English as the National Language

by KimW

Posted: 15 years ago 18 replies

OFF TOPIC

Another post made this question come to mind.
Should English be both,our national language and required to be learned/spoken?

Ron Kerr 15 years ago

A good idea.

Given that most people in the USA don't speak and certainly can't spell in English, it would be a brave move.

Most Americans don't realise (notice there is no Z in that word) that they simply make up words and spelling. The language you are referring to is English after all.
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- Kay King 15 years ago
  
  The encarta dictionary lists "realise" as "another spelling (U.K.) of realize". Not all versions of language -even the same language - use the same spelling.
  
  I remember reading that recognizing English as the language of the US and requiring it as the language are quite different in that the second would be costly to implement.
  
  First generation immigrants over the years have often not become proficient in English (the Vietnamese, for example) - but the generations that follow them do. We speak of English "as a second language" but for many it's a third or fourth language...yet few Americans are fluent in anything except English.
  
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- Michael Ellis 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Ron Kerr
  
  Most Americans don't realise (notice there is no Z in that word) that they simply make up words and spelling.
  
  Well, I guess that makes you an illinformed Australian...
  
  Both are acceptable spellings. Spelling with the 'z' is typical in Britian, however, the 's' version is the typical American/Canadian spelling.
  
  And yes, I believe English should be the national language, and a requirement to learn for anyone entering this country planning to live here.
  
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  Thomas 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Michael Ellis
  
  Spelling with the 'z' is typical in Britian, however, the 's' version is the typical American/Canadian spelling.
  
  Other way 'round, Michael.
  
  The 'z thing' is a feature of American English. It's not used very often by natives of other English-speaking countries.
  
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  Michael Ellis 15 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Thomas
  
  Other way 'round, Michael.
  
  The 'z thing' is a feature of American English. It's not used very often by natives of other English-speaking countries.
  
  Oops... thanks for the correction.
  
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KimW 15 years ago

ouch!
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- Ron Kerr 15 years ago
  
  Sorry, didn't mean to hurt! But sometimes the truth does.
  
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KimW 15 years ago

It didn't hurt Ron, the ouch was for the insult, not that I felt it was accurate. I've seen almost every country butcher its own langauge

Kay, I'm sure I agree with you on this though:"yet few Americans are fluent in anything except English."
While I am not fluent, I took latin for 3 years in high school and Spanish for two. Granted, the Latin was by choice and the Spanish was required,but I still took it. And I know that all my kids were required to take a foreign language. So I think a lot more actually do know a 2nd language that you realise () . BUt I also agree that other know more languages than we Americans do.
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- ShayB 15 years ago
  
  I teach English as a Second Language (ESL). I have to say that many of my students speak English better than some of the native speakers I know. (My Spanish is passable. I speak a smattering of other languages, but just phrases I have picked up from my students.)
  
  Because I teach ESL, I am very aware of my pronunciation and word usage. I get that. But it is a really big pet peeve of mine to hear Americans who have been given 12 years of a "free" education who cannot string together 6 words in a coherent sentence. Don't even get me started on writing skills. I have to teach "what they should say," but also "what you will hear," because people have such horrific accents around here. :rolleyes:
  
  Anyway, back to the OT.
  
  I think having one language unifies a country. Since most here speak (some form of) English, that would be the logical choice, IMHO.
  
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  ShayB 15 years ago
  
  BTW - My kids chose a foreign languge this year. My daughter (10) chose Spanish, and my son (12) chose Japanese.
  
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KimW 15 years ago

Shay,
I agree 100% about people not being able to string together a coherent sentence.
The dumbing down of America is a reality.
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- Kay King 15 years ago
  
  Kim - I did mean fluent in a language. I took 4 years of Latin and 3 years of French. However, when I lived where no one spoke English (they spoke French and Arabic) I found the most difficult part is to explain ideas, concepts or plans in another language. When I returned to the US I did not practice the language and if I returned to that country today I'd have the same problems I had before as I've forgotten much of the French I acquired and all of the Arabic I learned (except for a few curses).
  
  The ability to think and read in another language and easily express themselves in another language is not something most US citizens worry about. Because English has been thought of as the "universal language" just as the dollar has been "the standard" - we may learn language in a classroom but often don't acquire fluency.
  
  I think this is gradually changing in our educational system - and that's a change for the better. At least if you learn Spanish you have the opportunity to practice it here
  
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Patrician 15 years ago

Of course whenever we can expand our horizons (learning to speak our own language properly, LOL, OR learning another language), this is a good thing.

However, having people all over the place and particularly on the phone that you are forced to do business with, and you can't understand them and they don't understand you, is very stressful (sucks).*

If you want to argue Americans should learn another language - which one? In California we have huge populatons of Spanish, Philipino, and Chinese to name the main ones. By the way each one of those have 'dialects'.

We need to be 'one nation' not a bunch of little ghettos. It is completely rude to live in a country where the majority speaks English (or whatever) and insist you don't need to learn the language.

* I realize a large part of this is due to 'off-shoring' jobs so that we are actually speaking to people on the phone who are in their own country. Yet, if they are working for an American company they should be required to speak English clearly.
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KimW 15 years ago

Patrician,
I agree, I have traveled ( a little) and when I did, I did not expect the people to speak English.
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- Free Business Training 15 years ago
  
  The way I see it, in the USA we speak "American."
  
  Just like all other facets of our culture, it is a mixture of many
  different ingredients due to the diverse ancestry of our
  citizenry.
  
  It changes so rapidly that dictionaries can't keep up.
  
  It seems to me that the majority of people I have contact
  with from non-English speaking countries feel the learning
  of English is a priority.
  
  I believe it is the basis for what will become
  the "global language.
  
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  John Henderson 15 years ago
  
  As Homer Simpson put it during his high school days: "Why learn English when I don't plan to visit England?"
  
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Michael Oksa 15 years ago

Absolutely not.
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Michael Oksa 15 years ago

What if I would? Or any language.

I am a lover of language. American English would be a much poorer language if we didn't borrow words from all of the cultures that have chosen to call this great nation home.

The Constitution has a freedom of speech clause. To me that includes ANY language. I know it was written in English, but it does not say "freedom of speech as long as it's English".

I think it's a good idea for people to know how to speak English in the USA, but it should not be a requirement.

The other hard part would be regulating it. What counts as English? Would I have to order a "thin unleavened bread wrapped around ground beef and cheese" instead of a "burrito"? I know that is absurd, but at what point is a word English or not?

Sorry, but as a writer I cannot imagine how stagnant our language would become if we stopped allowing others to contribute to it.

I don't think any language should be an official language of the USA. Not English, Spanish, German, Hmong, or any of the others.

All the best,
Michael
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