A Plethora of Languages Encourages Bilinguality
by Chris Jou ‘12
Throughout America, people come from many cultures and have different customs and languages. The majority of people living in America speak English, which raises the question whether English should be the official language of the United States.
As students move forward in life, a tremendous blend of languages serenades them and reflects the impressive diversity of our country and the world. If legislation was to make English the national language, it will be a detriment to millions of immigrants and in the end will accomplish nothing. As the interconnectedness of our world prompts other countries’ youths to be bilingual, Americans should be more pro-active in learning other languages.
While one of the main goals of the official English movement is to promote unity in the American people, it instead breeds feelings of discrimination against non-English speakers and undermines the idea of the American melting pot. Discrimination already manifests in bigoted attitudes of “if you don’t speak English, you shouldn’t be living here.” Nationalizing English would only serve to aggravate the non-English speaking population further. Immigrants and non-speakers would end up needing to learn to communicate with the rest of the U.S, in order to assimilate into American culture.
Without an official language, society still provides sufficient encouragement to immigrants to learn to communicate. But, language is not only for communication. English is quickly absorbed by most immigrants and almost all second-generation citizens. Speaking as a second-generation, learning English came easily, but my Chinese skills quickly deteriorated and I regret having lost much of my previous culture. Nationalizing English will only aggravate the problem.
While European countries teach their students to speak a variety of languages, it seems some Americans believe that learning other languages is unnecessary, evidenced by the fact that only half of Americans believe that learning a second language is important.
Additionally, we do not emphasize the importance of foreign language classes before middle school and have miniscule language requirements. A measly nine percent of Americans are bilingual, compared with half of Europeans. Americans need to step back and see that learning languages other than English is not only important but also essential. We should seek to nurture immigrants’ native languages instead of impairing them.
Our current language situation, with a multitude of tongues mirroring the increasingly diverse population, fuels our country. English shows no signs of potential extinction, so making English official would be a symbolic measure rather than one of action. It would only isolate and destroy people’s cultures by ultimately changing no policies.