DocLightning From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 16802 posts, RR: 57 Posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 4766 times:
So this question has come up an awful lot in recent months.
To some degree, I understand the frustration with people who come here, don't speak the language, won't speak the language, and demand that Americans speak to them in their native tongues.
First of all, we should consider how such a law or Constitutional amendment should be worded.
It could be worded as follows:
"The English language is the official language of the United States. No governmental institution shall be required to do business within the United States in any other language."
Spain makes knowledge of the official language a requirement for citizenship:
"Castilian (the correct name for the language commonly known as "Spanish") is the official Spanish language of the state. All Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use it."
So what would be the advantages?
1) Reduced complexity and communication issues. Ballots would only need to be distributed in one language, same for any other sort of government publicity.
2) English is part of American culture. Such a law would protect it.
Disadvantages:
1) There is no actual definition of the English language. Spain has the Real Acadamia Española but neither the US nor the UK have any such equivalent. I've overheard conversations that I knew were in English that I could not understand. So which English is it and who defines it?
2) There are thorny logistical issues. Someone moves here with their kid, who is mentally retarded and will never speak any language. Can he become a citizen?
3) We've done quite well without one for a while. Why do we need one now?
4) English is the de-facto official language, anyway. Making it official isn't going to force non-English speakers to suddenly learn English.
Airstud From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 1853 posts, RR: 1 Reply 1, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 4757 times:
1) There is no actual definition of the English language. Spain has the Real Acadamia Española but neither the US nor the UK have any such equivalent. I've overheard conversations that I knew were in English that I could not understand. So which English is it and who defines it?
Merriam-Webster is generally regarded as the authority on American English. Of course you don't want you should give wide-ranging authority to one private-sector entity, which makes me think of the American Heritage Dictionary and their "Usage Panel," made up of authors and language experts from respected universities, publimacations, etc. If we needed governmental arbitration of linguistic matters; that's the sort of body that could do it.
2) There are thorny logistical issues. Someone moves here with their kid, who is mentally retarded and will never speak any language. Can he become a citizen?
Well you mentioned other countries that have official languages - how do they handle it when a retarded person immigrates?
3) We've done quite well without one for a while. Why do we need one now?
I usually find myself asking the same question (you realize this part of your post partially reads, "Why did I post this?")
4) English is the de-facto official language, anyway. Making it official isn't going to force non-English speakers to suddenly learn English.
First of all, I believe "de facto" and "official" are opposite-type terms; that the correct term to use here is lingua franca. English indeed is this nation's lingua franca (mmmmm....lingiune) although Spanish is doing quite well, and, it seems, better each day.
If you ask me the, people who get into a tizzy about the prospect of making English our official language are paranoid. You said it would eliminate the need to print multilingual ballots - but would we actually STOP printing them? Take the example of Canada, where English and French are fully official languages. Can Chinese speakers get ballots (and other government communiques) in Chinese?
I don't pay superclose attention to California politics (what with me moving to Minnesota and all), but wasn't there a story some months back about scads of kids who were graduating high school in California - probably the Bay Area (where there is currently a ballot measure before San Francisco voters that would extend voting rights to NON-CITIZENS; thank you SF for making my continued membership in the right wing just that easy...) - who could not speak a lick of English. These kids were awarded U.S. high school diplomas.
Whether the language is official or not, if you plan on making the United States your permanent home it's irresponsible not to learn how to speak English (assuming of course that the requisite mental and physical faculties are present). People should be able to communicate with rescue workers, assist in police inquiries, etc.
fr8mech From United States of America, joined Sep 2005, 4238 posts, RR: 12 Reply 2, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 4748 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Thread starter): 3) We've done quite well without one for a while. Why do we need one now?
The primary reason that comes to mind is national identity. When we allow others to live in the US without compelling them to learn the language, they form no real connection with American identity. If they remain isolated in ethnic communities and refuse to learn the languauge...are they really Americans? Do they want to be Americans? If not, do we want them here? Understand, this is not xenophobia. I just want to know why they would want to come here and not embrace trying to be an American.
My parents (with my brother, 4yo and me, infant in tow) came here in 1968. We settled in a Greek community in NY. They learned English. They worked hard at it. They worked at it until they moved back to Greece in 1994. They were able to communicate, written and spoken.
