Senate supports English as U.S. national language

[Zerohero]

After a charged debate, the Senate has approved a Republican proposal to designate English as the national language of the United States.

It was not clear, though, whether the designation would be included in any immigration law ultimately enacted, because the Senate also approved a Democratic amendment declaring English the "common and unifying" language of the country.

The House of Representatives did not include a similar provision on English in the bill it passed in December. Which description is included in the final legislation sent to the president for his consideration would have to be negotiated between the House and the Senate.

Backers of the Senate Republican proposal, approved Thursday, 63 to 34, said that it was equivalent to establishing an official national anthem or motto and that it would simply affirm the pre- eminence of English without overturning laws or rules on bilingualism.

"We're free to say what we want, speak what we want, but it is our national language," said Senator Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican.

The Democratic proposal, approved later, 58 to 39, was made by Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado, one of several members of his party who said the Republican measure was needlessly divisive and would reduce multilingual government programs. "We are taking a step backward from the progress America has made," Salazar said.

Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate Democratic leader, said the Republican amendment was racist. "Everybody who speaks with an accent knows that they need to learn English just as fast as they can," he said.

Under the Republican proposal, the federal government is directed to "preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America." It does not go as far as proposals to designate English the country's official language, which would require all government publications and business to be in English.

Instead, it says government services and publications now offered in other languages would be unaffected. But the proposal declares that no one has "a right, entitlement, or claim to have the government of the United States or any of its officials or representatives act, communicate, perform or provide services or provide materials in any language other than English."

Critics said they feared the directive could lead government agencies to scale back their bilingual efforts, cause discrimination against people who do not speak English, disrupt emergency operations in communities with populations of immigrants and have other unintended consequences.

The Republican proposal was made by Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who is proficient in Spanish from his days as a pilot in Mexico. He said critics were exaggerating the potential effect of his plan.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/19/news/english.php

[Prey521]

Do most countries declare a national language?

[Zerohero]

Do most countries declare a national language?

I would think so, but most countries probably don't have to since the majority of their culture is one way or the other.

[YARDofSTUF]

Do most countries declare a national language?

Who cares, sounds good to me.

[Croc]

Now that's over, how long will it be before a prerequisite for permanent residency will be that the person speaks the "national language"?

Our Deputy PM here has already made that call for future immigrants. Either embrace our language or don't bother coming.