National Language Radio Broadcast

[Global Paw]

ugh...I just spent an hour listening to my local talk radio station where the host talked about how there was a desperate need to preserve our "national heritage" and protect the english language from illegals.

Every caller, every last one ranted about having to have dual language signs, and spanish menus as well as english ones.

Because I didn't get to share my rather brash opinion of the topic on the air, I'm going to share it here. Don't read it unless you're going to respond and debate me

I think this is how I would have said it on the air:

"Yes, hello...this may be my generation talking, or just plain common sense, but I have to disagree with you and all your callers to this date. I say we get several facts straight before we move on...

1) The United States of America has no official language.
2) The United States of America was founded by non-english patriots as well as english speaking ones.
3) It has never been the policy of this country to require english as a requirement for citizenship.

Now, having that said, we should go over them with a more detailed explanation. The United States has no official language, the reason being is because we are a diverse nation, and being that, are not willing to exclude anyone from living here because of where they were born, or what language they choose to speak.

Let us remind ourselves of the inscription on the statue of liberty..

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the goden door!"

Notice that it does not read "yearning to breathe English as a primary language".

Heaven forbid that you and your listeners will have to deal with a menu that has more then one language on it. Airports must drive you crazy.

Maybe, in this day, we need to stop bickering with the fact that English is starting to die in our suburbs, and realize that the goal of our nation is being realized. You speak of our culture being hurt? Our culture was made off of all languages. The natives didn't speak it, they are part of our culture. The Chinese railroad workers in California didn't speak it, they are part of our culture. The Dutch, the French, the Spanish, the Russians...they are all part of our culture and did not speak English.

Perhaps English speakers should start learning a second language and halt the pointless attempts to preserve the pipe dream that you've made out as what America should be. Get out of your WASP suburbs for ten minutes and wake up to reality."

[GSD]

I see no reason to debate you, I agree 100%.

[Owned by Lucy]

I am not sure why this additude suprises you. American's (from the US) are in general the most arrogant self centered people on the planet. We travel to other countries and expect them to speak English but would never dream of extending the same courtesy to visitors coming to the US. That being said, while I agree with you in principle there are many problems that arise from this mentality.

First, my mother in law is an elementary teacher and assistant principal in a school where many if not most of its students are ESL (English as a Second Language). These children live in hourseholds where a language (in her school there are as many as 10 different ones) other than english is the only or main one spoken at home. The classes in the school are taught in english and as a result these children fall way behind their non-ESL counterparts in nearly all aspects of academics. It would be impossible for these classes to be taught in all languages to accomodate all students so it is imparitive that they learn english to succeed.

Second, even though there is no national language there has to be some concenses so that people can communicate. Nothing will ever be accomplished it you have 10 people trying to come to a decision and all of them are speaking different languages and no one understands anyone else. In any respect having a national language does nothing to decrease our freedom and will not make becoming a citizen unobtainable. I would not even make fluency mandatory but you do need to be able to communicate effectively with the majority of people. This does not mean I see a problem with signs being posted in multiple languages. I currently live in Maine and most street signs and what not have French translations (and metric conversions) and when I was living in Atlanta everything had spanish translations. My problem is that there are hundreds of different languages and there is no way everyone can know them all. It only makes since that we have a common language so that communication is unobscured. However, if I was the one making the decisions (which of course will never happen) everyone would be required to speak fluently 5 languages (English, Spanish, French, Farsi and Japanesse) before leaving elementary school when it is easiest to learn new sounds. This would allow us to be able to freely communicate with most of the world's population.

I work in the healthcare field and I see instances regularly where people die or suffer serious disabilities because of an inability to communicate. A woman who overdoses on meds because the lable reads "take once a day", once in spanish is 11. People who die from anaphylactic shock because they couldn't communicate an allergy to a nurse or phisician. Children have died because informed consent could not be acquired from the parent in time. Yes we have translators but they are rarely on site and have to be called in and we only have ones for the 3-4 most common languages. People not understanding and being able to communicate in English as cost people their lives and the lives of their dependents.

[Global Paw]

Originally Posted by Owned by Lucy

I am not sure why this additude suprises you. American's (from the US) are in general the most arrogant self centered people on the planet. We travel to other countries and expect them to speak English but would never dream of extending the same courtesy to visitors coming to the US. That being said, while I agree with you in principle there are many problems that arise from this mentality.