Maverick623 From United States of America, joined Nov 2006, 4744 posts, RR: 6 Reply 3, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 4745 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Thread starter): First of all, we should consider how such a law or Constitutional amendment should be worded.
It would have to a Constitutional amendment. Because a simple law worded as such:
Quoting DocLightning (Thread starter): No governmental institution shall be required to do business within the United States in any other language.
Would violate the Equal Protection clause of the 14th Amendment.
Quoting DocLightning (Thread starter): 4) English is the de-facto official language, anyway. Making it official isn't going to force non-English speakers to suddenly learn English.
The only people I know of that don't speak a lick of English are first-generation immigrants. Once their kids enter school, they are basically forced into learning it by their peers, with some help from ESL classes if needed.
Quoting fr8mech (Reply 2): I just want to know why they would want to come here and not embrace trying to be an American.
There are many that do still. We don't hear about them because they "fit in." I have several coworkers that are first-generation immigrants from different parts of the world, and you wouldn't know it unless they spoke to you.
Those that don't are just here for the money. As soon as the cash flow dries up, they all scurry back to wherever their family still lives.
fr8mech From United States of America, joined Sep 2005, 4238 posts, RR: 12 Reply 4, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 4735 times:
Quoting Maverick623 (Reply 3): There are many that do still. We don't hear about them because they "fit in." I have several coworkers that are first-generation immigrants from different parts of the world, and you wouldn't know it unless they spoke to you.
Those aren't the people I would be concerned about. They are probably going to learn English, they will fit in, they will contribute. They will eventually become Americans.
einsteinboricua From Puerto Rico, joined Apr 2010, 2042 posts, RR: 6 Reply 5, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 4571 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Thread starter): 4) English is the de-facto official language, anyway. Making it official isn't going to force non-English speakers to suddenly learn English.
It would also encourage minorities who speak English but are in tune with their native language to speak only the latter. Like it or not, Spanish is growing everyday in the US and it's only a matter of time before both Spanish and English are spoken evenly throughout the nation. To accept one and reject the other would have political setbacks. Better to use the position: don't push your language, I won't push mine.
"You haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky."
ajd1992 From UK - England, joined Jul 2006, 2645 posts, RR: 6 Reply 7, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 4502 times:
It'll change nothing - the UK has 1 major official language as well as protected minority languages and we still end up with signs in Urdu, Polish, Lithuanian, French, Spanish, German....
I kid you not, my local doctor has this touch screen booking in system to let them know you arrived. English is the 6th choice after Polish, Lithuanian, German, French and (I think) Urdu.
Pretty poor considering NONE of those are official languages. If anything, Welsh and Gaelic should be on there before any of those.
NIKV69 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 8, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 4490 times:
Quoting einsteinboricua (Reply 10): It would also encourage minorities who speak English but are in tune with their native language to speak only the latter. Like it or not, Spanish is growing everyday in the US and it's only a matter of time before both Spanish and English are spoken evenly throughout the nation. To accept one and reject the other would have political setbacks. Better to use the position: don't push your language, I won't push mine.
That is great but the fact remains if you cross our border and ask to become a citizen you learn the language. I am not saying you need to abandon your native one but you should be able to speak English. It's not about pushing anything.
bhill From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 841 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 4406 times:
I know...make the "Official Language" the same language the Freedom Documents are written in...simple.
Airstud From United States of America, joined Nov 2000, 1853 posts, RR: 1 Reply 11, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 4393 times:
Quoting bhill (Reply 18): I know...make the "Official Language" the same language the Freedom Documents are written in...simple.
AM744 From Mexico, joined Jun 2001, 1688 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 4370 times:
Quoting fr8mech (Reply 6): As for Puerto Rico; I would suggest a phase in over, say, a decade. They are politically aligned and part of the US. They should not claim the benefits if they won't take on the responsibility (assuming, a language law/amendment is passed). Heck, I support state-hood for PR.
