[Discussion] Should English be the official language in the United States?

[JojocIaw]

Hi guys,

I was looking for a good topic to talk about but all the good ones are not intended for the audience of this forum (this is a PG-13/G Site). I found a good one but I am unsure how many live or frequently visit the United States to be affected by it. It is not my intention to be biased towards just Americans so I apologize in advance if I give you the impression.

Anyways, I wanted to ask you all this question. Should the official language in the United States be English? To make this more interesting, how about just English? Any other language is punishable by law. What if the official language was Spanish instead? same rules; any other language is punishable by law.

 

[PandaMan.]

no. the US is filled with diversity. it has tons of different cultures with their own language. having one language woould never work..

 

[Hinata Hokage]

as long as there is freedom , u can speak any language u want

 

[Morteus]

R u talking about the English Movement?

 

[gamahiro]

 

[Morteus]

No! there has to be as many languages as possible!

Reasons?

Tourists spend lots of money here! (not all of em know English)

Immigrant workers come and help America so more languages are needed because they don't all know English and wont have time to learn it all before they can start working.

Other countries wont want to make business with america for feeling left out, racial profiling, discrimination, you name it!

More languages are needed!

Specially Chinese Mandarin (they are growing faster then USA)

 

[blackbird31468]

true

 

[JojocIaw]

That was epic. Never thought I would hear a politician say that.

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There are some people who would argue that since you live in America you should learn the language and speak it. Logically that would mean for everyone that lives here legally and illegally. This is a hard blow to other language groups that reside in the US especially to the largest growing ethnic group in the US, the Latino population.

Playing the Devil's Advocate here:

But, why not make the official language English so that everyone can understand each other. They wanted to be here then they should at least try to learn it. Especially in school there should be strict rules against speaking any other language. If you want to speak Chinese go to China, France for French, and Germany for German. If you can't even try to learn it then why even come to this country?

 

[blackbird31468]

That was epic. Never thought I would hear a politician say that.

---------------------------

There are some people who would argue that since you live in America you should learn the language and speak it. Logically that would mean for everyone that lives here legally and illegally. This is a hard blow to other language groups that reside in the US especially to the largest growing ethnic group in the US, the Latino population.

yes, but if we start letting everyone speak whatever language they want then there would be: commercials in just spanish, signs in just french and stores in just chinese. we would be more divided then ever and noone would be able to understand what the other is saying. bottom line; we've been speaking it as the main language for over one hundred years, why should we change it?

 

[captainEO]

what's the punishment?

let me guess a telekinetic head-slice

 

[JojocIaw]

Well punishment can be civil or we can go the barbaric approach. >:3

 

[captainEO]

Well punishment can be civil or we can go the barbaric approach. >:3

Sylar is never civil

You'll die abruptly and won't prosper

 

[Aenigma]

Well punishment can be civil or we can go the barbaric approach. >:3

It being America, whatever punishment it is will most likely be barbaric.Because here we won't stand for people having abortions but we are all for doing horrible things to live people.

From what you guys have already said, I can see both sides to the argument, and I'm not really sure which to take. It does annoy me when people going around speaking...Chinese or something (this happens a LOT), but I can also see how it would make it harder for immigrants/tourists to adapt and that might mean less people would come here...which would be detrimental probably.

Overall, I think if you're going to live here, you should know at least some english, like enough to get around, but I dont think we should make it so that everyone has to speak it fluently or else. Also we shouldn't make it so other languages are illegal...it would sort of destroy our diversity.​

 

[Avani]

There are some people who would argue that since you live in America you should learn the language and speak it. Logically that would mean for everyone that lives here legally and illegally. This is a hard blow to other language groups that reside in the US especially to the largest growing ethnic group in the US, the Latino population.

Playing the Devil's Advocate here:

But, why not make the official language English so that everyone can understand each other. They wanted to be here then they should at least try to learn it. Especially in school there should be strict rules against speaking any other language. If you want to speak Chinese go to China, France for French, and Germany for German. If you can't even try to learn it then why even come to this country?

Isn't English already the official language of USA? Either way I do not see any problem in that part. I also agree that everyone should know the language of the land they plan to move into.

About school- you mean students shouldn't be allowed to talk to even to each other in their native language and a strict punishment for that? :flaw:

I find it funny that Americans expect everyone in the world to speak English and then suggest that the other people should not have a bit of practice for theirs too.

I find Foreign tourists stupid when they travel here and complain that they couldn't find many people speaking English to give them directions in small cities.. If somebody knows more than one language don't hamper them.

Secondly in the world today knowing just one language is a weakness.