Speak English!

The Democrats disagreed with an approved Republican amendment declaring English as the Nation’s language, by passing their own amendment stating only that English is the "common and unifying" language of the country. The senators are mealy-mouth even about openly declaring their pride in our Nation, its laws, and language.

What nation and whose citizens are these elected officials representing? Certainly not America!

I'm sorry, are we afraid people are going to stop speaking English? I can see how people might think that the language is on its way out. I mean, it's not like there were ever any great literary classics written in English . . . I'm sure the language of Bronte and Austen and Hemingway and Shakespeare is never going to last.

Perhaps if they make english a national language they could finally have some reason to funnel more money towards our schools. After all, a lot of the people who were born and raised in the US have poor command of the language also. Possible bright side?

To placate everyone and no one I believe we should drop English completely and make either Esperanto or Mandarin Chinese the official language of the United States. Oh and by the way we should also convert to the metric system to conform with international standards and improve our global competitiveness. That way when we're paying for gas by the liter it wont seem so expensive. I'd read that standardizing to the metric system was originally brought up in congress when Washington was president. Maybe congress will actually pass a useful bill someday. We should amend the constitution to make this into law as well as make English the offical language and ban gays marriages and flag burning.

It is sad that this even needs to be voted on, and even sadder that several American representatives would not vote to make english the Official National Language. If you want to live here, learn english. If you want to live in Japan, learn japanese. Germany, learn German.... you are not expressing yourselves by not learning the official language of the country you are living in. Express yourself in the way you dress, or what foods you eat, or how you celebrate holidays.....but learn that nations language.

YES, English should be the official language and I will tell you why. Four years ago, a friend was searching for a job. She met all the qualifications for computer skills and knowledge of the position. However she didn't apply for the job. When I asked why, she said the job requirement also included "spanish speaking".

Now there was nothing in the job description or interaction that would have required her to speak Spanish. So to prevent discrimination against native born Americans who are not bi-lingual, we need to make sure that a job truly requires someone to speak a foreign tongue as opposed to it being used as a form of discrimination.

What do you call a person who speaks three languages? (Trilingual)

What do you call a person who speaks two languages? (Bilingual)

What do you call a person who speaks one language? (American)

You were surprised, Mr James, that the English-only amendment passed but you shouldn't have been. This whole immigration issue is bringing out the barely repressed racism that still abounds in this country. People who want to lock up all those awful brown Mexican people who don't even speak our language say it's because they are breaking the law or taking our jobs, but those are not the real reasons. If you doubt that go back and look at those photos that you (I believe) posted when the Minutemen recently rallied in Washington D.C. That there were Aryan Nations skin-heads in attendance should have surprised no one. They are like the visable part of the iceberg -- the rest is below the surface and four times as big.

The world has some huge challenges ahead. An era of diminishing resources is staring us right in the face. It may be another misguided Bush war in the Middle East that punches us in the gut by causing a collapse of the world oil supply, or maybe we can piss off Central or South America a little bit more, or maybe the Chinese will decide that they don't care to finance our boozy spending spree any longer or maybe another Katrina-sized storm will do it. Maybe the people who see terrorists under every bed will be proved right. The list of possible disasters is practically endless. Sooner or later, though, we're going to have to pay the piper. Sooner or later we're going to have to realize that we're all on Spaceship Earth together and learn to get along. Otherwise, chaos and societal collapse can soon follow. That would really mess up the neighborhood.

Frank,

If you remember another scene from "Do the Right Thing" there was a quickly moving rotating montage featuring each main character in the movie, each hurling some type of vile racial epithet. It was as if each had his unspoken prejudice aired out for viewing in all its appropriate ugliness. There’s slim hope that Republicans in the senate and the house would ever be that honest with their own bigotry.

If we make English the official language then I would like a certificate program for it. If a person cannot provide a certificate that they can speak English then they will not get equal pay. And this would mean many Americans including myself would be taking a pay reduction!

NOTE to Univision. Would you PLEASE get something like SAP for those of us who do not speak spanish so we can watch your fabulous line up on TV?!

This should've been done years ago. This is and has been an English-speaking nation.

There is nothing racist about this bill either. No more than the French or the Japanese or any other sovereign nation expecting people living & working there to know their language.

I feel that this nation has been bending over backwards too far (and for far too long) for 1 language group at the expense of so many other immigrants from countries that don't have English as their mother tongue.

By intentionally insulting and alienating the nation's growing minority population, the Senate's majority party has ensured that -- like Radio Raheem -- in the end, it will be choked out of power.

Securing the border was the first step in the right direction, although more needs to be done and it needs to be more than just mirrors and smoke like before. This is an important and long needed second step. Not only will it save us lots of money, it will also give the message "in America.....Speak English!"