Thin ice. Would turn Puerto Rico in a mini-Québec, with endless discussions about identity, history,etc. It would probably end in a Law 101 kind of thing which would ultimately hurt the economy.
lewis From Greece, joined Jul 1999, 3441 posts, RR: 5 Reply 13, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 4323 times:
In a way it is. But coming from a country with an official language I find it weird that many people in the US do not speak English and have no will to learn the language. OK, maybe Spanish is so popular that you do not have to, but I was at the DMV last week and this guy (probably from France) just walked up to the clerk and started speaking in French (HINT: Dude, this isn't France!), without even trying to explain in broken English that his English skills are bad/non-existent. He didn't even make an effort. I am all for requiring newcomers to learn English and speak the language, even at a basic level. It is not as if you will be asking them to learn and use a weird and globally irrelevant language, it's English! In most countries, and I guess it is the same in the US, you can't expect to get a good job without speaking the local language.
LAXintl From United States of America, joined May 2000, 22021 posts, RR: 51 Reply 14, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 4275 times:
This was debated here a bit back.
My opinion - No the US should not have, nor needs an official language.
If we go down the path of languages, then I would strongly argue there should be multiple official languages most particularly Spanish, and several Asian ones also.
As American becomes even more diverse culturally one can live a life without much knowledge of or use of English. Everything from media, to private and government services and documents can be had in multiple languages. Serving a diverse linguistic citizenry is a huge business and in my view is a very positive aspect of our society.
Lastly, as the planet becomes ever more connected culturally, adopting and forcing people into forms of English only policy in the US would be a huge step backwards for America and show a terrible xenophobic side.
From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California
einsteinboricua From Puerto Rico, joined Apr 2010, 2042 posts, RR: 6 Reply 15, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 4258 times:
Quoting fr8mech (Reply 6): They should not claim the benefits if they won't take on the responsibility (assuming, a language law/amendment is passed).
Quoting AM744 (Reply 21): Thin ice. Would turn Puerto Rico in a mini-Québec, with endless discussions about identity, history,etc. It would probably end in a Law 101 kind of thing which would ultimately hurt the economy.
I just read this now. English is an official language in PR, it's just that Spanish is the primary language. We learn English from K-12 and even in college there are one or two years of English...that's a lot, though I admit that few know how to speak and write it correctly.
"You haven't seen a tree until you've seen its shadow from the sky."
Asturias From Spain, joined Apr 2006, 1933 posts, RR: 17 Reply 16, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 4226 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Thread starter): Spain makes knowledge of the official language a requirement for citizenship:
"Castilian (the correct name for the language commonly known as "Spanish") is the official Spanish language of the state. All Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use it."
This is true, but perhaps Switzerland is a better example, since it essentially needed to acommodate languages from neigboring countries, much like USA. As I understand it there are therefore 4 different official languages there, German, French, Rumantch and an italian dialect.
Perhaps the USA would be wise to use English and Spanish as equally official languages, like Switzerland does. It's not that hard. Belgium does the same, has two languages offical.
Considering the amount of spanish-speakers in the USA (when I visit the US, I hardly have to use English) in Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas, New Mexico, California etc. perhaps this would be wise. Everybody wins.
KaiGywer From United States of America, joined Oct 2003, 12022 posts, RR: 43 Reply 17, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 4161 times:
Using Canada as an example...is it required for all students to learn both English and French in school? Whether you're from BC or QC...
It is no secret that Spanish (Mexican...) is here to stay. I think Spanish should be mandated in education here. I grew up in Norway where we were mandated to learn both Bokmål and Nynorsk (variations of Norwegian). Norway only has ~4.5 million people, yet they mandate two official languages, three if you include Sapmi...
LTBEWR From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 12326 posts, RR: 12 Reply 18, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 1 day 5 hours ago) and read 4155 times:
I would suggest that by custom and default, as well as the connection to our former colonial masters, English is our de facto 'official' language. The use of any other language, especially Spanish, is clearly secondary and usually due to needed accommodations to assure fairness to all, especially as to government services and courts. Even in primarly Spanish speaking Puerto Rico, a territory of the USA, English is the primary language of Federal Agencies, especially the Federal Courts, but English will have to be accomidated. Like some, I do think that some areas like voting, should only be in English, but then some might not vote (especially for Democrats), so compromises are made.
SA7700 From South Africa, joined Dec 2003, 2916 posts, RR: 20 Reply 19, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 21 hours ago) and read 3989 times:
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rwSEA From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 3014 posts, RR: 2 Reply 20, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 21 hours ago) and read 3989 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Thread starter): To some degree, I understand the frustration with people who come here, don't speak the language, won't speak the language, and demand that Americans speak to them in their native tongues.
