Wednesday, January 31, 2007
English the official state language?
Posted by: John Flick
Not everyone is speaking the same language on a bill our state lawmakers will tackle this session... literally.
Some legislators propose making English the "Official State Language." What this means for you is all those documents paid for by taxpayer dollars would no longer be translated for Spanish speakers. Supporters of the bill say that would save on printing costs.
Former Senator Carol Martin proposed the bill in the past. She told us if you translate those documents for one group of people, you have to do it for all languages.
Patricia Fennell with Latino Community Development worries people who only speak Spanish will lose out on state services because they won't understand reading material and may be too embarrassed to ask for help.
She admits, "If you're going to live in this country you need to learn English. It's in your own personal advantage. Although from personal experience, I can tell you that English is not a very easy language to learn."
Similar bills have been brought up before, but have never passed. Will this year bring a new outlook on the language question? Tell us what you think.
Not everyone is speaking the same language on a bill our state lawmakers will tackle this session... literally.
Some legislators propose making English the "Official State Language." What this means for you is all those documents paid for by taxpayer dollars would no longer be translated for Spanish speakers. Supporters of the bill say that would save on printing costs.
Former Senator Carol Martin proposed the bill in the past. She told us if you translate those documents for one group of people, you have to do it for all languages.
Patricia Fennell with Latino Community Development worries people who only speak Spanish will lose out on state services because they won't understand reading material and may be too embarrassed to ask for help.
She admits, "If you're going to live in this country you need to learn English. It's in your own personal advantage. Although from personal experience, I can tell you that English is not a very easy language to learn."
Similar bills have been brought up before, but have never passed. Will this year bring a new outlook on the language question? Tell us what you think.
posted by John Flick at 7:33 AM
10 Comments:
English should be the official language for Oklahoma, and the United States. Too many non-speaking immigrants are illegal and we don't owe them anything yet taxes are spent on translations into Spanish, providing social services, medical care, schooling, etc. Maybe these taxes could be better spent teaching English to all, not just Latino, immigrants living here who avail themselves of our culture, its schools, medical facilities, neighborhoods, cities and state. When will we stop favoring a group who illegally lives here yet threatens our very political system and social structure to sustain itself? When will we start taking care of our legitimate citizenry by providing a decent wage, healthcare, education, jobs, housing, roads, highways, etc? It's time to take care of our own and for requirements of citizenship and naturalization to be enforced!
I know that there are many schools and other entities that offer English as a Second Language classes at no cost. If individuals whose first language is other than English really want to be a integral part of America and Oklahoma they should take advantage some of these FREE classes and learn English. It is also very unwise to rely on a young child to interpret for you as do so many non-English speaking individuals.
We need to start somewhere. I work in fostercare and with the illigals. We pick up their children, but because we can't find people who are predators that are illegal we can't protect them. We can't terminate because the parents and the children are illegal. And they don't deport them and I'm not sure why that is. The parents have no drivers lisence but yet they drive.Are there two sets of laws now.
We all know that English is the language of the dollar, so Rep Martin's bill will not be any more effective than the current market place. Documents are traslated into other languages for the benefit of government, not the users. In a profit driven world, the market place will use whatever languages it needs to make money, hence the reason bank ATms offer service in Spanish. Let the marketplace decide the language of commerce
If only these comments were rooted in a genuine sense of fiscal responsibility and not bigotry. C'mon folks, you've found an acceptable forum for espousing your agenda that consists of discrimination against a rapidly expanding population of Mexican immigrants. You don't care if they're legal or not. All you care about is that the face of Oklahoma is changing like every other state in this country and you're scared that it's not the white blue-eyed blond face you're accustomed to seeing. Well, making English the official language will not stop the trend nor quell your fears.
C'mon ya'll...perhaps the debate we should be havin' is that of the ways in which Oklahomans annunicate thar words. The butcherin' the English language takes from many Oklahomans is proof that many of us would benefit from those them thar free English classes mentioned by another blogger. Let's get real...we can sit back and criticize Mexican-Americans for not learning English, but are we really helping them have a clear understanding of how the English language should be spoken?
We need to stop this . Our language is ENGLISH. Not mexican german or any other. I have been around the world and took the time to learn others language. The other day at a UP post Office I watched pass ports being given to a group of mexicans that could NOT speak or understand ENGLISH. This is getting dumb. How is it that you can get a passport without understanding english ? Because we as a nation have done this multi language thing. THE STATE HAS NOT MOVED FROM THE US AND THAT MEANS THE LANGUAGE IS ENGLISH.
Frank Marrazo
Supporting bilingual bills that prefers Spanish as a second language over other languages is both unfair and wrong. So, let's make English as the official language. Taxpayers should not be required to provide unfair preference to Spanish speaking folks. There are many, many other languages spoken in Oklahoma that would be a better fit for a second language other than Spanish.
Seriously guys, no where in the Constitution does it say that there is or should be an "official" language of the United States. There should be no need for an official language either. America was meant to embrace new ideas. And stopping a state's ability to change is just one small step away from stopping America from changing. And when America stops changing and embracing new ideas, that will be the end of America.
English is our common language not only in Oklahoma but in the United States. I believe my tax dollars could be better well spent on something other than translating all of our government documents into other languages. With what language do we draw the line? I completely understand why so many people want to live in my country. It is the best country on the planet. But with that comes the responsibility of coming here legally and learning the language and customs of this country. Personally, I don't understand why the U.S. should compromise its values because someone didn't like their homeland and choose to leave their country, language and customs and move here. If you have made that choice then you should understand that we speak and read in English in the United States of America and should be prepared to do that.
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