As a U.S. citizen who speaks many languages, including English, it is ridiculous that the Senate is attempting to pass a bill where it makes English the official language. Everyone knows that if they want to be successful in the U.S., you have to speak English. However, this country has many languages since it is home to many immigrants, not only from Mexico, but also from Poland, Italy, China, Korea, Ghana, Nigeria, etc., where they don't only speak English.
The problem with this country is that we emphasize the importance of speaking English, but we're are so caught up with that issue and forget that in order for the United States to be successful in the global economy, we need to speak other languages.
As a world language teacher, this bill will be detrimental not only to Americans, but also to our future, our children. If we pass this bill, no one will be willing to learn another language because we are only emphasizing English. Then we wonder why our children are so far behind academically when compared to other children from developed countries... they can only communicate in one language.

Finally, the U.S. Senate has passed a measure to make English the national language of the United States. Shame on our two Illinois Senators for having voted against the measure. Our founding fathers never dreamed of including such a measure in our Constitution simply because they were all English speaking and erroneously concluded that our nation would never use any language other than English as a common language.

What has unfortunately been missing in the debate is the simple historical fact that nothing binds a nation’s people together more than a common national language. We have only to look to our northern neighbors in Canada to realize how divisive two official languages can become. While it was the immigration debate that brought the issue of a national language into focus, let us not miss the opportunity to finally institutionalize the English language as our national, if not official, language. The U.S. House of Representatives should waste no time in approving a similar measure and sending it to the White House for the President’s signature.

Your reporting on the illegal immigration issue is a joke. I suppose your job is safe no matter how many illegals are given citizenship because they can't write in English but that's not the case for millions of other American's who have or will lose jobs due to the flood of cheap labor. I suppose your retort would be something along the lines of "they perform jobs Ameircan's won't do". Another joke considering there are many instances where wages in certain industries have decreased dramatically as a result of cheap, illegal labor but I challenge you to find one industry where wages have gone up due to illegal immigration.

Every nation in the World has right to have its own language, any guest to the country needs to abide with the country's language, otherwise why should a nation change its course for a guest ?
USA is an English speaking country, why favor any foreign language to replace or have equal value with the country peoples' language ?
ENGLISH NEEDS TO BE A USA LANGUAGE.

I think it is good to speak Spanish as well as English, however, it is the burden of the immigrants to learn English if comming here to live.
MWEBB/Memphis, TN

I am foreigner just like many other people. I came to US in 1991 and I went to school (ESL) to learn English so I can communicate with others using language that should be official for this country.
Buy giving opportunity to Spanish speaking people (as a majority) to use their language, US officials are discriminating other nationalities.
This is America and everyone should learn to speak English. There should be no compromise,
TAKE IT OR LIVE IT.

I feel that as the country becomes more and more multi-cultural, we will be in need of a unifying factor, a bridge that will cross the many divides of culture. The English language may be just that bridge.

After having lived for 14 years in Miami with its Anglo, Caribbean, and Hispanic cultures, I have come to appreciate something that unifies, and that something is the English language. In fact, English often serves as the only bridge that the cultures use with which to cross the divides existing in this city.

Perhaps that may one day be the case in this country.

I agree because we are the United States of America. Immigrants should learn english not the other way around. Just like the saying, When in Rome do as the Romans do. If I want to live in Mexico then I will learn Spanish.

English should have been designated the national language of the United States decades ago. About time!

I'm not opposed to immigrants to this country having some services available to them, by law, in their native languages. What I am opposed to is continuing to provide those services in a manner that does not promote their assimilation into American culture.

The example that I find most instructive is Canada. Because of Quebec, every government document has to be double normal size because it has to be issued in French and English. This also impacts businesses that operate in Quebec. This is a huge burden on government and business in order to cater to a segment of society that should have been assimilated into Canada many years ago.

What concerns me is that when the Hispanic populations of certain states reach a majority as is projected, those states may be forced to become bilingual. This country has historically been English-speaking and assimilation into American culture has forced immigrants to learn English in order to move beyond the ethnic enclaves and join mainstream America.

The political correctness movements that seem to value separateness over assimilation endanger this country. Rather than the melting pot of cultures and history, we run the risk of becoming a nation of colonies of other nations, for all intents and purposes. I believe that we can retain and value the cultures from which we have all come, while also melding those cultures into a uniquely American culture. My ancestors came from Ireland, Germany, and France. I can celebrate that heritage while also identifying myself as an American -- not an Irish-American, German-American, or French-American -- but an American. As Americans we can equally celebrate St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo. We can eat Sauerbraten or gyros or spring rolls or sushi. The wonder of this country is the many cultures from which we come -- and the many things that immigrants have brought with them. But to be truly unified as a nation, we must have a common language.

I am offended when businesses force me to press 1 for english (asking me in english) when I make a phone call. Many times I refuse to do business with that company. Why should I be forced to do this for a minority population. It's easier to say in spanish to press uno for spanish speakers.

English should be the national language for American and all should speak it. If we were to go to Mexico, Russia, or Japan we would have to speak their languages. Unites States was not built on immigrants, it was built on commmunication and laws. And without communication and laws, where would we be? You want to come here, do it legally and adapt to our ways and one of those ways is SPEAKING ENGLISH!

