The Importance Of A Common National Language

Contrary to unification, language can divide people. Finally, In “The Power of Words in Wartime”, Robin Lakoff shows how specific language makes it easier to kill the enemy while at war. Language is a beautiful gift that can bring people together just because they speak the same language. In, “Mute in an English Only World”, Chang-Rae Lee writes about his mother who is a Korean-American immigrant and, how she was not capable of doing everyday tasks because of her lack of knowledge of English.

I chose the article, Why the U.S. Needs an Official Language, by Mauro E. Mujica. America is heading down a costly path unless it chooses to act against the integration of multiple languages. This article outlines the need for just one language, English, and its importance worldwide as the “Language of business, higher education, diplomacy, aviation, the Internet, science, popular music, entertainment, and international travel” .

Those who believe a shared language shows a country’s identity do so because of the cultural assimilation this provides. Because language is a large part of culture, to learn one language is to culturally unite all of those people in a country with the same shared language. Henry Ford, the creator of Ford automobiles, believed in such an ideal; he was even famous for his English school which taught newly-migrated immigrants to learn the “language of America” while also providing them with jobs and wages. However, shared language does not always mean unity. For example, even in the US where English makes up the majority of spoken language, there are always ideological disparities today between people—like the disparities between Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, and religious groups and non-religious groups. Likewise, multiple languages does not lend itself to disunity. Even the US Bill of Rights’s guaranteed protection of the “freedom of speech” is not limited to the English language, supporting the idea of a united yet pluralistic society. Throughout the years, though, there have been laws made in America that have either supported or gone against the use of only

In “Why No Official Tongue?” by Shirley Brice Heath I found many surprising and agreeable ideas involving the debate on whether or not the United States should have a national language. I personally believe that it is unnecessary for the United States to have an officially declared national language because most immigrants have a need and natural inclination to learn English in order to achieve success in America. This article provides historical proof from the colonial era that multilingualism does not threaten the English language.

Would you stay in America? What would you choose? The English language should not be the official language of the U.S. simply due to the fact that we are a country made up of many different cultures and ethnicities. If the language spoken was to be changed to one that many may not know or understand that would make some decide to either stay in America or to leave. For example some of the possibilities that could happen if such action was to take place would be that it could change the culture, traditions, and in ones way of life, also the way our country is viewed would change, and also may cause many problems in society all together in America.

By welcoming the diverse languages and religions of the world, America is considered a melting pot of both cultural and ethnic identities. In the essay about bilingualism “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldúa she writes, “So, if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity - I am my language. Until I can take pride in my language, I cannot take pride in myself” (172). Anzaldúa believes that her ethnicity and language are what make her who she is. Therefore, by insulting her language, she is insulted as well. Her identity is “twin skin” with how she speaks. Linguistic identity is the ability for a person to speak freely in any language and ultimately their identity is shown through shared language. The things that define a person are their actions, their behavior, the way they walk, and the way they talk. A person’s culture has a heavy influence on their identity throughout their lives. To disrespect an important part of their culture, their language, is to disrespect the person on an extremely interpersonal level. The person would be, therefore, discouraged from speaking their native language. Anzaldúa shows that her language constitutes who she is; it binds her to the existence of her identity therefore a person’s language defines his/her identity.

I really enjoyed reading your post. I chose that the United States should have an official language, so it was nice to see reasons why someone feels that we should not. Over half of the countries around the world have a language that is considered their official language (“Official American,” 2005). You brought up a few good points to why it would not make sense to have an official language here in America. You pointed out that we already exist with so many spoken languages here, so it would not make sense if we changed it now. You also said that this is one of the reasons why America is considered the mixing pot.

Right now, the United States has no assigned authority dialect. In spite of the fact that it is seen as an English talking country, there has been a running open deliberation among the voting open in respect to whether English should be the official dialect. While there are many people that communicate in English or Spanish, there have been calls for multilingualism. This open deliberation has produced contention and political changes among both English and non-English talking groups. While English-talking groups have been in a backing of a brought together method for correspondence, the non-English talking groups have provoked this recommendation as a method for isolating minority bunches. This later gathering feels that in an area termed as free and reasonable and where all fantasies materialize, no specific dialect should be received to the detriment of different dialects. In this paper, I will contend out that English should be the official dialect of the United States.

In my opinion, english should be made the official language of the United States. America is so diverse in culture and language, making english the official language would not change that. People would become even more diverse in culture instead of speaking only one language. They would still be able to speak their mother tongue anytime they would like while also knowing the english language and using it when needed. In the reading assignment, Why English as a common language Is critical to America's unity, the writer talks about how without government giving translation services to immigrants who maintain their native language they are forced to learn english. This makes it so they have an advantage in searching for jobs, seeing as business

The debate on whether the United States should adopt English as the official language is a complex matter that has stirred controversy among political figures and American citizens. Though the United States does not have an official language, bills are constantly being introduced to the U.S Congress Houses to establish English as America’s official language. However, Congress has yet to come to a consensus which elucidates the complicated nature of the single language policy debate. Opposers of the English Language Unity Act argue that it is unconstitutional because it violates the first amendment. According to these opposers, constituting English as the official language of the country will create difficulty in the lives of millions of

One of the ways to promote unity in the United States is by declaring English as the official language. In 1846 Jacob Grimm, the forerunner of modern comparative and historical linguistics said, “A nation is the totality of people who speak the same language” (King 487). This statement implies that the language is a means of unifying people for a common culture and background, as well as a social and political force. Once English becomes the official language, it will bring Americans together and allow them to share a common culture. The importance of sharing the same language has been emphasized over the years. For instance, Norway has been separated from its union with Sweden because of the language, and the unification of Italy and Germany was also because of language (King 487). Thus, this reinforces the theory that people unite as one if they maintain opens lines of communication by using the

The world is divided on if we should have English as our national language, or if we shouldn’t have a national language at all. I believe we shouldn’t have a national language. Most people believe it would be a good idea for everyone to speak one language and be able to understand each other it's a good thought, but not that easy. A lot of people don't speak English and it would be threatening the liberty of individuals. There is a reason we don't have a national language by now. We have many cultures, races, and we have many languages.

Every one can speak English it 's the most common language in the United States. Even my mom can speak it, well not clearly but its undestanbel. Well I wasn 't able to say a word about 13 years ago. Well as anyone call tell from my complexion and and the fact I can speak fluent spanish, I was not raised here. I was lucky enough to be born here but the second I was born I was shipped to mexico. I was raised there for around 3 years before coming to the states. Everything was so different in how it looked to how people talked and acted. The thing I noticed the most was how some people didn 't understand me. At the time I didn 't really understand race but I noticed that people with lighter skin spoke a different language and typically didn 't understand me. I started to realize most of the population spoke this weird language, this language that was different from what I spoke. Even when I started school every talked in English.

It is used as a bridge for linking two or more different groups. In communication, especially in bilingual and multilingual society, people have to deal with others in order to communicate successfully. Hence, Formkin, et.al (2003) argues that people make agreement to pick one language on deciding lingua franca in order to satisfy the desire of social and economic interaction. Therefore, we can infer that lingua franca facilitates communication for many purposes between people whose language is

Talking about “dialects”, a term often mentioned along is “standard language”. When being brought into comparison with “dialect”, “standard language” usually serves as a legitimate variant with the highest level of excellence (Bex & Watts, 1999). Though positive in nature, standardization - the procedure of standardizing a language – often raises heated controversy because of its consequences on not only linguistics field but also the society. In the second part of the essay, I will focus on the disadvantages of language standardization.