WHY THE UNITED STATES HAS NO OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

“WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES…”

So begins the Preamble to the US Constitution ‒ only in English. The entire document is only in English. But there’s a bit of an anomaly here because the world’s only remaining superpower still has no official language. That’s right ‒ worldwide, 178 countries have at least one official language, and 101 of these recognise more than one language. But not the U.S., at least not at the federal level.

A country’s official language usually means the language of government, such as in courts, parliament or administration. In the U.S. many people right from the start have unsuccessfully tried to establish an official language. In 1780, John Adams proposed to the Continental Congress that English should be declared the official language of the U.S. but his proposal was rejected as "undemocratic and a threat to individual liberty.” Today there are activist groups that argue for and against the adoption of any official language but even if no conscious effort is made to establish an official language, census reports indicate that two-thirds of Americans believe that English, the most widely spoken language in the U.S., is their official language. Columbus is credited with having discovered the U.S. but Spanish isn’t the official language because the Vikings beat both the Spaniards and the Portuguese in reaching the U.S. first, and the British, French, Dutch Swedes colonized large swathes of the country, leading to a huge cultural and linguistic melting pot.

Probably the most vocal action group pushing for official English is U.S. ENGLISH, Inc. which believes in the unifying power of English in the U.S. This group argues that:

1. A multilingual government would only encourage the growth of linguistic enclaves contribute to racial and ethnic conflicts.

2. In a country where more than 322 languages are spoken (2000, U.S. Census), it makes good practical policy to declaring English the official language. Why? Because official English unites Americans, provides a common means of communication, and encourages immigrants to learn English in order to use government services and participate in the democratic process.

3. While immigrants of many nationalities built the nation, it’s this "melting pot" that has blended Americans into one people.

4. Speaking English is a guaranteed way for new immigrants to succeed in school, increase their earning potential, and find better-paying jobs.

5. The U.S. decided long ago that you must know English to become a citizen. So why offer government services in foreign languages?

Opponents of an official U.S. language policy argue that:

1. If America is the “home of the free”, then its people can have any language they want. The U.S. is celebrated for its diversity in all things and to implement an official language would be the same as implementing an official religion.

2. An official language would hamper “the government's ability to reach out, communicate, and warn people in the event of a natural or man-made disaster such as a hurricane, pandemic, or...another terrorist attack”.

Whatever the pros and cons, the U.S. is a multilingual nation, with English dominating the others but with Spanish catching up fast: over forty million Hispanics speak their native language anywhere they please.

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