An official language for this country is long, long overdue. I get sick to my stomach when I see national election ballots in different languages. If the voters can't understand English, how the heck do they know what's going on with the candidates? And if there are 16K immigrants on a wait list for FREE English instruction in Sen. Ted Kennedy's home town, what a glorious opportunity for him and his family -- why don't they use their vast personal fortunes to finance the classes themselves? And, it is an affront and an abomination for legislators to speak anything other than English when conducting the people's business.

I strongly believe that ballots and other election material should be in English only. Citizens should be able to comprehend English well enough to vote. Suggesting otherwise is a slap in the face to those who struggled to learn the language of their new country. Besides, just try requesting an English ballot in France or Mexico.

I have to sit and wonder what our ancestors mught think. To imagine they had to learn english and our history before they could become citizens of our country. Why that would be unthinkable today. Someone might be offended.Well in a couple of words to bad. We should hold immigrants today to the same if not higher standards our fatthers mothers and grand parents were held to. to say that it is okay to sneak accross the border get a job with illeagle social security cards and then cry foul when no one wants to give you any rights. To bad. You are here illeagly you have no rights and if you dont like it leave. I`m sorry I have this thing abouth people who dont want to learn or even try. If you cannot give the effort To Bad leave. If this offends some people to bad. This is how I feel and I`m Sure thyere are those of you who feel differently but it all comes down to pride for our country. If you have entered illeagaly you are a criminal you have no rights so stop the protests and get on with the every day buisness of becoming an americn citizen.

Well Mike, you may want to find yourself a nice secluded place in the forest and live off the land b/c there are alot of businesses out there that ask you to "press 1 for English".

I enjoyed reading everyone's comments, for the most part, and would like to ad my own. Isn't literacy just as important to the advancement of your career as speaking English? Hence, if English gets you further in this country and therefore further in life, why does a bill need to be passed? Because this debate is a bunch of hot air simply trying to insight unwitting Americans into a rally behind "Blind Patriotism." Does any American believe that pressing "one for English" on a telephone is all that insulting? Are we that arrogant? Or are these the same people that trip over the word, "Gracias," when a bus boy clears your table?

Don't follow like sheep, and don't worry, none of the 'barbarians at the gates' are going to take your high paying job if they don't speak English. But for you Patriotic blue blooded American landscapers...look out!!!

We are a mixed couple, so to speak, one of us has an English-speaking family while the other does not...it's a pain not being able to speak to most of her family - so I avoid them - why should I sit around for hours where nobody is speaking English? When they call the city my taxes go to pay interpreters on a Language Line to speak for them - what a waste - they can't even call 911 on their own. I'm a goner if I ever choke at their place!

To Bill Witt: I hope that was sarcasm. If not, you are in dire need of some remedial English classes. P.S. It's ILLEGAL not ILLEAGLE. We're not talking about a sick bird here.

You know what else I'm really sick of? Making voting accessible for those who have disabilities or are blind. If they need modifications to allow them to vote, then they shouldn't be allowed to do so.

While we're at it, I sure do miss poll taxes and literacy tests. They managed to marginalize the African-American population for years!

America's strength comes from its commitment to equality for all, not from laws intentionally designed to discriminate. English-only laws will affect not just those who speak Spanish (though that seems largely to be the point); it will harm Polish grannies, Sudanese refugees, and other groups just as a much. English-only laws will do a lot to make a certain segment of the population feel good about themselves, whilst making day to day activities more difficult for immigrants struggling to learn English.

I’ll say this, though, when we do get back to the glory days of limited access and poll taxes, some of us had better hope there’s not a spelling test.

Does this mean that George W. Bush will be required to learn how to speak proper English? I think that this amendment declaring English our national language is a waste of time. There is no question that English is the dominant language in this country. It's the lingua franca of the world (at least it is for now). What this amendment demonstrates is the xenophobic nature of many backwards Americans. These are the same Americans that support the invasion of Iraq and demonize Latin American immigrants, yet couldn't find Iraq or even Mexico on a map.

The person who said a person who speaks two languages is "bilingual" is incorrect. Few people are truly bilingual, that is "able to use two languages with nearly equal fluency." Many people speak a native language and are fluent ("able to express oneself readily and effortlessly") in another.

And yes, I agree this is a minor point before you flame me about it.

If the "you're in our country, you should speak our language" were truly the case, we would all be speaking Navajo, and Ojibwa, and Sioux. . .

I am pleased that English has been named the national language. Immigrants are welcome in this country but should not expect the nation to provide services in their language. If you expect to belong, then learning the language is part of that belonging. Multiple languages in a country is a sure fire way to develop other problems both social and political. It acts to divide people, not unify them.

Learn it. Live it. Like it....or leave it. There are plenty of other people waiting in line, who are willing to learn English, if given the chance to live here (legally, of course!!).

What makes me sad is that many of those who do put forth the effort to learn English do so because it is a necessary evil--"you need to know English to get a good job here"--not because it's part and parcel of becoming and being an American.

I think establishing a national language is an unnecessary waste of Senate time. However, I do hope the law will create a squad of ruthless Grammar Cops, writing tickets to those who cannot speak English properly! Most of the people I've met (or read in blogs like this) who support English-only laws can't spell and have only a shaky grasp of grammar and punctuation. (From Bill Witt, above: "to say that it is okay to sneak accross the border get a job with illeagle social security cards and then cry foul when no one wants to give you any rights. To bad." Sir, speak English!)

