Should the U.S. have an Official Language?

The issue of bilingualism is quite controversial in the U.S. Essentially, bilingualism refers to the ability of a person to understand and speak two languages in everyday communication without a problem. This issue is quite argue in the U.S. because it takes a little different meaning. In this case, it means the use of other languages rather than English in the public area to business and other public services including healthcare, immigration issues, government, education, and court proceedings. Many people have highly critical of bilingual education that teaching non-English speaking students by using their native language as opposed to using English, in all the subjects covered in school before making the transition to classes that use English. This issue is controversial because the teachers only use the students’ native language to promote the learning process. Many professors such as Mauro Mujica and Hayakawa have strongly criticized bilingualism and demonstrating great support for the English-only movement claiming that bilingualism movement is associated with many disadvantages including increased financial burden, national disunity, and causes immigrants to develop a negative perception about learning English. However, those opposed to the English-only movement such as James Crawford and James Fallows argue that it is not necessary to make English the official language in America because it would not cause America to lose its national unity or cause immigrants to become less interested in learning English. In addition, the authors believe that the U.S. is able to maintain its diversity because the different students can maintain their native languages. The U.S. should consider it necessary to make English as its official language because this would in promoting unity in the country, reducing the costs of running the government, as well as preventing further retreat of the English language in most parts of the country.

In “Why the U.S. Needs an Official Language,” an article by Mauro Mujica, the author argues that there is a need for the U.S. to declare English as its official language as there are numerous benefits that would accrue. For instance, Mujica thinks that such a move would significantly contribute in enhancing unity in the country. Mujica also

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claims that multilingualism often puts a heavy financial burden to the government, and ultimately to the common taxpayer. The author also considers the move to make English an official language to appropriate considering that English has been retreating from most parts of the U.S. at a relatively rapid rate even as it has become a global language. Mujica clearly shows why he thinks multilingualism would further contribute to the retreat of English language in most parts of the country and links that to the issue of America becoming less unified as a result and mentions the Quebec example, in which multilingualism contributed a lot in divisions in the region. Hayakawa also shares this view when he states, “Communicating with each other in a single, common tongue encourages trust, while reducing hostility and bigotry (575).” Hayakawa further justifies his support for an official language by stating that, “Because we are a nation of immigrants, we do not share the characteristics of race, religion, ethnicity, or native language which form the common bonds of society in other countries (575-576).” In addition, she believes that it is necessary for the U.S. to adopt an official language “To avoid the costs, burdens, and conflicts that arise in nations like Canada or international organizations like the European Union that attempt to conduct business in more than one official language (para. 9).”

This article has clarity, relevance, and presents numerous examples to support the author’s claims. For example, Mujica evidents that has become quite popular in different parts of the world including Mexico, Philippines, China, Uganda, Vietnam, South Africa, Germany, Indonesia, Nigeria, Japan, and India, among others. The author has also supported her claims with numerous and relevant statistics, which all demonstrate why the U.S. should declare English as its official language. According to Mujica, English should become the official language because it is “the language of business, higher education, diplomacy, aviation, the Internet, science, popular music, entertainment, and international travel” (581). Using this argument, the author is able to make a clear point that clearly reflects his reason for writing the essay. Through many evidences, the author has demonstrated how expensive multilingualism is for the government. For instance, he clearly demonstrates how expensive it would be for the U.S. to complete various functions such as organizing elections or supporting health care programs. As Mujica notes, “Los Angeles county spent $3.3 million, 15 percent of the entire election budget, to print election ballots in seven languages and hire multilingual poll workers for the march 2002 primary” (583). In another article that demonstrates how wasteful bilingualism can be; the Hunter College reports that, “in 1994 the IRS translated 500,000 income tax forms into Spanish. The project cost an estimated $113,000 and only 718 forms were returned” (para. 19).

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In “Viva Bilingualism” by James Fallows, the author provides a different perspective to the issue, claiming that the U.S. does not stand to benefit as it should by adopting an English-only movement. According to Fallows, America should strive to maintain its position as a bilingual society, this approach promises more benefits. In his opinion, all American citizens gain a lot from bilingualism. Fallows strongly believes that all American citizens should have the freedom to learn other languages as through diversity, the nation would become more unified. In his view, learning different languages should not be a reason to cause disunity. On the contrary, he thinks that approach is easily to result in a more coherent society. Fallows explains why Americans should not consider learning other languages as serving as a barrier to understanding of English. The author mentions several countries that speak their native languages and are also able to speak fluently in English and at the same time maintain unity. As Fallows states, “Everyone has heard about the Scandinavians and Swiss, who grow up in a big swirl of languages and can talk easily to anyone they meet” (261).

In another example, Fallows also shows how people from different countries are able to master their native languages and at the same time learn English, “if you put any two Malaysians together in a room, it’s almost certain that they’ll be able to speak to each other, in either Malay or English, since many people are bilingual and many speak three or more languages (261).” Fallows has to show how “wizened Chinese shopkeepers, unschooled Indian night guards, grubby Malay food hawkers(261)” have mastered the English language while being able to maintain their ability to understand and communicate in their native languages. In “A Nation Divided by One Language,” a thought-provoking article by James Crawford, the author supports the bilingual movement, citing it as highly beneficial in boosting the ability to learn other languages. Crawford states that, “native language lessons support the process of acquiring a second language while keeping students from falling behind in other subjects (595).” This shows that by learning native languages, Americans are not likely to lose their ability to learn or understand the English language.

To conclude, I think that there is a need for America to have English as the official language because this move comes with a lot of benefits economically, socially, and politically as well. By having English as the official language, the country would not have to lead to huge costs in public health care, operations in the judicial system, in organizing for elections. This approach is also necessary because it would relieve taxpayers of the heavy burden of supporting bilingual services, which are quite costly as noted from previous examples. From a social purpose, having English as the official language makes Americans more united and coherent on many issues because they

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would all in a position to understand each other easily. This approach would work at unity because an official language would help to reduce the mistrust of citizens, especially people from different backgrounds. I also believe that having English as the official language would certainly help to reduce political differences as the language would help to boost understanding, communication, as well as to reduce the levels of mistrust among people from different backgrounds. In addition, having English the official language is important because it would help to retreat the language in most parts of the country because all citizens would have to learn that language.

Works Cited

Crawford, James. A Nation Divided by One Language.

Fallows, James. Viva Bilingualism.

Hayakawa, S. I. Bilingualism in America: English Should Be the Only Language.

Hunter College. Does the United States Need an Official Language? n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.

Krauthammer, Charles. Ten Reasons to Make English the Official Language of the United States. 4 June 2006. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.

Mujica, Mauro .Why the U.S. Needs an Official Language.