English is the most spoken language in the United States but it is not the official dialect. Mythically it is the official language of the United States. The larger percentage speak in English which is one of the reasons why the government through Congress have thought of making English the official language (Baron, 1990). The members of Congress have introduced the motion of making English the official dialect twice in the house. However, the motion has never been taken seriously which means that the united states do not have an official language. Unlike other countries like Canada, Britain, Spain, Germany, Portugal and France which have an official language the United States has never had an official language. There is no documented official language in the Constitution of the U.S. there is a feeling that there is a need for the country to have an official language.
English has been used for a long time in the U.S but has never been officially declared the official language. The proposal to make the dialect the official language in Congress have always failed as there is little support for it. After the independence, the United States had proposed one English or German to be the official language. There were different European language spoken in the United States after the independence but English stood out. The debate is still there today after all those years to include the English language in the constitution as the official language.
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Hayakawa (2005) , mention that there are over 300 dialects that are spoken by the American population. The language has existed because the population is made of different groups of people and the languages continue to increase as the country continue to experience a high number of immigrants from all over the world. However, the English language remains superior as the largest population can communicate in it. It is also vivid that American society rose from an English speaking background. The fact that about 82% of the population can speak in English is one of the main reason why the Americans should embrace the dialect as the official language in its constitution. It will ease government activities as the government will be forced to use one language while processing information and engaging in its activities. About 31 states have made English their official language but there is no federal law that has been created to make it the National language.
Having the entire population to communicate in English would help the government in saving. The language would save billions in federal spending. The local governments incur a cost to translate bilingual education. Billions are budgeted for the translation of educational materials and to pay extra cash to teacher attending to non-English speaking students. For example, $15 million is the cost that the electoral body in Los Angeles had to incur to translate ballot material in seven language and hiring bilingual poll assistants. The Los Angeles country is known to hire over 400 court interpreters who cost at slightly above $250 per day. Not to mention the bills that support the hiring of interpreters in another field such as in health care. The government spend billions on ensuring that its population is well served. Making the English language the national language would reduce these costs.
According to Hayakawa (2005 ), teaching in learning institutions should be done in a uniform approach. It is a strategy of creating a balance in learning. The educational sector is one of the most sensitive sectors for the government and society as a whole. In the U.S learning is complicated as teaching have to do using different languages. The reason is that the country cannot use one language as there are different dialects used and some people do not know English. The government is therefore required to provide syllabus and reading materials in different dialects. The same challenge would exist during exam setting activities. Immigrants and all other no-English speaking Americans should be under the obligation to learn English. It would make it easier for the educational sector to accommodate all the people.
Having English as the official language would create equal opportunities for all the citizen to participate in national opportunities(Baron, 1990). The country has been speaking English for ages now and it is one of the reasons why the government conducts its projects in English. Making the English dialect language would push most immigrants to learn it and thus implementing projects would not be easy.
As an official language English would foster unity in the country (Baron, 1990). Communicating in one language would result in using one language resulting to use of one common language. It would be an outstanding way of reducing disunity and reduce racism. It will lead to identity and acceptance for the American population. A common language would foster a national wide language and reduce discrimination in national activities. Language is one of the ways to know that you do not come from the same place. It is a common way of identifying immigrants besides skin colour. Failure to communicate in English in the U.S can lead to discrimination by people who can speak in the language.
Despite all the above facts that, English can kill the diverse American culture. The U.S population is made up of an extensively diverse culture (Hayakawa, 2005). Immigrants are not the only set of people who cannot communicate in English but even indigenous Americans groups such as Red Indians could not speak in English from the begging. The numbers of non-English speaking individuals continue to grow today. Enforcing English on the society would kill these languages and culture of different people from all over the world who reside in the United States.
An argument has been raised that it would replicate racial endeavours (King, 1997). The law will be sidelining a majority of groups that cannot communicate in English. A large group of communities cannot be able to communicate in English. Enforcing English as the official dialect would mean that they would be forcing these people out. One of the reasons why various group migrate to the U.S is the fact that they will not be forced to learn any language. The absence of an official language means that the country does not have a common dialect meaning that different communities can use their mother tongue. The U.S have territories that cannot speak in English such as a group that resides over Virgin Island. It would be unfair to these set of groups that are Americans by making English the official language.
The United States is a need for a national language in order to ease government operation. Although not to copy the majority, the fact is that American is the only first world economy country without an official dialect. English has been the most used language in the U.S. A majority of the population can communicate in English which is one of the reasons why the political arena proposes making English the official language. The language would also create unity among the American as they try to improve the lives of immigrants and native-born inhabitants. It would also make teaching much easier. The education sector spends much more on translating and hiring bilingual tutors.
References
Dennis Baron (1990). An Official Language. In The English-Only Question.
Robert King (1997). Should English Be the Law? Atlantic Monthly
S.I. Hayakawa (2005). Bilingualism in America: English Should Be the Official Language. In Language Awareness.
