English Only Laws Review

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Table of Contents

Context
Policy
References

The enforcement of only one official language in multicultural and multi-lingual societies can be seen as a controversial matter. The controversy is specifically evident where the prevalence of a particular language can constitute a substantial portion of the population. In that regard, the matter of English-only laws in the United States is touching on such issues, where the debates are still running and there is a differentiation between the states that have not accepted such laws. The matter is also difficult due to the fact that the United States was always considered as a country of immigrants. Despite the fact that the main documents of the country, such as the declaration of independence and the constitution, are in English, there are neither any clauses in the constitution nor a joint resolution, which will indicate the official language of the country. In that regard, this paper will address the issue of English-Language laws in terms of the context, current status, and goals, providing a recommendation of policy that is able of achieving such goals.

Context

In order to provide the context of the English-only issue, it should be noted that there is a difference between the seemingly close, but nevertheless different context of English-Only and Official-English approaches. Official- English laws, as the title implies, are the laws that seek the declaration of English as the official language, which implies the usage of English language in government business at all levels, including public documents, records, legislation, and regulations, as well as hearings, official ceremonies, and public meetings (Official English, 2009) Only-English laws differ in terms that, in addition to the official status, they prohibit the use of languages other than English, and conversely, other languages might be adopted for reasons other than the official status of English and by private entities that have no authority to determine an official language (Hill, Ross, Serafine, & Levy, 2009). The context of the present paper is using the official English concept, while the issue of prohibiting the usage of languages other than English will be touched briefly in the paper.

The beginning of the ideas of English as an official language is dated back to the days prior to the Revolutionary War. Indication of the attempts of making English the official language can be traced through the statements made by historical figures such as Benjamin Franklin, complaining regarding German immigrants in Pennsylvania, stated that legal Writings in their own Language& are allowed well in our Courts (Hill, et al., 2009), or John Adams proposal of establishing a national language academy, which would create an official English for the United States. However, the official attempts supported with legislation appeared only in 1981, through a proposal which would have banned the uses of languages other than English by federal, state, and local governments, but never come to a Congressional vote. (Crawford, 2008)

Since that time, several stages were passed, where currently 30 states have active official laws, which nevertheless, are unrelated to the process of amending the Constitution. With the attempts to promote a statutory form of official English, which began in the early 1990s and started with Language of Government legislation, much similar legislation was introduced in each new Congress. (Crawford, 2008)The amendments of these legislations indicate the extension of policies to have an impact on the federal level, in terms of actions, documents, policies& publications, income tax forms, informational materials, records, proceedings, letters to citizens indeed, to any form of written communication on behalf of the U.S. government (Crawford, 2008). Generally, it can be seen that most of the people, who form the opposition to such laws, are immigrants. Accordingly, the main factor in such opposition can be seen as two-fold, where on one hand, in some states there is a large layer of the population that are non-English speaking, and it is believed that such laws would affect this part of the population. On the other hand, the overlapping of some of the concepts of Official-English and English-only, force the people to consider all the legislations to be related only to the latter. In terms of support, the main supporters are non-profit organizations that publicly advocate the need to protect the English language

Policy

Outlining the goals of English-only laws, they all can be summarized as follows:

The official Status of English
Protection of the English language
Federal level of impact
Prohibition on the use of a language other than English in all government documentation.
Reduction of costs associated with bilingual activities.

In that regard, a policy that would fit into the aforementioned criteria, and accordingly will eliminate the points of controversy and opposition, might be presented as follows:

The declaration of English as the official language of the United States implies the enforcement of the role of English through the following:

Conducting the official functions of the government only in English, with the exceptions of cases of emergency.
English language is a requirement for the process of naturalization.
Promotion of the process of learning the English language.
The requirement of English in employment.

The enforcements are not applicable

Private areas of life
The process of learning English or other languages
International trade, tourism, and diplomacy.

Additionally, in terms of employment, the level of language acquisition should be differentiated based on the task performed. It can be seen that such a policys main strengths are in the fact of identifying and overstating the fact that the policy would not affect the private part of the communication. In that regard, immigrants might preserve their language as well as the traditions and practices associated with their culture. Nevertheless, the weaknesses might be seen in the process of differentiating the skill level for various forms of participation in public life. For example, applying for a job with basic physical operations will require less knowledge of English than a position that implies communication with people and working with documentation, which might require a level of fluency. In that regard, the state might benefit from saving the costs associated with the translation of the official documents and the services of the interpreters, but at the same time people with little technical skills applying for a job, will be required to learn English, and in that case, the increased number of people participating in such programs might raise the issue of funding.

It can be concluded that despite the opposition and the country having a high level of immigration, declaring and preserving the official language is a step toward integrity and protection of the distinct identity of the United States. Additionally, it should be noted that the attempts made for declaring English as the official language are confused with the prohibition of using any language other than English, a point of argument that should be clarified.

References

Crawford, J. (2008). Language Legislation in the U.S.A.Language Policy.

Hill, J., Ross, D., Serafine, B., & Levy, R. E. (2009). Watch Your Language! The Kansas Law Review Survey of Official-English and English-Only Laws and Policies. University of Kansas Law Review, 57, 670-737. Web.

Official English (2009). U.S. English, Inc. Web.

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English Only Laws Review

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