Language is a unifying force
Presidents may come and go but our need to communicate with each other in understandable language remains. Over 30 million people in the U.S. have limited or no English. While U.S., not British, English is the major language of the world in trade, finance, computer communications, technology science, diplomacy, it is not the official language of the United States. We are raising a people who will not know their own major language in world affairs.
While we respect all languages, there are over 320 spoken in America; translations are bankrupting us. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate are considering H.R. 997/5503 “The English Language Unity Act” that would make English the official language in the U.S.
There is no reason for anyone not to learn basic English for, as a second language, it can be learned for free and costs the government in adult education very little money. My own parents did because they respected the citizens of America well enough to learn their language. Over 80 percent of Americans want English as their official language.
Translations and multilingual policies are estimated to cost $100 billion a year at this time of our debt crisis. Translations for prisons, driver’s licenses, voting, industry, education and health care services. For health care alone, costs are staggering at an estimated $267 million a year, putting a huge burden on hospitals and other medical facilities when their costs to them and us are already so high.
If you feel that our common language is the glue that binds us together as a nation and is important to our future, contact your congressmen and senators regarding the importance of passing H.R. 997/5503 “The English Language Unity Act.”
Rosemarie Kascher, Youngstown