VA Proposal would ban all non-English government materials

[LordShiva]

Teh legality of teh proposal isn't what's being debated here.

[Imran Siddiqui]

There is a reason we don't (and never had) have an official language. While there is a de facto language of business, the fact that immigrants come over to the US not speaking the language has been true for generations. Simply because the government and private businesses want to help out the largest minority in the US is nothing to get worked up over. Plenty of them do a lot of the necessary jobs for low pay, keeping our economy humming along. The least we can do is allow them to speak to someone in Spanish.

[David Floyd]

The difference between "then" and "now", in terms of immigrants and language policy, is that for the most part immigrants in the 1800s/early-mid 1900s were willing and eager to assimilate into American culture, and not try to create sub-cultures from their home nations here. More importantly, they didn't have interest groups pressuring everyone else into making it easy for them to do so. It was fine that immigrants came over not speaking English, because either they learned quickly, and/or didn't expect the rest of us to adapt to them. That isn't really the case now. Even if you argue that most immigrants still learn English (which I agree with), this thread alone is a case in point that everyone else has become expected to adapt to the needs of non-English speakers rather than vice versa.

Put another way, having English as the only language used for government services (with a few logical exceptions) encourages immigrants to assimilate into our language and culture through necessity.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Why should local governments be forbidden from doing what their citizens want?

Er, cause this is the Commonwealth of Virginia? If youre gonna get into issues of the Comm interfering with localities, you might start with this whole planning and zoning thingie.

[Ramo]

What makes you think that the current wave is integrating particularly slowly? Adult first generation immigrants sometimes don't become fluent in English, but that has always happened. But their children do.

From a Pew study:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/us/30immig.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Becoming fluent in a new language as an adult is difficult. I don't know if I could do it. I'm glad I don't have to, and am from a country with plenty of economic opportunity. Some people don't have that luxery.

You press 1 for English because the market has realized that a little bit of bilingualism is more efficient. Local governments in certain areas have the same realization. Banning local governments from putting out forms on taxes, services, or voting in other languages would do ****all about your need to press 1 for English.

[lord of the mark]

businesses obviously are acting for commercial reasons. Unless English speakers start defecting in droves to companies whose help lines DONT start with "press 1 for English" or we feel as beseiged as Quebecers and legislate on that, it wont change.


Local govts, Im not certain. Partly its an efficiency question, but its also reacting to the demands of a constituency. whether its unreasonable for a different constituency to express ITS preferences, esp given that the folks who are most upset largely live in different localities, often in totally different parts of the state, is another question.

[Kuciwalker]

or we feel as beseiged as Quebecers and legislate on that, it wont change.

Thank God for the First Amendment.

[Ramo]

Local govts, Im not certain. Partly its an efficiency question, but its also reacting to the demands of a constituency. whether its unreasonable for a different constituency to express ITS preferences, esp given that the folks who are most upset largely live in different localities, often in totally different parts of the state, is another question.

I doubt that there are too many places in VA where the Spanish-only electorate would be able to effect this sort of policy if a large part of the rest of the electorate didn't think it was a reasonable, efficient request.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Ramo


I doubt that there are too many places in VA where the Spanish-only electorate would be able to effect this sort of policy if a large part of the rest of the electorate didn't think it was a reasonable, efficient request.

But those are the places were accommodations to the Spanish language are generally most extensive. Arlington County, Fairfax County, and Alexandria.