Anyone who believes our government should bother creating English-only laws or "official languages" had better know the difference between "to" and "too" or "its" and "it's." Perhaps we could institute tax breaks for those who can demonstrate the proper use of apostrophes and semicolons! And maybe we could finally impeach George W. Bush! The Grammar Cops could haul him away for his repeated crimes against our beloved national language.

Based on these postings so far, it looks like many self-proclaimed native English speakers are in need of English lessons themselves.

Learn how to spell and communicate properly in your first language before you demand that of others as their second language.

...and we wonder why the U.S. ranks so low in basic education when compared to other industrialized nations....

By the way, are we asking that "English" be the official language or that "American" be the official language, because there are many who would argue that Americans don't even speak English properly to begin with.

A lot of very articulate folks out there on both side of the issue.

Keep it simple:
This is the USA if you want to live here learn the language. If you don't want to learn the language just visit, spend some time & money & Go Home! Don't stay and demand your ballots & documents in one of a thousand languages.

So far, the only tangible benefit anyone on this page has suggested from making English the so-called "national language" is that they won't have to press an additional button when calling the cable company.

To those people, I say: you are either the laziest people on the planet, or the most easily offended people on the planet.

This phony debate, as well as the phony immigration debate, is barely veiled racism.

English is the predominant language in this country by the accident of history. We're a made-up country with a mixed-race, mixed-nationality heritage. The fact that we would now try to define ourselves in such an exclusionary way is an embarrassment.

Oh, and one other thing. It strikes me that the people who want English as the national language the most are the ones who are the least able to speak and write it properly. I'm looking in your direction here, Mr. President.

My family came to the US from Mexico 43 years ago, when my parents made the decision to come here they purchased LP's that taught Enlish. Before they even came they already had the basics. Once here, English was the only language spoken at home. They had to learn English in order to communicate with school, work and medical personnel. They knew it was the only way to get ahead. I hate receiving junk mail and telemarketing calls in Spanish because people assume that, because of my surname, I don't speak English. All immigrants no matter where they are from, should learn English.

This is just one more way to distract the public from real issues that have a real impact on our lives.

It has been said that every action is essentially motivated by love or by fear. My question for people who want English to be the national laguage is: What are you afraid of? Because this exclusionary amendment is definitely not motivated by love. And if you have ever been in another country, you know that most countries have several signs posted in English with many citizens who have learned English. I wonder if they are as bitter as the people who are so infuriated that they have to press "1" when calling some institution. How sad is it that we are a society that has become offended by having to press a button???

If English is the official language, what are the elders who live on various Native American reservations to do - they only speak their respective language. I have several friends whose parents only speak Navajo - will that still be allowed? Perhaps we should all learn one of the real native languages of our land!
And, by the way, on the Navajo reservation they've been singing The Star Spangled Banner in Navajo for years.

I agree 100% with the writers expressing support for English as the national language; it should indeed help unify us as a nation and help us understand each other better. Nearly 100 years ago, my grandparents emigrated here from Poland. As with the Latin population now, Poles in those days made up a large percentage of immigrants, yet they wanted — and expected — to learn English. Same with many other immigrants from many other places who've emigrated here either now or in the past. The U.S. is a patchwork of many different cultures, but i think a common language will be the thread that can pull us all together.

To Juliepie:
I believe the point, at least mine, is that Congress does not need to rally behind a law everytime something scares people (ie gay marriage). Us regular folks can handle some things on our own without the government's helping hand. By the way, Mexicans are Americans too. North Americans to be exact.

No hablo engles, solomente espanol.

Turban Durban and Osama Obama can't even vote to chose English as our National Language?

Keep voting those morons in, Illnois voters, and your grand children will be speaking Spanish.

"The political correctness movements that seem to value separateness over assimilation endanger this country."

Patrick,

Who is being politically correct?

Are you really saying that introducing English Only legislation is not politically correct from your stand point?

Press "1" for English. Press "2" for some new Illinois senators.

Wow! look at what this immigration bill is doing to this country. Do Americans feel that threatned by immigrants that now they have to change the way this country has been running all these years. Are they so afraid that they may become the minority in this country?

Let me just tell you from an immigrants point of view. WE ALL know that if you want to get anywhere in this country you have to speak English that is no news to us immigrants. An 'American' tourist is not expected to know spanish when visiting Mexico, but an 'American' wanting to live in Mexico would want to learn the language wouldn't they???? so what's the difference here?
I feel that the recent marches and protests have really put a fear into the 'American' people. We immigrants don't want anything else but to live here and work and raise our families and enjoy the same things that you 'Americans' do. We want the same thing you want. To be able to afford to feed and cloth your family and send them to school and watch them get married and raise their children. We want to live the American Dream!

I just have one question that is puzzling me
why now??? why is this happening now? the problem with immigration is nothing new. Theres' been movies made about it, it happens every day for years and years and yet now all of a sudden 'Houston we got a problem'.

