DateYour name Course name Abstract for Research Project Oct 18, 2014
Abstract
The United States of America currently does not have an official language. Nevertheless, many advocates are vouching for the officialization of English in a federal level. This would mean that border states will not be able to make their immigrants more welcome. A Constitutional amendment is being fought over and over, and legislator have tried to pass this project through every official channel, but it hasn't been successful so far. Children of immigration would suffer even more because officializing English would mean the end of bilingual education programs, as well as difficulties businesses, federal services and other entities. Once America accepts multilingualism, like Canada or Switzerland, it will increase the tolerance and success rates in marginalized sectors of society. A multilingual America is the answer, instead of a unilingual country.
Hola, ¿Cómo estás? 你好. Yá'át'ééh. Bonjou, Konmen lé-zafè?
The first approach we ever do to another human being is by a simple phrase that acknowledges the existence of others: ‘Hello.’ In the United States only there are, approximately, 337 ways of saying ‘Hello.’ The phrases above are greetings in Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Navajo, and Creole. Many languages have been spoken in the US throughout its history, starting with Spanish, currently spoken by more than 35 million people, Chinese languages (Yue, Cantonese and Mandarin dialects), Tagalog, with 1.5 millions speakers; French, with 1.3 million people; and the 176 indigenous languages, with different structures, ways of thinking and perceptions of the world.
Each language spoken shows the wonderful multilingualism that has made America what it is since the Mayflower first arrive in North American soil: A nation of immigrants, wanting to work hard to become a better version of themselves, and giving their descendants a worthwhile future. Language and identity are things that usually go together. The language that you speak from the moment you start making sense of the world will define how you'll think about it. Meaning, our native language is the key to understanding what is going on within us and around us. If I'm born in a Spanish speaking family, I will have a certain chain of thoughts that a person born in a Navajo speaking family will not have. Neither is better than the other, but it is a reminder that United States is country unlike many others, and because of that particular nature, the language identity must be treated differently as in England or Togo. The problem arrives when our identity is rejected by society, telling us that the way we see the world is wrong. Language shaming can be transformed into low self-esteem, identity crisis, and it can even lead to language extintion like it happened with, at least, 52 indigenous languages in America. Finegan and Rickford approach the identity rejection and language thesis this way: "The thesis is that our identity is partly shaped by recognition or its absence, often by the recognition of others, and so a person or a group of people can suffer real damage, real distortion, if the people or society around them mirror back to them a confining or demeaning or contemptible picture of themselves." (Finegan and Rickford, 302). Identity shaming has damaged entire population groups, which in the end only harms the country itself.
1. 'Official' Languages in The US
Federally, the United States of America does not have the official language, even though English is the most commonly language used, spoken by at least 80% of the population –this number includes native and non-native English speakers–. There are certain states with more linguistic variety than others, having to force themselves to make federal documents in English and the other language, which usually is Spanish. Actually, USA is the fifth country with the largest Spanish-speaking population, after Mexico, Spain, Colombia and Argentina.
Native American languages are spoken in small portions of the nation. Sadly, these populations are decreasing, causing the languages not to be widely used outside of Indigenous reservations. Hawaiian, although having less native speakers than many indigenous languages, is an official language along with English in Hawaii, at the state level. The government of Louisiana provides services and official documents in French, as does New Mexico in Spanish. In addition to English, Spanish, French, German, Navajo and other Native American languages, all other languages are commonly learned from immigrant ancestors that came after the time of Independence or learned through education of some sorts.
3. The Political Struggle
Multilingualism isn't seen with keen eyes by many political actors. Since the purchase of Louisiana from the France by the United States in 1807, a sort of English-only political movement was born. Each time a state was adhered to the nation, especially if they were dominated by France or Spain, one of the conditions made by the US was to adopt English as an official language, although it never surpassed beyond individual state legislation.
However, modern day movement started around the 1980s, at the height of an immigration wave from Latin America and the West Indies. Several state governments have voted on having English as the official language of the state, some of them making the language official next to the second or third most spoken languages in the area, like Hawaii, Alaska, and Puerto Rico. At least 28 states run in an English-only policy in official documents, signs, and other important affairs.
Nevertheless, there is a there have been several attempts to introduce a Constitutional amendment which would make English the official language of the US, but the efforts so far haven't been successful to this day. What would be the implications of an English-only nation? The Gale Encyclopedia of American Law, in one of the several entries it has about the subject of language officially, it states that:
Some versions of the proposed English Language Amendment would void almost all state and federal laws that require the government to provide services in languages other than English. The services affected would include health, education and social welfare services, () English-only laws apply primarily to government programs. However, such laws can also affect private businesses. ("English-Only Laws”, 175)
The quotation above indicates that an amendment of that nature would compromise health, safety, but businesses alike. Take for instance any Chinatown in the US: Because of the area and the population density of such neighborhoods, they would be obliged to deliver services exclusively in English, when a great part of the inhabitants of any Chinatown across the nation has a precarious knowledge of English, especially first-generation immigrants and older people.
However, people in favor of the official English proposal state that making the language official would be only filling in paperwork of something already happening. Many representatives also cling into a sense of heritage and patriotism, by saying that English would only unite the nation, making it stronger, and saving millions of dollars worth of interpreters, paperwork and printed electoral material.