First, my mother in law is an elementary teacher and assistant principal in a school where many if not most of its students are ESL (English as a Second Language). These children live in hourseholds where a language (in her school there are as many as 10 different ones) other than english is the only or main one spoken at home. The classes in the school are taught in english and as a result these children fall way behind their non-ESL counterparts in nearly all aspects of academics. It would be impossible for these classes to be taught in all languages to accomodate all students so it is imparitive that they learn english to succeed.

Second, even though there is no national language there has to be some concenses so that people can communicate. Nothing will ever be accomplished it you have 10 people trying to come to a decision and all of them are speaking different languages and no one understands anyone else. In any respect having a national language does nothing to decrease our freedom and will not make becoming a citizen unobtainable. I would not even make fluency mandatory but you do need to be able to communicate effectively with the majority of people. This does not mean I see a problem with signs being posted in multiple languages. I currently live in Maine and most street signs and what not have French translations (and metric conversions) and when I was living in Atlanta everything had spanish translations. My problem is that there are hundreds of different languages and there is no way everyone can know them all. It only makes since that we have a common language so that communication is unobscured. However, if I was the one making the decisions (which of course will never happen) everyone would be required to speak fluently 5 languages (English, Spanish, French, Farsi and Japanesse) before leaving elementary school when it is easiest to learn new sounds. This would allow us to be able to freely communicate with most of the world's population.

I work in the healthcare field and I see instances regularly where people die or suffer serious disabilities because of an inability to communicate. A woman who overdoses on meds because the lable reads "take once a day", once in spanish is 11. People who die from anaphylactic shock because they couldn't communicate an allergy to a nurse or phisician. Children have died because informed consent could not be acquired from the parent in time. Yes we have translators but they are rarely on site and have to be called in and we only have ones for the 3-4 most common languages. People not understanding and being able to communicate in English as cost people their lives and the lives of their dependents.

Most, if not all of the examples you have stated can be solved with the use of translators or more effective methods for communicating. Granted, it's not always feasable for small hospitals to have a full staff of translators, but this is why I said in my first post that as responsible Americans, we should learn multiple languages other than English.

I see two options, one is to force people to learn English, and the other is to take it upon ourselves to learn something other then English. I see the second as being more friendly and effective.

As far as ESL, I had the pleasure of getting to know several ESL kids at my high school before I graduated. Most of them came to America not speaking a word of English, and after a few months in a public ESL system, they were able to communicate to people around the school.

Not only that, but ESL teachers worked with kids so that they were able to communicate and understand their homework.

With any solutions, problems will arise...but I don't see how turning a blind eye is any kind of solution.

[gaddylovesdogs]

I agree with you 100%, too, Quincy.

[Cassiepeia]

Australians have a similar attitude to Americans in reguards to everyone who comes here learning english.
I agree that children should be taught several different languages (the most common here are greek, arabic & chinese... possibly japanese too) in order to effectivly communicate with our multi-cultural nation. I do however believe that non english speakers SHOULD be able to speak english as well. The majority of people in Austalia do in fact speak it and I see nothing offensive about asking people who come here to learn our language. Just as I see nothing wrong with asking people who move to France to learn to speak french. It's the dominant language and so is important that it is understood in order to communicate effectivly and to become a part of the community.
Of course this doesn't mean that anyone has to lose their culture or start to behave like us 'english as a first language' people. Not at all. I hope they keep their culture and continue to speak their language as much as they can but I would also like them to embrace our country and our people and become a part of our community as well which means learning our language.

Cass.

[GreenleafGreyhound]

I see two options, one is to force people to learn English, and the other is to take it upon ourselves to learn something other then English. I see the second as being more friendly and effective.

Well, I guess that's what people are trying to accomplish through the language requirements needed to graduate from high school. Unfortunately, the effects of a 3-4 year language course isn't very effective nor does it leave a lasting impression UNLESS you take AP *blank language* or you happen to have interest in that particular language or you speak it at home.

I mean, you can ask any college graduate if they remember how to converse fluently in the language they took in high school, and chances are they're going to say "Nope!". I agree 100% with you, Quincy, though. I'm bilingual and proud of it. I do appreciate knowing two languages and feel blessed to be able to converse to a good percentage of the population

[clraymond]

We travel to other countries and expect them to speak English but would never dream of extending the same courtesy to visitors coming to the US.