I work in Seattle, but I communicate with lots of people every day who live at the other end of a network connection, and I have to tell you that I have more daily contact with people who use English as a second or third language than I do with people who just speak English and live near me. Using the border of your country to draw a line in the sand in this day and age has consequences. The more xenophobic this country becomes, people of other countries will find more reasons to deal with us less. I don't think emulating France's staunch defense of French is a good idea, and I wonder if we're now going to have to define to a degree acceptable to any court of law, what that language is, to put some teeth into the law.

Brilliant! The Far East is whipping our butts both economy-wise and education-wise, our nation's stature is toast even in once-friendly South America, we have the highest infant mortality rate among all so-called First World countries, the poorest villages in Korea have better internet access than do many of our major cities, and despite an allegedly healthy economy the high costs of health care, schooling, and fuel, coupled with declining real wages among the middle class, is driving down our standard of living. So, what does the Senate do? - why, it spends its valuable legislative time beating back the REAL threats to our country; Gay Marriages and non-English languages. God, is it just me, or does anyone else feel like these are signs that the end-times are near?

Mr. James,

Thank you for raising this subject. The poor grammar, spelling and language skills of the English Only crowd never fails to amuse me.

-- S.C.A.M.

i thought it was unique for america to be the only nation without an official language. oh well, maybe we are not really the good samaratins we claim to be.

This is grandstanding pure and simple.I am fed up with the selfrighteousness and self centerness of the people we have elected to govern us

Let's face it folks, desperate times calls for desperate measures. Although we all know that English is the official language here, our corporations, government/state facilities and educational institutions in most major cities still must post signs, send business letters and create voice mail messages which include Spanish. All at the consumers' expense. Why, because most Hispanics legal and illegal refuse to or don't care enough to learn to speak English. Every other immigrant has learned the language, why can't Hispanics. The illegals that have jobs in hotels, fast food restaurants and grocery stores can't answer a question, if asked and on top of that, they look at you like you're speaking a foriegn language and you are. That's ridiculous!

It's embarassing to you and them when you constantly say, "I don't understand or please repeat that again." U.S. is a great nation and I'm proud to be a citizen and to the legal immigrants, if you're proud also then learn the language.

This immigration situation is getting old and tired. We are Americans and we speak English!

I don't think that there's anything wrong to have an "official national" language. Other countries have national languages, but its government and people also recognize diversity in its population. Most Asian countries recognize the value of speaking more than one language.

The tragedy in the US is that a large percentage of its population, immigrants (legal or otherwise) do not have a strong command of the 'national language'. How is this being addressed? By slashing public school funding?

This is a non-issue. English has always been the dominant language used in government. This is merely lip service to that fact. Why not focus on some REAL problems for once?

This has nothing to do with racism or being good samaritans, it has to do with how we conduct business and education in our nation. Almost everyone of us has our family origins in another country that does NOT speak English, yet our families came here and learned to speak English. If you want the benefits of our nation, put some effort into it and BECOME A PART OF OUR NATION. We speak English here, and it is unfair to help one group over others for any reason--that is prejudice. We do a disservice to those we allow to get by without the real skills that would make their lives better, and I believe a lot of Democrats want to keep this group on their side with these types of issues but don't want to truly help them live the American Dream they claim to be coming here for. It seems a little strange to me to be putting so many dollars into helping a largely illegal group do well here--they are not undocumented, they are illegal immigrants. A lot of talk has been made that many of them have been here for thirty years--why then did they not take advantage of previous amnesty programs? America cannot continue to allow to take everyone from everywhere that decides they like what we have here, but do not want to follow the laws to live here. If a person is not trustworthy with a small amount, they are not trustworthy with a larger amount. If they do not want to follow the laws to come here, they will have no respect for the laws once they are here. We are an English speaking nation, let's stop wasting dollars that could be spent better elsewhere on doing everything in two languages, forcing schools to educate children that are not recognized as legal citizens or visitors, paying for ESL classes in schools. Let us spend the money on helping those who have a right to be here speak our language, learn our laws, learn our history, and follow their dreams.

I can't believe my fellow citizens are so uninformed and unthinking. One fellow claims the Founders left an offical language out of the Constitution because they all spoke English and couldn't conceive of anything else. But that's simply not true! The Founders did consider choosing an official language, but they couldn't agree--so that's why they left it out of the Consitution. By the way, one of the leading candidates was French! A lot of people in the Colonies did not speak English, including a large number of German immigrants, the native Americans, and all those slaves.

Then there's the woman who says that if Americans were to go to Japan or Russia or Mexico, we'd have to learn to speak their language. Again, that's simply not so. Many English-speaking Americans go to these countries all the time to visit and work and even live, and they get by quite nicely with just English. If they stay long enough, eventually they learn the native language, which is what has happened and will continue to happen with immigrants who come to this country. We don't need any law to make it happen--except perhaps to allow native-born citizens feel good about being monolingual.

