An essay drafted for a college English class research paper, stating a stance against declaring English as an official/national language United States of America.
When asked what the language of the United States is, many uninformed Americans will say that it is English. It is not uncommon to hear the phrase “This is America—speak English” across the country, but what many of those individuals do not understand about their America is that there is no national language. In fact, the United States has always been known as the Melting Pot. The country was formed on the basis of immigrants and freedom from the oppression of other countries and governments, situations that those immigrants had been escaping. Somewhere along the way, many Americans have seemed to forget this and believe that their freedom is the right to oppress and discriminate against others. Declaring an official language in the United States is hypocritically un-American in that it restricts the freedom and equality of those our nation had once sworn to protect, despite their lack of English.
A country where everyone is restricted to one language destroys all other languages. The longer a person goes without using a particular skill, the harder it is to remember, and eventually the skill is forgotten—the language is lost. It is the same around the world; over 6,800 languages exist, and 20-50% will be extinct by the end of the twenty-first century (Harper 515-16). To lose a root as crucial as language is to completely lose a part of who you are. Culture is as important to those speakers of the “minority languages” as they are to English speakers. Losing that is detrimental to the being that defines all people, family, and communities. However, a significant portion of Americans would see that English replace all of these native tongues, advocating for what would become linguistic and cultural genocide. Many languages have already been wiped out in America alone, specifically those languages belonging to tribes of Native Americans. When taking over the lands, American settlers/colonists taught Indian children to “reject and despise their native languages and every aspect of their cultures”, using means of even physical and psychological abuse for employing their native languages, which succeeded for devaluing the language and culture in many of their minds as they aged (Wiley 185). These children proceeded to grow up and truly despise and fear their ancestral language and roots, forgetting it completely, never teaching their children. Today there are those with indigenous heritage that have never spoken or heard their own language even once. It is as if they have forgotten completely who they are, losing the individuality of which they had never possessed in the first place. The language, forgotten by so many and never passed along to the newest generations, has become entirely extinct, causing these people the loss of their true freedom—being themselves.
Many Americans disagree that by declaring English as the official and only language of the United States will cause such detrimental effects on so many people’s cultures and individualities. However, their saying “only English” openly opposes and rejects the “ongoing use and existence of minority languages” (Harper 516). Children would be rebuked for using their mother tongue at home, school, the playground, anywhere, as would adults and the elderly. Saying only English means that anything other than English is inferior, as if they are inferior to us because they speak something we cannot understand, therefore they should only speak our language. Only English means that “it would then be required that all federal documents would be printed in English, that federal legislative sessions would be conducted in English…” (Stalker 18). This is a major disadvantage for those elder folks of minority languages that would find it increasingly impossible to learn a new language, English, leaving them unable to do the necessary tasks as they must to get through their lives. We would risk the quality of life of those living in our country who are unable to be as flexible as we would attempt to force them to be. Furthermore, Yuval Merin, professor at the College of Management School of Law in Tel Aviv, Israel, points out that “official monolingualism could serve to formally exclude the use of other languages”, serving as grounds for discrimination (2). Granted by the First Amendment, those living in the United States are automatically granted freedom of speech, as it is considered a fundamental right of man, meaning that language rights are also basic constitutional human rights. Stripping freedom of speech away due to use of a language that is not used by the majority goes against all that the United States stands for, yet some seem not to realize this, or it is highly plausible that they remain purposefully ignorant to this, twisting the definition of freedom to fit their own, selfish agendas.
A country formed by immigrants from the very beginning, the United States has always contained a multiplicity of diverse languages, cultures, people, and beliefs. Known as the Melting Pot, the country advocated freedom and the protection of all basic human rights. Continued immigration of the country, which was actually sought out by the United States, contributed vastly to the variance in language. In 1745 there was some 45,000 German speakers in the American colonies, quickly rising to 200,000 by 1790, a near 9% of the colonies’ population (Stalker 19). 200,000 is a lot of people. If back then we had restricted them to only English, we would have 200,000 struggling to live properly day to day. Additionally, during the late 1800s, German was the second most common language in the US, similarly to what Spanish is today (Wiley 181). Today millions of people in the United States speak Spanish, leaving the country as one of the world’s largest Spanish-speaking nations, despite English being the most common language spoken. Forcing these millions of people to speak and use only English, ripping their pride and heritage from their hands would be seemingly unthought of, but it does not mean attempts have not been made to suppress foreign tongue. In 1889 several attempts were made to restrict German education, related to anti-Catholic religious intolerance, and what was known as fear of the “ethnic vote” (Wiley 181). On the topic of discrimination aforementioned, the ethnic vote is often considered in general as a non-white vote, more specifically a vote made by one who is not Caucasian and who does not speak English natively. By restricting instruction and affairs in German, many German-speakers were discouraged from voting and “corrupting” the country with their foreign beliefs.