Who demands that Americans speak to them in their native tounges? I've never had anyone demand this of me...
Quoting DocLightning (Thread starter): 4) English is the de-facto official language, anyway. Making it official isn't going to force non-English speakers to suddenly learn English.
Precisely. The biggest proponents of these sorts of laws tend to be the types that are bothered by hearing people speak Spanish or are bothered by hearing a "press 2 for Spanish" button when making a call. Everyone who speaks Spanish today will continue to speak it in the future regardless of any official law, and businesses are still going to cater to this market. In other words, on a day to day basis very little would change. Friends aren't going to start speaking to each other in English because of some law.
Quoting DocLightning (Thread starter): 1) Reduced complexity and communication issues. Ballots would only need to be distributed in one language, same for any other sort of government publicity.
To vote, one needs to be a US citizen. To be a US citizen, one must take a citizenship test in English. The only chance of a voter not speaking English would be someone who was born in the US and never learned English. I doubt there are many children who were born in the US and after 18 years do not know basic English.
Quoting Asturias (Reply 17): Perhaps the USA would be wise to use English and Spanish as equally official languages, like Switzerland does. It's not that hard. Belgium does the same, has two languages offical.
Ha, I'd love to see that. The minority of the population pushing for an "official language" would absolutely flip out if Spanish was one too. The whole reason they are pushing for it is that they fear the influence of Spanish language speakers.
AR385 From Mexico, joined Nov 2003, 4832 posts, RR: 28 Reply 21, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 21 hours ago) and read 3986 times:
I lived in Houston for many years. One of the things that struck me the most was that if I wanted to, I could spend my entire day without speaking a single word of English. Specially since in the early years, I worked with the South American divisons of my employer. Later on that changed when I started workng with the domestic divisions.
In a country like the US, founded upon and enriched by its diversity and acceptance of such diversity, establishing an official language does not make sense to me. Plus, how will you measure the English competence of those who do not have it as a native language? What criteria will be established? Who will establish said criteria?
Those who come to the US with the desire of making it their permanent home, but lacking the desire, will and work ethic to learn English are simply relegated to the fringes of American society. Living a cloistered life in their homes, forever dependent on their children and other relatives. They lead pretty lonely, unproductive lives. It is their loss, and in my experience, they are a minority among the minorities.
The whole establishing English as an official language will just generate division and hours of fruitless debates, most of which will be based on political agendas that have nothing to do with a real concern with the lingusitics side of the debate. The US is not a society that can be homogeinized, and therein lies its strength, richness and uniqueness. Can the US afford more division generated by a matter which, in my opinion is rather trivial?
Asturias From Spain, joined Apr 2006, 1933 posts, RR: 17 Reply 22, posted (2 years 7 months 1 week 19 hours ago) and read 3953 times:
Quoting rwSEA (Reply 20): Ha, I'd love to see that. The minority of the population pushing for an "official language" would absolutely flip out if Spanish was one too. The whole reason they are pushing for it is that they fear the influence of Spanish language speakers.
Ha yes I know this is not a very likely outcome! However, having covalent languages is a known practice in those countries where it is needed. Without pretending to be Nostradamus, I am fairly certain that USA will have to acommodate spanish even more in the future.
n229nw From United States of America, joined Sep 2004, 1850 posts, RR: 36 Reply 23, posted (2 years 7 months 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 3827 times:
Quoting AR385 (Reply 21):
The whole establishing English as an official language will just generate division and hours of fruitless debates, most of which will be based on political agendas that have nothing to do with a real concern with the lingusitics side of the debate. The US is not a society that can be homogeinized, and therein lies its strength, richness and uniqueness. Can the US afford more division generated by a matter which, in my opinion is rather trivial?
Quoting AR385 (Reply 21): Those who come to the US with the desire of making it their permanent home, but lacking the desire, will and work ethic to learn English are simply relegated to the fringes of American society. Living a cloistered life in their homes, forever dependent on their children and other relatives. They lead pretty lonely, unproductive lives. It is their loss, and in my experience, they are a minority among the minorities.