Why am I not surprised; Sen. Inhofe (R-OK!, the Foghorn Leghorn of the Senate!) is the same guy who expressed outrage at the discloser of torture at our black site hell holes around the world. Not the torture, but the fact the knowledge was made available to the American public.

"Ignorance is Strength", right?

Now he, and many others, are demagoging the language issues. No surprise here.

By his logic (?) none of us English speakers should be allowed to read any book translated from a foreign language. Why should we be able to read and understand Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, or Solzhenitsyn unless we master the Russian tongue ourselves?

After all, these foreign languages and authors may be contaminating our purity with dangerous ideas and notions , and think of the duplication of effort, producing Russian, French, Spanish, English, and many other language versions of the great literature of the world.

We are the only country who caters to people who refuse to speak the the same language as the majority of the population. When you can get a drivers license without being able to read the language street signs are printed in we have a problem. Most of the chants during the immigration rights protest were in Spanish. If you are demanding rights from a country wouldn't you make those demands in the language that most of the country speaks? Its about time Congress acted.

I work for a community organization that serves first and second generation immigrants from Mexico. Not a single one of them has ever expressed any antipahty towards learning English. In fact they are all desperate to learn English and cannot be supplied with ESL classes fast enough. My community has had this desire since my grandparents came to this country in the early 1900's. The law is absurd on its face as it changes nothing currently in terms of education and it won't change anything in the future. Forcing people to speak only one language, officially or otherwise, is like trying to force people to marry only within their race. The need to communicate supercedes prejudice and even laws. Which if I'm not mistaken was part of the point of "Do the Right Thing" where the principal characters all spoke English yet were not able to communicate in any way that was not also violent or tinged with violenece. How very American.

Other countries have a primary language. We, as immigrants in America is made up from various countries. The common language that binds all countries, English is used. As ANY native person visits other countries, they don't use their native language, they use English to communicate. We as Americans do not belong to the Spanish, Asian or European languages. The issue is about immigrant status, NOT ABOUT people from Mexico or any other country, even though majority are from Mexico. So why is there an issue with the Mexicans complaining about the bill having English as the offical language in NORTH AMERICA? Issue is about having an illegal status in America, NOT cultures! North America or Americans is NOT & DOES NOT BELONG to a spanish culture or any other culture to determine the primary language. It does not make sense for a Japanese, Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Irans, Alaskans, Polish, Indians or any other ethnic to speak spanish when coming to America. Gosh! I don't understand what why Mexicans have this EGO boost. They are not any different from others who come here to America. There are no rallies or protest to make the Japanese or Chinese or Polish or India language the official language of America. English has been and will always be the offical common language in America. As with spanish it's common and offical for latin/spanish countries and so forth for any other country!

As a citizen of this country, and as a taxpayer, I say KUDOS to this bill, and those that supported it. Perhaps now we can eliminate all of those forms that have to be printed in several different languages at many levels of the government (at the taxpayer's expense!)

And how about the bilingual greetings on voice mails for companies? Shame on you, FEDEX, for not using only English in your greeting!

Instead of having english as the official language- why don't they have American as the official language? Most people don't know how to speak proper English anyways. Alot of Americans don't even understand people from England.

This is all just a complete joke!

To Figbash.

To portray the (illegal is conveniently omitted in your post) immigration problem as little more racist is more than off the mark. Whether you are ignorant of the subject or have another agenda I don't know. To equate the Minutemen with the Aryan Nation is like saying that the pro-illegal lobby all support reconquista and are members of MEChA, The Brown Berets de Aztlan, OLA, La Raza Unida Party, and the "Nation of Aztlan."

It's always easy to play the race card when one has no facts to back up an opinion or an argument. It's also easy to ignore the fact that nearly 80% of illegal immigrant come from Latin-American countries and nearly 60% are from Mexico alone. So when the focus is placed on latino illegal aliens, specifically Mexicans, there's a very good reason.

While you are certainly entitled to you own opinion, you should educate yourself as to the root causes of illegal immigration and how the Senate legislation would change this country forever. Perhaps that's what you want...again, I don't know.

I'd be a lot happier with this entire debate if it coupled the "learn English" requirement with a "learn ANOTHER language" for all Americans.

Language defines what you can perceive and understand -- if you can't express an idea in a language, it's almost impossible to think about it in any rational way. Forcing a single language is intentionally limiting the scope of what ideas can be discussed.

That Americans are some of the most relentlessly mono-lingual people in the entire world is a given -- who hasn't heard the "dumb American tourist" jokes -- but why do we do this to ourselves? We don't understand our neighbors, because we can't understand their speech. Amputating our ability to think outside our comfy little box... well, HL Mencken said it well that we "deserve what we get, good and hard, preferably right between the eyes".

BTW, at least in Asia and Africa, French, not English, is still the most common "lingua franca". It's still my first resort if someone I meet doesn't speak English. Only one case where French or English hasn't worked -- Japan, the most insular nation on Earth.

Another funny observation: the street signs in Beijing are in Mandarin and (you guessed it) English. How's that for open-minded?

