The United States has no official language. In spite of the proposal of several laws by the Federal legislators, the country could not declare an official language. English should be the official language of the United States as it would encourage the new migrants to learn the language of the country. The end goal of making English as the official language of the United States is to unite the Americans, while at the same time improving the lives of the native inhabitants and immigrants . The costs of accidents and reduction in productivity caused by millions of non-English speaking persons accounts to several billion dollars. The accidents include workplace accidents, fatal traffic accidents and accidents caused by medical professionals, who are unable to understand the issues of the patients or their families.
Several second generation immigrants in the United States who do not speak English encounter negative responses in the field of employment. English as an official language would provide access for immigrants and their families to enter the mainstream America and ascend the socio-economic ladder. Since the U.S government provides an opportunity for the immigrants with bilingual education in several sectors, such as government-funded schools, hospitals, police departments and many others . The provision of dual-language driver’s license exam, voting ballets, tax forms and other government applications has made it easy to survive in the United States even without the knowledge of English. According to the 2000 census, there are 21.3 million people in the United States who are “limited English proficient”, which accounts to 8 percent of the total population .
The number of people who speak foreign language is in huge numbers in the states of California, New Mexico and Texas. Native speakers of more than 350 languages reside in the United States. The country caters to people who speak French, Chinese, Arabic and Spanish. The United States is a place of shared values, but not uniqueness. English as an official language helps to rally around and create a common bond between people belonging to different language backgrounds . Though English is not the official language of the United States, the country has taken steps to serve in dozens of languages to fit the non-English speaking population of the country. The immigrants were eager to learn English in the past as it would help them assimilate in the mainstream American society. However, the failure of the government to make English as the official language of the United States has eliminated the need for the immigrants to learn English.
In order to unite people, understand each other and work together, it is important to have an official language for the United States. In the case of the United States, English should be the official language as the fundamental law of the country, the Constitution, and the declaration of independence adopted English as the language. A common language results in a healthy exchange of views to refine the arguments of people. By now, 31 states declared English as their official language. According to the Rasmussen Reports survey conducted in May 2010, 87 percent of the Americans expressed their will that English should be the official language . English as the official language saves millions of dollars for the United States as it avoids costs and conflicts faced by other nations such as Canada and several countries of the European Union, which conduct business in more than one language. Thus, English as an official language will benefit all the groups of people who reside in the United States.
Works Cited
Baron, Dennis E. The English-Only Question: An Official Language for Americans? Yale University Press, 2012.
Ledru, Raymond and John Chandler. Civilization of the United States. Editions Breal, 2007.
Valle, Sandra Del. Language Rights and the Law in the United States: Finding Our Voices. Multilingual Matters, 2003.
