Nicolas Clancy

Ms. McPherson

5/17/19

English 12

Should English be America’s First language?

America home of the brave land of the many. America is quite diverse especially for its

population size for it being a first world country. With that being said a great many languages are

spoken across this nation. Even still most countries have an official language even those with

much diversity. Take Papua New Guinea for example which has the highest Language Diversity

Index (LDI). Despite being the most language-diverse nation, housing over 850 actively spoken

languages, it has four official languages Tok Pisin, English, Hiri Motu, and Papua New Guinean

Sign Language. Does America also need an official language? If so, which language should it

be? While America doesn’t necessarily need an official language there are a multitude of benefits

of having one. The most obvious candidate for America’s official language would be English.

English is the most commonly spoken language in America, as well as the world. It ranks third

under primary language but, due to the amount of people who know it as a secondary language,

its total beats Chinese by a small margin. Making English the official language would help

America greatly. First of all, an official language’s primary duty is to establish the official

language spoken in politics and by its citizens. If a politician were to speak only in Spanish or

German, this would be harmful for the general public as most wouldn’t understand said

politician’s policies; it would also harm the politician as they would probably not receive votes.

In courts this would guarantee understanding between jury and witnesses as well as lawyers.
English is also the most spoken language in the world and its popularity only grows, it would

benefit America to stay ahead of the curve. Many developed nations also have an official

language, and as such America needs to keep pace acquiring one of its own. Additionally, the

counter argument towards English being an official language are weak. There is no clear reason

to not establish English as the official language.

It is important for America to keep up with its fellow modernized, developed nations.

Around half of all countries, 179, have an official language. Germanys’ official language is

German, Italy’s is unsurprisingly Italian, and Spain’s is Spanish. As previously mentioned even

the most linguistically diverse nation has English included, amongst its official languages. These

countries have reaped the rewards of having an official language for some time now, and it is

time for America to do the same. Other countries have been given time for foreign assimilation

as well as the unification for its people and its foolish for America to still have no assigned an

official language. Additionally, most states have made English the official language of said state,

so public sentiment towards this topic seems to favor establishing English as the official

language. English being looked upon favorably is not only found when looking at the states, but

even behind closed doors. One study found that percentage for those “speaking a language other

than English at home was 21.6 percent in 2016” (Language Line Solutions Teams). First and

foremost, it helps to legitimize politics, organize the government, and reduce federal costs.

An official’s language primary goal is to streamline politics so as to make understanding

easier for the public as well as making the government more efficient and transparent. The costs

for juggling the needs of a multilingual country are immense. These costs tend to occur on a

micro level rather than federal. For example, “Los Angeles in 2002, $15 million, or 15 percent of

the election budget, was devoted to printing ballots in seven languages and hiring bilingual poll
workers” (Brandon Brice). This is a large amount of local budget being unnecessarily devoted to

supporting seven languages. Such money would be much more useful spent elsewhere,

especially since 231 million Americans speak English as their primary language, while 40

million primarily speak Spanish. Other than English the only other language that could

reasonably be supported in Spanish, however seven languages other than English being

supported is completely unnecessary. This is also looking at one city, not accounting for the

“billions of dollars” (Brice) spent yearly accommodating languages. Even private companies

who accept Medicare payments must provide a translator for those who request one. It is also

significant that laws and politicians utilize a form of communication that most of the public can

easily understand. There should be legal precedent stating that the government cannot make laws

in Portuguese or some other obscure language.

There are many counterarguments to English becoming America’s official language,

however these arguments are more than fallible. One such argument is that it encroaches on

people’s rights and freedoms. However, an official language does nothing to the masses but

rather only affects the government. Foreigners choosing to permanently reside in America would

be encouraged to speak the official language but may choose not to if they so wish. Another

argument made is that America is too diverse, or “America is a country of immigrants”. This is

not a viable argument as there are many countries founded on immigrants or with a multitude of

cultures yet still have official languages. Additionally, English becoming an official language

does not inhibit the use of other languages, not only this but Spanish could possibly be made

official as well.

An official language is not established to impede on the civil liberties of an individual.

Rather, it is made to unite a nation so its people can understand each other, as well as keep its
own government in check. Those who oppose this push fear the cleansing of language diversity

in America. However, an official language can most certainly exist while the nation’s people

speak in another tongue. It is time for America to follow suit, following even the most

linguistically diverse country in the world (Papua New Guinea) and establish English as the

official language.
Sources:

 Burton, James. “The Most Spoken Languages In America.” WorldAtlas, 30 Dec. 2015,

www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-most-spoken-languages-in-america.html.

 “Why English Should Be the Official Language of the United States.” The Washington

Times, The Washington Times, 31 Dec. 2014,

www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/31/why-english-should-be-official-language-

united-sta/.

 “List of territorial entities where English is an official language” WikiStudys, 29, Oct.

2015 http://www.emmc-imae.org/wp-content/uploads/Map-of-countries-where-English-

is-an-official-language.pdf

 “Census: More than 20 percent of U.S. residents speak a language other than English at

home” The Language Line Solutions Team, http://blog.languageline.com/limited-english-

proficient-census