Should English Be the Official Language of the United States
The United States is a place of freedom and you have the capability to start over and become someone great. The United States prides itself on its freedom principle and its opportunities. We have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion. In a country where it seems as though the only freedoms afforded to us are the 5 basic freedoms, maybe it's time we amend the basic privileges afforded to our citizens; the freedom to speak another language as one pleases. In should English be the official language of the United States essay we will try to find the answer.
In the U.S. there are so many languages spoken, that to make one language the official language would be difficult. According to Rosetta Stone, author of the Rosetta Blog, “There are as many as 350 different languages spoken across the country.” The amount of cultural and social overturn that would happen from attempting to force everyone to confine to one language would border the oppression placed onto natives by Columbus, and would most definitely not sit well in the history books. If we were to declare one language the official language, we would have to allow some leeway as to what languages people could speak for their personal main languages, or we ruin the basic freedoms that we pride ourselves on.
The United States, in fact, has never had an official language. There have been multiple languages even before the republic was formed. CNN interviewee Dr. Wayne Wright (a professor of language and literacy) stated that “The founding fathers didn’t need to see [an official language] to declare one.” English is such a dominant language anyways that there isn't necessarily a reason to make it the official language due to the fact that it is off the record “The Official” language already.
For immigrants that are coming to the U.S. and don’t know English, they would then have to learn the new language. English is so common and is easily picked up on, making it normal for someone to have a few English words in their vocabulary. According to The Real Life English, states that “English is actually the easiest language in the world to learn.” The language is the easiest, which explains why it is so common in the U.S.
Even though English is heavily voted for to be the official language, it isn't. The Rasmussen Reports, “Online surveys find that 81% of American Adults think English should be the official language.” To me this presents the question, why isn’t English the official language of the U.S. Therefore, the present issue of having an official language isn't the first priority for the U.S government anyways. There are too many things going on in the world, trying to figure out what the official language should be.
Overall, the ideal United States official language is no official language. The United States bases its principles on being completely free and accepting, and if we were to force people to conform to another language, we would not only be showing people that we don’t tolerate other views/cultures, but that we’re going against our most fundamental views (which are often the stances and freedoms that appealed to people wanting to come to our country). To say it as simply as possible; the United States has bigger fish to fry, and the damage that trying to declare English the official language of the United States would cause far outweighs the potential side effect of overall improved international language comprehension.