That's very well put too. Though there are communities (such as your own Houston example) where such people actually can and do assume that everyone around them speaks the same language. Note too that this has always been the case. There used to be communities in the Midwest where only German was spoken, etc. It's not only recently with Spanish...
Quoting Asturias (Reply 16): Belgium does the same, has two languages official.
Oh, and how's that working out for Belgium the last few years?
Which sort of goes back to the first point above: laws about official language are often (usually) not just about language, but about the relative power and control of different ethnic and cultural groups. Given how many of these groups there are in the US, I think it is good businesses don't have to worry about getting fined or arrested for hanging up their business signs in the wrong language, etc.
stratosphere From United States of America, joined Sep 2007, 1613 posts, RR: 4 Reply 24, posted (2 years 7 months 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 3819 times:
Quoting AR385 (Reply 21): The whole establishing English as an official language will just generate division and hours of fruitless debates, most of which will be based on political agendas that have nothing to do with a real concern with the lingusitics side of the debate. The US is not a society that can be homogeinized, and therein lies its strength, richness and uniqueness. Can the US afford more division generated by a matter which, in my opinion is rather trivial?
Well what is your feeling in regards to government and state employees having to work for the people? I have heard that in Miami you can go to some state and government offices to try to conduct business and you only know English but all the employees are cubans who know English but refuse to speak it. That is totally unacceptable. If you don't want to learn English fine I have no problem. But if you are going to drive on our roads our signs are in ENGLISH if you do not understand the language you are now a danger to ME and others. You don't drive you say? Fine I have no problem. I was born and raised in North New Jersey a melting pot if I ever saw one. I loved the fact you could go and get any kind of ethnic foods and experience other cultures my only problem is most business in this country is conducted in English and it would only benefit anyone coming here to learn it. I do not see why we cannot have a national language but you can speak any dialect you wish. There is a reason airline pilots all over the world are required to know and understand English in their own country they may use their language working with ATC but if you fly here you better know it.
NWA THE TRUE EVIL EMPIRE
25 DocLightning: Happens to me all the time. My medical assistant, who is monolingual, calls to confirm an appointment with one of my patient's mothers and > I hap
26 kiwiandrew: If they changed the language in the US to English would that mean that everyone there would have to update their spellchecking software to replace Ame
27 AR385: How is that totally unacceptable? Go back in time half a century. You are mixing things here. It was JFK, if I am not mistaken, that in order to scre
28 stratosphere: Are u F'g kidding me? It is unacceptable because if I need to go to a government office to conduct official business in THIS country and the employee
29 AR385: No. Cubans as long as they reach American soil have a right to work ANYWHERE. Private or government. Wether they speak English or not. So, sorry "dud
30 seb146: I have now officially been to two provinces in Canada: British Columbia and Saskatchewan. I have heard French once in 1989 on a ferry from Tsawaassen
31 NIKV69: Amen brother. We speak English here. If you want to be a citizen, learn it. If I immigrated to Germany I would learn how to say Guten Morgen!
32 photopilot: What a nonsensical argument this whole thread is. I live in Toronto Canada where over 100 different languages are spoken. There are areas of the city
33 NIKV69: Living in a international world is great but still doesn't preclulde you from learning the language of the country you asked to take you. Small price
34 photopilot: If you want to stick your head in the sand and pretend it's not already happening, fine, that's your business. But do a little reading from many othe
35 NIKV69: What does that mean? Most countries have and will always hate us because he havee something they don't have. Freedom. You outed yoursefl already it's
36 RobertNL070: Correction: Belgium has three official languages. Dutch (Flemish), French and German.
37 photopilot: Ahhhh the hubris. There are many, many, many countries in the world that have Freedom..... a lot more class, and a lot less arrogance!!!
