"English"?!
"We have really everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language"
;-)

I think of l'hexagone when I hear this sort of talk about official languages for the US - or anywhere else. The fact is that it's a denial of reality: the US is a multilingual country and essentially a bilingual country and the hispanophone community is going to continue to grow. France has had for a longer time than many countries a centralised, authoritarian language policy that has been mitigated for some decades now by la Loi Deixonne. As a result of this all the "petites langues" have been in retreat and the languages of the "new French" have been treated as second class, barriers to the assimilation of various communities.

I think the US is big enough and strong enough to take the chance and have no official language. English isn't in danger - any more than French is in danger in France. If the US grasps the nettle and resists the temptation to linguistic homogenisation I think it will come out stronger (internally).

An American friend of mine would say: "Oh, no! I'm gonna have to learn a foreign language". ;-)

I suppose language has been used as a tool to reinforce and even create whole nations, the linguistic boundaries becoming the boundaries for the country. However, once a country is established and safe in its borders, why discourage linguistic diversity? Nowadays, children are encouraged to learn Basque at school, and the use of several languages in France isn't seen as a threat to national identity. The natural evolution in the USA is that the Spanish-speaking population is growing much faster than the English-speaking one, why not recognise that fact instead of trying to impose a language as "official"? As Jim said, isn't that a barrier to assimilation?

We shouldn't have an official language. It's bad public policy, plain and simple. One of the negative side effects of the Inhofe amendment to the bill is that US government offices aren't necessarily required to provide any translations of documents into other languages.

The amendment passed (what do you expect with this Congress?), but it was weakened and English was declared to be the "national" language instead of the "official" language, and an alternative amendment put forth to compete against the Inhofe amendment declared English to be "the common and unifying language" of the United States.

Anyway, it's all a bit confusing about what's going to happen because both amendments passed. Lawmakers will have to resolve this and come up with some single coherent law, and then we'll see what this will mean for immigrants, bilingual services (especially government services), etc.

I like the New York Times editorial quote: "This country has always come to regret official actions that exclude and alienate large populations of newcomers. It has never stood prouder than when it greeted them with openness and confidence, in the spirit behind the motto 'E pluribus unum.' Sorry - make that 'Out of many, one.' "

As a European who has lived in the U.S. for a long time, I am appalled by the sentiments that have driven those bills. On the other hand, it cannot be denied that the U.S. is a country where many assert their "rights" by vigouros litigation and often at great cost to everyone else. If my county has to pay for disseminating information in 17 languages, it is my tax money that is spent. If my school district is forced to teach a child in, for example, Korean (in reality that's the least likely scenario), it is my property tax that is spent. So while it is utter nonsense to legislate a particular language as the "common and unifying language," I do understand the desire to stop hemorrhaging money by being forced to provide public services in dozens or even hundreds of languages.

What's all the fuss? We'll all be speaking mandarin soon enough!

I believe it is merely symbolic; a political gesture. It will make no real difference. Language has a life of its own and whatever will be will be. If we are destined to speak Spanish or Mandarin no legislation can stop it. Might as well declare Klingon the official language for all the good legislation will do.

(Your filter would not accept my URL or my email. What is objectionable about www.l y n n s p a c e.com ?)