4. Bilingual/Multilingual Education Programs
One of the flagship issues of English as an official language is bilingual education. There have been several cases where it is demonstrated that immigrant children exposed to bilingual education do better in school than those who are immersed in an English-exclusive environment. Immigrant children in non-bilingual schools usually struggle with their grades, which lowers their self-esteem, affects on how they perceive themselves and their future prospects. How can a ten-year-old child, who just arrived from El Salvador, read at a 4th grade English level, when he can't even introduce himself properly? When you speak to a child in their native tongue, it will engage with the content of the class. Kenneth Jost did a extensive research on bilingual education and how it affects immigrants versus what is called 'English immersion', a technique that says that a language will be learned better if you speak only in that language from day one, in this case, English. In border states, English immersion seems downright exclusionary, as Jost states in "Bilingual Education vs. English Immersion":
Supporters insist that a bilingual education is the best way to ensure long-term educational achievement for English-language learners. “We have gone backwards on educating non-English speakers,” says José Ruiz-Escalante, a professor of bilingual education at the University of Texas-Pan American in Edinburg and president of the National Association for Bilingual Education. English-only proponents, he says, are “in such a hurry for students to speak English that we're not paying attention to their cognitive development.” (Jost, 1029-1052)
The key in the above statement is cognitive development. It is simple math: If you have a child trying to process a new language and content from each subject, it will have a negative effect on him or her. It creates an unnecessary stress that will affect the cognitive development. If a child does not feel comfortable in school, it will find distractions in other sources. Criminal rates would go down if the US Educational System paid attention to these issues, not only present in the Hispanic community, but also in the African American and Asian communities. If you shun an entire group conformed by millions of people, society will suffer the consequences.
5. Examples in other parts of the world
One of the constant fears of having more than one official language is that the nation will lose its identity. But that doesn't seem like the case in many developed countries. For example, Canada is an example of a multilingual country working to heighten all the languages spoken in the territory. English is the official language at a federate level, but so is French. In certain provinces there is a language-exclusive policy, like Québéc, which declared itself unilingual (French), and Alberta (English). Even though local language policies exist, every official communication and federal government business must be conducted in both languages, as well as providing services, even at lower governmental offices and departments.
Another country with multilingualism is Switzerland, which has three official languages: French, Italian, and German. Within the Swiss Confederation, the official language will be the most widely spoken in the area, i.e., in the 17 cantons of German-speaking Switzerland, German is the official language. German is the most widely spoken language, but there is a considerable portion of the population that speaks French (21%) and Italian (7%).
In Spain, even though the federal national language is Spanish, regions like Catalonia and Basque Country hold bilingual policies within their territories. In the United Kingdom, where English is the official language, countries like Wales and Northern Ireland have bilingual policies in all the local government communications and affairs.
6. Nationalism vs Language
In Spain happened something that might happen to the US if they begin to demonize the other languages spoken within a region: During the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, Spanish nationalism was at its highest point, imposed by the government. Patriotism became a language police, literally speaking. In Catalonia, where the population didn't speak Spanish but Catalan, Francoist dictatorship imposed a ban on using Catalan, which meant that people speaking their language at their own region could go to prison because they spoke in their native tongue on the street. After the transition to democracy, in 1978, the ban was lifted, but it started a reverse nationalism, meaning that people up to this day who speak Spanish to a Catalonian will not be well received.
Nationalism prides itself with heightened accomplishments that can lift the country’s self-esteem, but it can affect their own population, creating a distorted image of a nation. If English gets acknowledged as an official language, because 'it unites America as a nation', maybe America isn't embracing [acknowledged [acknowledged elf in its entirety. An article in the New York Times about a bill that Senator Steve King of Iowa tried to pass in the House of representatives expresses the idea better, stating that most English-only campaigns fall into plain xenophobia:
What such statements overlook is that English is already our unifying language, that it has been throughout our distinctly messy, multilingual history, and that few in this country understand the value of English more clearly than recent immigrants themselves. They also ignore the ugly message sent by English-only campaigns, which hark back to a bygone era of cultural anxiety spawned by the arrival of newcomers. ("Mr. King’s English-Only Bill.", 2012)
Immigrants don't deny the importance of speaking English. In fact, every second-generation immigration child is either bilingual or unilingual, speaking English as a mother tongue. But the fact that there is a law that imposes a language –that, by the way, isn't some dark and forgotten language– seems discriminatory.
7. Should English Be The Official Language?
English is the world's lingua franca by default. No matter where you go around the world, people know at least how to say ‘Hello.’ When an English speaking person travels to a non-English speaking country, they are usually greeted with an aknowledgment of existence, the 'hello', the first communication possible. Why shouldn't America be wide opened about its diversity and the contrasts that many migrants have brought to the nation? Why do we expect to be greeted in English everywhere, but we cannot utter a simple 'Hola'?
When America starts to get rid of that crazy, almost pastiche nationalism, we will begin to progress truly as a community, as a whole. We cannot keep on shunning every single person that comes into this country and force them to leave everything they are behind. Yes, 'In Rome, do what Romans do', but language is identity, is a way of seeing the world. A child of immigration already has it tough, and many times it has to hide how he really is, because of narrow mindedness that can be fixed with education and patience.
When we accept that another version of the United States exists, we will probably discover a new way of sensing the Universe and other fellow human beings. Getting to know other cultures, and accepting the mixture that has made us what we are is truly American. Leave the patriotism for a Baseball game or the World Cup. In the day to day life, we can deal with eating tacos, eating noodles or a chicken tandoori, let's learn another language. Maybe an immigrant will remember you forever.
Reference list
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"English-Only Laws." Gale Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Donna Batten. 3rd ed. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale, 2010. 175-178
"Mr. King’s English-Only Bill." The New York Times. The New York Times, 9 Aug. 2012. Web. 18 Oct. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/10/opinion/representative-kings-english-only-bill.html>.
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