I have become an advocate for English in America. I sent the following message to my senators tonight:
I am writing to express my opinion about the use of English in America. In a nutshell, we need more of it! Historically, immigrants to this country have found success by immersing themselves in the prevailing language: English. This was their fundamental first step towards success, both economically and culturally.
Today we are making it far too easy for immigrants - legal and illegal - to get by with no English skills. Their children suffer from poor assimilation, and non-English speakers have virtually no educational or job prospects beyond manual labor.
The Constitution nowhere specifies that immigrants have a right to be dealt with by the government or any other establishment in their native language, whatever that may be, from Afrikaans to Yoruba. I think our Founding Fathers would have been astonished to meet an immigrant who did not wish to become wholly Americanized by rapidly acquiring English skills.
I have lived in parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia and no one in these places fell over themselves to put English-language government pamphlets into my hands. Kids who go to public school in most countries around the world are taught in the local language. Why on earth should it be different in America? In many African countries where the existence of numerous languages and dialects makes universal communication challenging, the governments usually choose one major Western language, such as English, Portuguese, or French, to be the official language. This simplifies communication across the nation.
In America, to do the opposite -- to try and make our government polyglot -- is complex, confusing, and hugely expensive. It is also counter-intuitive.
My grandfather was American-born, but his family was Norwegian. Once, in elementary school, he was teased by his classmates for responding "Ja!" instead of "Yes!" He did not sue the government for the right to learn his three R's in Norwegian. But he did learn a lesson about the centrality of speaking English to being an American. He redoubled his efforts to learn English, and ultimately became a high school English teacher, a published poet and author, and an expert on folklore.
Please co-sponsor Sen. Dole's bill, S. 2719, to repeal the multilingual mandate called Exec. Order 13166.
Cynthia Edwards
To learn more: http://www.proenglish.org/index.html
4 comments:
Thanks Cynthia, I agree fully with your letter. If ethnics want to speak their own language within their community or group, fine. We Italians did that. But to speak to non-Italians, we learned English!
Frank
Frank, thanks for reading and responding. I was wondering what my grandfather would have become if he had stayed embedded in his family culture and had not learned English. I suppose he could have become a craftsman (because he was very artistic and gifted with his hands) or a laborer or farmer. But without higher education in English he would not have developed his mental skills. BTW after WWI he studied at the Sorbonne for a year on some GI plan. So he was no slouch in any language.
You are absolutely correct! It is very difficult to shop in America any more because it's hard to understand the clerks with their various languages. It's good that they have enough english to get jobs, but it should be carried further thank that!
Gwen
My husband would be a better commentator on this since he teaches ESL, but I agree with you. I mentally shake my head every time I have to 'press 1 for English' on a menu. If a company wants to have alternative languages, that's fine, but assume the caller is speaking English in the US!
There are so many ESL programs - many of them free - so that anyone who wants to learn, can!
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