38 Asturias: Thanks!! I love Americans. They say stuff like that. Makes me happy asturias
39 Elite: Make it official - if you want to live here, learn the language. As a non-immigrant living in the United States, I make sure that I knew English befor
40 stratosphere: Don't want to do that but if your job is paid for by my tax dollars in the state or federal government and you cannot speak english in a country wher
41 AR385: 1. I´ll bite into this, knowing full well that for my own sanity, I avoid the immigration threads here on a.net 2. Since this has nothing to do with
42 N1120A: This number is minuscule, and generally made up of elderly people who live here to be taken care of by their immigrant kids. San Francisco isn't the
43 AR385: Regarding immigration and drugs policy, pretty much, yes.
44 Aesma: I disagree about the "impractical" part. France has a lot of immigration, from French speakers and from non French speakers, but still, the only offi
45 AR385: That is debatable. If it were not impractical, you would not have those pesky riots from all those people you have in the banlieu that for all intent
46 Aesma: Those rioters speak French (as a first language, some speak Arabic as a second language). They are marginalized yes, but not because of this. Well, y
47 photopilot: That's actually kinda funny because growing up in Canada, and living in BOTH Ontario and Quebec, and going to school in both Ontario and Quebec, I di
48 AM744: He does know. Our wonderful government now grants entry to anybody holding a 1st world country visa. He could be a drug dealer from Africa or South A
49 type-rated: Do you think that LaKiesha or LaSondria even knew what language he was trying to speak? Do you think she even cared?
51 type-rated: Probably not. But when was the last time you saw an Amy or an Emily behind the counter at the DMV?
52 lewis: They actually did, I was surprised! But there was nobody in the DMV office who could speak French that day.
53 OA412: I don't think I've ever seen an African American employee at the DMV here in Salt Lake. I've only ever seen White Americans and some Latinos with the
54 type-rated: From where I am, most all civil service and government customer service positions belong to African Americans. I guess it's what part of the country y
55 Fly2HMO: This right here makes the whole issue moot, IMO. There's much more important things to worry about. Then again that's easy for me to say as I'm 100%
56 overlander: I am very confused with this language issue. Spanish is just another colonial language. So, replace English for another one? Slán Overlander
57 N1120A: That isn't true. The French are notoriously unwilling to speak the foreign languages that they are plenty fluent in (albeit with accents that native
58 Aesma: The ones that travel abroad, maybe. My previous post was very long, some might not have read it, so I will say/ask again my main point : How can a na
59 photopilot: No, the Separate School System (Roman Catholic) in both provinces. The difference is my age as I was in school in a time when the rules were differen
60 flanker: Yes, English should be the official national language. A strong national identity is key seeing multiculturalism at its worst creep up in our society
61 LAXintl: One does not need a single language to have a national identity. Matter of fact in my opinion America's national identity is built around the fact tha
62 N1120A: Actually, its the opposite. It doesn't matter to me, because I speak French. The US has clearly shown your theory to be untrue. Besides, we are talki
63 UH60FtRucker: Do you have any statistics to back this up? I'm not trying to give you a hard time... I'm honestly curious how true this statement is. I did some leg
65 UH60FtRucker: LOL... and 67% of all statistics are made up on the spot! Do you have... you know... a source!? But putting aside that glaring omission, you're sayin
66 N1120A: No. I was saying 15% never leave their state.
67 UH60FtRucker: Ohhhhh! My bad! Sorry, I'm pretty tired. Makes more sense. I guess we just have different opinions of how much "a lot" is. I think 85% of Americans t
68 N1120A: 15% have never left their state. How many times outside their state (or county, or town) the other 85% have traveled is another question. Region too.
69 ME AVN FAN: True, but while NON-Castilian Spanish like Catalun were prohibited in the times of the Caudillo, defacto language in Catalunya now is Catalun, which
70 bjorn14: You can take your Driver's License test in any one of 23 languages. I think the US is one of 3 or 4 that doesn't have an official language. If you don
71 ME AVN FAN: while many countries have more than just one official language Belgium : Flemish, French, German Switzerland : German, French, Italian, Romansh Alger
72 TheCommodore: I wish it was. When you walk into a corner shop in NY and ask for a "take away coffee" and the guy looks at you like your speaking a foreign language,
73 Quokka: For people who insist that English should be the official language, could I point out that "your" is a possessive pronoun. If you mean to say "you are
74 MD11Engineer: Germany: German, Sorbic and Danish (the last ones in regions where there are many people of these ethnic minorities). Jan
75 czbbflier: Humble apologies if this has already been brought up: Those who happen to live in Spain, such as the Basques, deeply resent the necessity to speak Sp
76 ME AVN FAN: Sorry, but your statements are confusing. You confirm that Québec, an important state of your country, is French speaking, while the other states ar
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