Has America become a bilingual country?

December 6, 2005
By Louis Dominguez

No one knows how it happened, but it did happen. The United States of America is now a bilingual nation.

It would not be surprising that in the near future, all school children will be required to learn Spanish. In Florida, there is a senate bill recently introduced to just that.

Some find it irritating that no matter where you are, there are signs written in English and Spanish.

When calling any business, you may be asked if you wish to speak Spanish or English by means of a variety of commands or instructions.

Then there's the chatter -- Hispanics talking to one another or on their cellular phones in Spanish, and not in just one version of the language, but several. With more than 20 nations of origin, each country's language has its own nuances, idioms, and names for things. Even for those who speak the language well, it is a very confusing situation.

Americans used to complain when someone spoke a foreign language in public, asking "Why can't they speak English?" The question is still valid.

Why can't these immigrants learn to speak English? The answer to this question is simple: because they don't have to.

These new immigrants don't have to or need to learn English. Everything they need to know has been translated for them, even grocery labels. They apply for jobs in Spanish and they take a test for a driver's license in Spanish. Virtually everything has been translated for them, so they don't have to learn English.

And to make it easier to get their business, many businesses including banks, utility companies, department stores, hospitals, car dealers and many others have hired Spanish-speaking employees.

For these new Hispanic immigrants, working and making money is what they are here for, and learning the language of their host country is not a priority.

Sadly, this attitude will have costly and painful repercussions in the future. For one thing, they will never be assimilated into the American society -- they will never become true Americans.

The worst outcome of all this is that if they can't communicate, they will be left out of everything that is happening around them. They will never be able to participate in cultural or civic affairs; they will never advance from doing manual labor jobs; they are going to be left in the outer periphery of society.

Many Americans have taken the influx of Hispanic immigrants in stride, while others are angry and want to change what is taking place. But it may already be too late.

Source: Fauquier Times-Democrat

Comments

[Jack Yan]

I’m Chinese, so I view this from what I like to consider a neutral point of view. I think those who don’t speak English can still be true Americans, if they absorb and display the ideals of their adopted nation. Immigrants often exhibit a greater sense of nationhood and patriotism, because they have made a conscious choice to move—certainly I notice that in myself. Remember, too, that “true Americans” don’t have English as a mother tongue—I refer, of course, to the native Americans.
¶ But Hispanic Americans who speak only Spanish are no less American than French-speaking Québecois are Canadian.
¶ I understand what Mr Dominguez is getting at: that if the majority is English-speaking, institutions will be the same, regardless of the linguistic accommodation that has taken place in America today. And that shuts out many who are monolingual. Those who have such ambitions will probably remedy that situation in themselves. Those who don’t may well discover they can function en español.
¶ But maybe this is the perfect chance to see whether the United States can live its ideals. As far as I can tell, there’s nothing in the Constitution prescribing language. However, the country tends to have a spirit of tolerance. This will be tested well with the Hispanic influence and bilingualism has certainly not affected many countries or territories negatively—Canada, Belgium, Hong Kong, or even Scandinavian countries where English is understood by the majority of people. It may enrich a nation that can have tendencies to become monocultural.
¶ It has an example of a nearly perfectly functioning bilingual nation to the north, and could take some pointers—even if the United States is not used to taking pointers. It is a good example, for while America is getting better every day, it is still not that far from an unpleasant, monocultural past.