4 replies to this topic

[iGuest]

Should all residents of the US be obligated to speak English?What Is The Main World Language?

Should all residents of the US be obligated to speak English?

I'm doing a college research essay. I've decided to write about this topic because there are so many people who come to live in America and don't learn how to speak English. Some have lived here for many years, and because there are services like ESL or groups of other people who speak the same language, they NEVER learn English or know very little. It is important to me that anyone who intends to live in any country at least learns how to communicate with its people.

What do you think?

[Saint_Michael]

Well in the United States there is no Official language but most everyone here speaks English and most people who do business with the US either speak English or have interpreters. Of course, the major problem with the US people are coming her illegally and so they don't even bother to learn English because of the fact they go live within their own communities and rely on them to help them out and stuff. Another problem though is that going to school to learn English is not cheap either and most people don't have the money for those kind of lessons and so they don't bother. Of course, the only exception I believe people don't have to learn English if your just a tourist who is only spending a few days or a week visiting the sites and what not, that I believe is acceptable.

Either way, people are not force to learn another language but you have those people who think if your going to live here you might as well learn it or get out. Sure I can partially agree that if your going to at least live here, Legally, you might as well try to learn English, besides people who already know how to speak English properly are horrible at anyway. As long as you try to attempt to learn another language or English then your off to a good start, best thing to do is do a lot of reading of English books, get yourself a bilingual dictionary and stuff like that to help you along the way.

[cemeteryrecords]

Wouldn't it be a beautiful thing if everybody here (US) spoke the same damn language! I mean, not that I don't love when I ask somebody for the time or somethin, and they respond, "Que?" How about we let immigrants in, as long as we can understand them? I don't really care who's here, as long as it doesn't have to be a song and a dance to figure out what they're saying!

[candlelight]

(G)Janey, on Dec 3 2008, 09:57 PM, said:

Should all residents of the US be obligated to speak English?
What Is The Main World Language?

Should all residents of the US be obligated to speak English?

I'm doing a college research essay. I've decided to write about this topic because there are so many people who come to live in America and don't learn how to speak English. Some have lived here for many years, and because there are services like ESL or groups of other people who speak the same language, they NEVER learn English or know very little. It is important to me that anyone who intends to live in any country at least learns how to communicate with its people.

What do you think?

YES, YES,YES. I agree 100%. God forbid a calamity happens and an individual tries to communicate with them, they are not going to know what the hell they are talking about. *yikes*.

[jlhaslip]

With the number of Minorities in the USA who have a Spanish language as a background, I am surpised no one has suggested that the USA adopt Spanish as a second Official language.
Canada has English/French, and many parts of the world have several or many "official" languages. I think India has 15 Official languages.
Yes, It would be nice if the entire world adopted a single International language, but it is not likely to happen in my lifetime.

Esperanto was suggested as an International language, and it has appeal, but has yet to make inroads, particularly on the Web due to the technical nature of the Internet.