An Issue of Time

Imagine you moved to Paris for your job. Imagine you are an American who has always spoken English. Imagine you receive a letter a week after you arrive in Paris. Imagine you receive a letter in the mail from the French government. This letter states that you must learn French within one year or face your work visa and passport being revoked.

What you have just imagined is what many people are proposing America should do to the millions of immigrant people within her shores today. Some may argue that such legislation would not go to that extreme; and that such laws would protect the English language in America, not force it on the people within her borders. But let us be logical, why else would such groups as ProEnglish and U.S English, Inc. wish to make English the official language if not to force the American population to speak only English?

America has always been a country of immigrants. Save the native population and their decedents, everyone that is currently in America came from somewhere else. Many of our ancestors likely spoke another language. Take the case of one of my close friends, Laura Huddleston; her grandmother came from Czechoslovakia and mainly spoke Czech. Laura herself spoke some of her grandmother’s native language, but was far more fluent in English. Note that in three generations time, Laura’s family had assimilated into using English.

That is what we are really dealing with here, a time issue. The children of foreign immigrants are learning English at school. The next generation after those children will have an even better understanding of English. Given time immigrant families will learn English. Do immigrants of this time period not deserve the same time allowances given to those in the past?

The ProEnglish official website states “the English fluency needed to succeed in our society.” Is that not why immigrants come to this country, to succeed in our society and our economy? If speaking English is indeed such a needed ability, then logically the people coming to this country, in order to improve their lives, will learn it. The legislation to make English America’s official language is unnecessary.