I for one think it's a good deal.I have worked
in the service sector all my life 68 years and will tell it's very hard taking care of people who don't speak english. You ask them what's wrong and they don't understand you. And you don't understand them . In short they don't get the proper treatment rightway and this could lead to a death. I understand about the right to speak one's own language but when in company of people who don't speak what you do then you speak what they speak .

"This should've been done years ago. This is and has been an English-speaking nation.
There is nothing racist about this bill either. No more than the French or the Japanese or any other sovereign nation expecting people living & working there to know their language."

Patrick B.

Well, it is racist.

We have been a racist nation for a long long time.

It all started with real cheap labor, in the form of slavey of the 'colored man', working on free land stolen from the 'red man'. Later the 'yellow man' was worked to death to build the railroads on land stolen back from the farmers and settlers that stole it from the 'red man' in the first place.

Moving on, the fear was raised again by the Irish, Italian, and Jewish Eastern European immigrants of the early 20th century. Jews and African Americans were actually strung up in the USA as recently as the 40's and 50's on a regular basis.

Now we have the 'brown man' to fear.

One can only wonder what the ultimate ramifications of this stupidity are going to be. Little old ladies in Chicago and Milwaukee who speak only Polish deported? German-speaking people in Wisconsin and Illinois and Pennsylvania, ostracized. Then there are those who speak Norwegian, Swedish, or Danish in the midwest. And those Orientals -- Japanese, Thai, Chinese. And heaven-forbid if anyone should speak Tagalog. Italians, we all know about them .... And those PRs speaking Spanish, they only think they are Americans. Gaelic is already a dying language, so if there are any Irish out there who speak it, you might as well forget it anyway. And Native American languages -- many of them are almost forgotten languages in any case, so we should help them along a little too. Bigotry is so abundant in this country, it is pathetic!

To Bill Witt.
You need to go back to school and learn how to spell and use proper English, not only is is ILLEGAL, not ILLEAGLE, but it is also TOO not TO.
Typos is one thing, but the same mistake over & over. Good Lord.

The pigs in Congress will throw this red meat to their religious conservative base, but won't spend a nickel to actually help teach anyone English. Does anyone realize our illiteracy rate is over 25%! A better bill would require everyone to be literate in one language, any language. Hasta luego!

Figbash,

My experience is that most native speakers of English are monolingual. As with Americans, you'd be hard-pressed to find many Brits, Australians, or New Zealanders who speak any other language. English-speaking Canadians may be a bit of an exception in that a good number of them are fluent in French thanks to their country's unique situation. Still, most of them do not speak any other language.

I`m sorry I didn`t spell everything in a correct manner.
I`m sorry I don`t always use proper written grammer that was never the point.

Read it for it`s context not it`s content.

The Only Reason The US Congress Is Having Such A
Big Problem Making English The Official Language
Of The United States Is Simply That Everyone
Knows President George W Bush Cannot Speak Either
English Or Spanish!

This bein' a Christian nation, the official language has to be English. That's what the Bible is wrote in.

All the retoric about the "true" reasons behind the desire to have english declared our national language and why we want to protect our borders, can be dismissed and ignored. It seems that there is a strong desire on the part of many people in this world to come to the U.S. to make more money, to educate their kids, to escape from political oppression, etc. There is very little to no desire on the part of Americans to move to other countries for any reason whatever.

In economic and capitalistic terms, that puts the U.S. in the position of having the "supply" of what is being sought by many "consumers" and they have the "demand". This means that we can spell out the terms under which we will deal with the "market". We can impose severe requirements to gain access or we can make access much less difficult to gain. The choice is ours, not theirs.

We have a great many people coming here illegally by sneaking across our borders. We have not enforced the laws that we imposed and now we have millions saying they have the "right" to be here in spite of having broken our laws.

Black, Brown, Irish, Polish, Mexican or Asian; it doesn't matter. "WE" get to choose who comes here and "WE" get to lay the ground-rules for citizenship. Where our parents or grandparents came from has no bearing on the matter; we are the ones who are able to call the shots and we are supposed to be able to do so by having our representatives make the laws we want enforced. Don't try to guilt people into thinking we have to welcome the world and change our ways to appease them. And if our representatives vote for laws that will be of political advantage to themselves rather than for what we want, VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE!

J.A. I think you made the best point,I vote American the national language.Can we all agree on that.

Come on this is another attempt by the powers that be to divide our nation. The simmering racism that abounds in this country is ready to explode like a bomb and THIS is the time we choose to make English the national language??!! I'm all for helping people learn the language let's set a timetable, fund ESL programs and work towards the goal of a national language, but a law that will inflame our immigrant population is foolhardy and dangerous. Hmmm describes the state of our nation today don't you think?

Even before coming to this country as a LEGAL immigrant at the age of 9, my parents had enrolled me in an English school in India knowing that understanding English was the key to being successful in America. Understanding this logic may be the reason that Indians and other Asians do better in America than Hispanics, who do not feel the need to learn English. I am also very much offended that Spanish is being forced down my throat every time I fill out a school form or call my bank, credit card company, utilities, etc...If Spanish is going to be given equal status as English than other minorities will insist that their languages be given equal status. Can you imagine what will happen to America then? Hispanics should realize that if they want to be successful in America, they need to learn English otherwise they'll be cutting grass and picking fruits for generations while other minorities will move up and become more successful faster.