Are you talking about just visiting? I went to Canada quite often when I was a child and remember everyone speaking French and thinking it was so beautiful. They didn't speak English, nor was I expecting them too. I would never expect someone that was visiting here to speak English while here. I live in a city where there are many different backgrounds and tourist. I'm at the beach, where lots of people come to visit, and in a military city. However, if someone has moved here from a different country I think they have the freedom to speak whatever they want to. I think it would benefit them to take up English as a second language, considering that's the majority of what people speak. I think it's wrong to assume that "most" people are this way.

[vonissk]

OK I agree with you Cass. For anyone's info English is the United States' language--if not why is everyone speaking it? Why are they not divided up into groups--OK the French can live here and speak French, Hispanics, etc etc. I think it is great for people to retain their culture and their language but don't come here and expect me to learn yours just to be able to converse with you. I think the money spent by the school systems for children to have to learn English could be better spent in other ways. It would be like me inviting you here to spend time with me and we meet my friends and you don't understand one thing we are saying, and don't you think that would be quite rude? Yes...... Just because English is not my first language I would not do that to you. Any foreign country I went to I would certainly not expect them to bend over backwards to speak English to me I would just have to go with the flow. And by the way I am fluent in 2 languages, passibly speak read and write Spanish and bits and pieces of 4 more.

[vonissk]

By the way, the USA was not founded by anyone--it was already the home of the Native Peoples. And secondly those people who came here on the Mayflower were not bluebloods they were convicts who were kicked out of England--how can you come here with THAT attitude and consider the Native Peoples "heathens" and try to change their "pagan"ways with a Bible in one hand and a sword in the other? This is not just my opinion it is factual.......................

[calgal]

Each country has their own language and that's the way it should remain. Ours is predominately English and should stay that way. I feel anyone who goes to another country to live should learn the language. If just to visit then try to learn as much about the language and customs as possible before getting there. I'm not too fond of paying more in taxes to cover expense for additional paperwork and auto insurance to cover non-English speaking people.

[RedHotDobe]

I'm with vonissk and calgal. I need to gather my thoughts, then I will try to debate you.

[flyndog]

A common language is necessary for good communication. The languages we speak, because of the cultures in which they developed, limit our perception of our world. English is a good common language because it contains so many other languages. The English language is full and rich. There are ways to describe something in detail using English that others languages have no words to describe. It contains concepts and perceptions from many different cultures. In fact, it's a shame more of us don't use the language to its fullest extent. If we did, it might be better appreciated.

English *is* the official language of aviation. Imagine how compromised communication would be if all the pilots and all the air traffic controllers spoke their native languages while flying and controlling! Coincidentally, I received this today by email from my old flight instructor in Florida:I was going to post this in the Suggestion Forum in the Spell Check thread, but, maybe this is the better place for it.

"The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.

The hard "c" will be dropped in favor of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent 'e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fitz yer, ze unesasary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining! "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vanted in ze forst plas. If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl"

It made me laugh and drove the "spel chk krazy".

Kit

[Cassiepeia]

Originally Posted by flyndog

Coincidentally, I received this today by email from my old flight instructor in Florida:I was going to post this in the Suggestion Forum in the Spell Check thread, but, maybe this is the better place for it.

"The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5-year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy.

The hard "c" will be dropped in favor of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible. Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent 'e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fitz yer, ze unesasary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining! "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensibl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vanted in ze forst plas. If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl"

It made me laugh and drove the "spel chk krazy".

Kit

ROFLMAO!!! Oh man, this made me laugh so hard!

Cass.

[DarknessDivine]

Originally Posted by vonissk

By the way, the USA was not founded by anyone--it was already the home of the Native Peoples. And secondly those people who came here on the Mayflower were not bluebloods they were convicts who were kicked out of England--how can you come here with THAT attitude and consider the Native Peoples "heathens" and try to change their "pagan"ways with a Bible in one hand and a sword in the other? This is not just my opinion it is factual.......................

I'd have to agree 100% as my family is of Native heritage and I have heard and read many a story of the way the people where and still are treated.
America was never founded it existed as it was and then the ships came.