The cultural diversity within the United States has always been one of the greatest factors setting the country apart from the many existing on the planet, one that Americans take pride in day to day as they go about their lives, eating Chinese take-out Monday night, tacos or tamales on Tuesday night, wearing the denim Italy first brought about every day with American swagger, etc. Almost all Americans have descent of immigrants somewhere in their blood. Being that Germans thrived in the early days of the nation, it is not surprising that now “a substantial portion of the U.S. population claims some German ancestry” (Wiley 181). We take great pride in what is in our blood, the European decent, as do those who still speak their native tongue, those still in tune with their ancestors. Why is that they should be condemned for celebrating who they are? If America was meant to be only English, why is it then that the Articles of Confederation were also printed in German, as well as many other important historical federal documents in German, Dutch, French, and Swedish, rather than just only in English (Merin 7)? Surely there is a reason that there has been no declared language by today. The country was intended to support and help all people to thrive, regardless of what language they spoke. The founding fathers, the writers of the US Constitution, “strategically refrained from declaring English the official language of the new country” (Pac 193). Many of the founding fathers spoke French and German, and much of our language is actually derived from others. Much of what is used as mottos or important phrases are Latin as we know (carpe diem, bonus, extra, per se, quid pro quo, vice versa, et cetera). English speakers use several of these phrases frequently, despite the fact that they are not English words. By not officially declaring English as the national language within the written constitution, the founders of our country have provided all people within the United States the “freedom to choose among languages in different areas” (Merin 7). Multilingualism was common back in the day, looked upon as honorable yet not abnormal as Americans tend to view it. However, the view of multilingualism shifted during the growth of the country, and the American society began to consider languages other than English as subordinate. The “targeting [of] minority languages” was something that was initially “rooted in xenophobia” (Pac 193). The hysterical and irrational fear of those people in other countries caused a type of discrimination we still see often today, though it is not readily admitted to.
One of the most unfortunate factors of language depravation is that many look at those who speak minority languages as unintelligible and trouble, blaming it on solely just a characteristic of the particular language groups, rather than outcomes of the unfair support in language. Those who blame the language are only “overlooking the roots of the problem, and justifying social inequality” by doing so (Pac 194). They completely disregard the fact that little to no assistance is provided for these people when compared to that which is provided for the English natives. The fear of English being overthrown by foreign languages runs strong. However, English has never truly been threatened, as it willfully “maintain[s] its position as the common language and likely will continue to do so” for a very long time still (Stalker 20). English has always been the most commonly spoken language in the United States, even with the plethora of minority languages rising and fluttering about. There will always be English in America, just as there will also always be those minority languages. It is inevitable, yet there is no reason to fear it.
If not having English declared as the official language of the United States has somehow not affected the continued use of English today, evidently the national demarcation of English is unnecessary for it to remain dominant. English speakers already receive the greatest advantages within the American society, more so than those of minority languages could ever dream of receiving, therefore a further official declaration would only serve to further oppress non-threatening linguistic minorities, taking away the promised liberty of these individuals and tarnishing the true meaning of the United States of America. After all, how are we united if we harass and deny our fellow man for using his natural-given rights?
Works Cited
Harper, Stephen M. “Counting the Costs of a Global Anglophonic Hegemony: Examining the Impact of U.S. Language Education Policy on Linguistic Minorities Worldwide.” Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies, vol. 18, no. 1, 2011, pp. 515–538.
Merin, Yuval. “The Case against Official Monolingualism: the Idiosyncrasies of Minority Language Rights in Israel and the United States.” ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law, 1999, pp. 1–7.
Pac, Teresa. “The English-Only Movement in the US and the World in the Twenty-First Century.” Perspectives on Global Development and Technology, Jan. 2012, pp. 192–206.
Stalker, James C. “Official English or English Only.” The English Journal, vol. 77, no. 3, Mar. 1988, pp. 18–23.
Wiley, Terrence G. “What Happens After English Is Declared the Official Language of the United States?” Language Legislation and Linguistic Rights, Aug. 1998, pp. 179–195.
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