This bill is a silly, and a rather redundant, waste of time and resources. Everyone all over the world already knows that English is the dominant language in the United States, despite the fact that it is so poorly spoken, and written, by so many natural-born citizens of the United States. One aspect that makes this country of ours interesting and unique is that so many diffent languages are spoken here and influence our culture. If you are such a xenophobic twit that you can't stand the thought of hearing a language other than English in this country, then I suggest you lobby your congress-person to pass a bill banning all restaurants that utilize words from non-English dominant countries. That's right, no restaurants futuring ethnic-based foods, such as: Italian, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, and Mexican, among others. Because, God forbid, they use words not found in the English language.

Let's stop being so ridiculous and focus on something more important: rising gas prices, rising interest rates, etc.

Someday these moments in U.S. history will be looked upon with disgust. Generations from now citizens will read of a time in which the USA fought tooth and nail against being in the global community.

Yes, we want to have business trips and vacations around the globe. We demand respect for our superiority in WWII. We even go so far as to demand one less sentence on a voicemail (press one for English). But if one other nation asks us to see it there way, if one other citizen speaks a language native to this continent we're on, we have Congress to fight them off and tuck us in safely at night.

Well, in most parts of the World, some native people speak English out of necessity, but for the most part, when in a foreign country it's a pretty good idea to speak the local language. With the U.S. a "melting pot" can you imagine how many languages the average American would have to speak to be able to communicate? Can you imagine a street corner with 30 or so signs to cover the majority of languages spoken here by immigrants? It just ain't going to happen. If you come to the U.S., you MUST speak our OFFICIAL Language, ENGLISH!

We're a nation with the most non-socialist benefits available to the general population. If an immigrant wants to be granted citizenship and earn those rights, I don't think it's too much to ask that the person learn English to at least 4th grade proficiency. I may vote for the Democratic partyc andidadtes in most elections (ok so I slipped, Ryan seemed better than Poshard at the time...), but English language legislation is sorely needed in all levels of government--especially in Cook County. I must listen to my brain (instead of a bleeding heart which my liberal side usually wins) and disagree with the US Senate democrats who voted against it.

Hold on a minute! Doesn't anyone think before they start making these kinds of proposals? I agree that English should be the official language of ENGLAND but this is America, for dog's sake! The official langugage should be soemthing native such as Cherokee or Seminole, or maybe Navajo.

What is the official language in Mexico?

Give me a break. The country is going to you-know-where in a handbasket and this is what our elected officials are worried about?? It's akin to shopping for new drapes when the roof is on fire.

Which English? Bush's bastardized version? Tony Blair's intelligent clip? No entiendo.

Many of the complaints registered here about not speaking English have to do with business issues: pressing 1 for English, or hiring bilingual workers, etc. The thing is, none of that will change just by making English our official language. There will still be plenty of people who don't speak English, and plenty of businesses willing to take their money. So you will still be pressing 1 for English and businesses will still be hiring bilingual workers. The only likely changes would be in government functions, and even then mostly in government functions which are primarily/only for citizens (such as voting/election materials) because non-English speaking legal immigrants still have rights and still need certain government services.

For the complete moron that wrote that we should speak english because that is the language used in the bible..... please go back to the forest and shoot yourself some deer while praying twenty aleluyas.
This is the typical example of the kind of morons that would vote twice for Bush and think immigrants are a threat.

Being the child of a Mexican mom and an American dad, growing up I was in the unique position of being able to learn both languages simultaneously. In the home, we always spoke English, unless we had family in from Mexico who spoke only Spanish, then we spoke Spanish. This was done out of sheer courtesy. During these visits, even my father spoke Spanish (not his native language, but one he chose to learn). Now, if these same family members had immigrated to the US, we would have expected for them to learn English, it is, after all, the common language. I have family who have immigrated to the US over the years, and it strikes me as strange that very few of them have learned to speak English well enough to be able to get around. I think the reason is they haven't had to. Everthing is available for them in Spanish, from tv, to jobs, to doctors, and shopping. They can insulate themselves into mini-colonies, venturing out in puzzlement every once in a while, exclaiming that the "US has no culture, or even work ethic, except for that provided to it by Mexicans". There are so many issues at play here, I'm not a racist, or an elitist by any means, but I have to question the motivations of people who refuse to acculturate/assimilate into their new circumstances. Why move here if they're not going to try to understand our culture, our history, and our language?

Bill Witt,

Criminals that have committed illegal acts do have rights in the US. We all do.

Further, other entries in this 'chat' have indicated the negative impact on wages that the 'illegals' have caused.

Boy oh boy; blame the victim. All these tired, bankrupted ideas have been trotted out against every group of 'foreigners' since the Mayflower.

But don't blame Sen. Foghorn Inhofe for not supporting minimum wage increases in, well, he never has.

Don't blame the right wing anti-union legislation and judgments of the last 25 years, aided and abetted by the opposition.

And don't blame the her