipation Proclamation and many other historically significant American documents all were written in English. In order for one to truly understand what it means to be an American, they must be able to read and comprehend these documents in the language that they were originally written

Language is considered a vital tool in the construction of someone’s identity and an expression of culture. English is the most widely spoken language in the world. The number of people who speak it as a second language is increasing dramatically. In the last couple of decades immigrants have chosen to make the United States their home, but some proceeded with caution by slowly adapting to the English language and culture. Others don’t want to learn and adapt to the English culture simply because they believe it will separate them from their own cultures and traditions. Therefore, the question struggling to be answered is, should English be the official language in the United States?

There were some laws set by the United States that culturally dominated the immigrants in terms of their knowledge of english. One example is the Immigration Act of 1917, passed by congress, mandated a literacy test that required immigrants to read & write in their own language (law). This change of law of level education was an example of cultural dominance because the educated people dominated culture. The immigration act of 1917 displays the United States caring more about the immigrants knowing enough English in their standards than knowing only a certain portion that did not meet their standards, even if they're willing to meet their standards and are very determined to work. Also, in 1980, A law in Florida made English the official language

The debate on whether the United States should make English the official language has been raging within the borders of the country for decades. Several bills have been presented to Congress over the years, but have stagnated due to the opposition on either side. Though there would certainly be drawbacks to introducing English as the official language of the United States, there would also be immeasurable benefit. Not only would an official language streamline government processes and reduce government spending, it would also aid the United States by unifying its’ people.

Many people in the United States have a sense of comfort with their own culture and language to the point where they will not abandon those things in order to pick up a new language and lifestyle. In the article named, “Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public,” written by Myriam Marquez, she explains how her family continues to use the Spanish in public in the United States, even though they have lived in the United States for over 40 years. Marquez explains, “For me and most of the bilingual people I know, it’s a matter of respect for our parents and comfort in our cultural roots” (542). People are simply not going to change who they are and where they come from just so they can conform to the normal population of the United States. For the most part, people who come the United States are happy that the country has not implemented a national language law because the people who come here can

R. D. King (1997) wrote that the issue of immigrants learning to speak English dates back to 1753 with regards to German immigrants. In his article, Should English Be the Law, King (1997) states, “In 1753 Benjamin Franklin voiced his concern that German immigrants were not learning the English language” (para. 4). Even after all these years, the issue of immigrants learning and speaking English in order to communicate better with co-workers, at the bank, or

The government implementing English as the official legal language of America is imperative because a conformity of communication within our borders is needed to unify the vast diversity. Our mighty country was founded on providing all citizens with equality including inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The United States is a progressive nation that welcomes people from far and wide to come and savor the God-given freedoms enjoyed by all. With all of the diversity from the countless immigrants coming in to our port cities, looking for a more prosperous future, a necessary tie is needed to bring the people of the nation together. Interaction with others

A big part of the problem is that they do not get enough experience speaking or writing in their parents’ native language (Population Council). However the bigger part of the problem is most immigrants’ method of parenting. Chinese immigrants’ way of raising their children to speak and write both Chinese and English fluently has proven that it is possible to raise the next generations to be bilingual. According to a study by Eddie Kuo, over 90 percent of the studied Chinese-American families mainly spoke Chinese at home, proving that Chinese are the only immigrants who truly hold on to their language everywhere they go. That is why Chinese is the most common language around the world, before Hindu and English (Ethnologue). It is such a big advantage to know multiple languages; bilingual people always have higher chances of getting hired, especially if they are in the community in which that their languages are commonly used. Other ethnic groups should really learn from the Chinese and preserve their native language.

Language is shared among the immigrants which comes from their culture. The United States benefits from nations of the many immigrants that migrate to the U.S. the diversity of different languages brings unlimited benefit to our nation. Nearly everyone in America speaks a shared language which is English. But with diverse persons coming from different nations, they bring laterally with them languages such as French, Arabic, Spanish, Urdu and several others. These languages give us a chance to learn a different language and benefit from its Culture. In modern days, languages, which stated previously, are assumed as a choice in a schools core curriculum. As said before, occasionally immigrants are accused that they don’t know how to speak English,

First off, it’s important to understand the difference between learning and education. Learning is the ability of an individual’s brain to acquire and retain information for a lifetime, whereas education is an aide to further strengthen a student’s learning capacity with the use of resources: teachers, libraries, classroom environment, etc. All students are essentially equal when they enter the educational environment, however students who don’t speak English have an unfair disadvantage in the american educational system.

Derek Walcott once said, “The English language is nobody's special property. It is the property of the imagination: it is the property of the language itself.” (Walcott) The immigrant population in the United States is 41.3 million or 13 percent, 20 percent if those immigrants do not speak English. (Zong, Kasperowicz) Out of the many immigrants that are in America many of them lack the ability to speak English. Having citizenship, being successful, and having a diverse, yet unified culture, are why all Americans should learn to speak English.

In order to become a United States Citizen, immigrants should learn to speak English; it should be mandatory.

The language barrier is one of the biggest problems people face when they move to another country. Many immigrants who come from other countries are met with many linguistic challenges that not only impede their control of daily life tasks but also their ability to survive. I believe that it is important for immigrants to speak a national language. If they are unable to speak a national language, they will be unable to function to the fullest and therefore become isolated and disempowered from the community.

     Also, with all the types of ethnic groups that are in America, there was to be one common language that everybody can understand. If America didn’t speak English, everybody in America, and around the world, would have to find one common language for the entire world to learn to speak. English was merely the easiest for everybody to pick up. “English can be traced back as far as the early 1100’s B.C.” “The Anglo-Saxons in England spread their language as many different enemies tried to take over England, but failed. They would force their prisoners to learn their language, and inter-grade themselves into society.”