In a recent interview with CNN, Carly Fiorina stated that despite admiring Jeb Bush’s multilingualism, English is the official language of the U.S. She seems to have forgotten that there are many cultures and languages represented within the U.S., each deserving to be understood and valued. While English is undoubtedly the default language, that doesn’t mean it is the official one.
Some members of the Republican Party take Fiorina’s views even further, believing that bilingualism is bad for American society. It takes a certain amount of cultural arrogance to believe that children in the U.S. shouldn’t have to learn foreign languages. While students in other countries start learning foreign languages as early as age 6, many students in our country do not start to learn a foreign language until high school.
Even those who receive good grades in those classes often end up with little to no proficiency in the language over the long term.
Learning languages promotes cultural understanding across the board. Speaking only one language narrows the amount of media one can consume, allowing for a skewed and one-sided understanding of the world. Learning about language and culture often go hand in hand, and it is often hard to understand the nuances of culture without speaking the language. For example, take the media coverage of the animosity between Russia and Ukraine. None of the major networks distinguished between ethnic Russians who speak Russian, Ukrainians who speak Russian, and Ukrainians who speak Ukrainian. These were important distinctions to make in this instance, as there were a number of ethnic Russians in Crimea who wanted to be annexed into Russia.
Those who speak, or at least learn, some Spanish understand that every country that speaks Spanish possesses its own unique words and phrases. Anyone who has taken a Spanish class probably knows this, even if they are not fluent. Often Spanish speakers get lumped into one group, although not all Spanish-speaking cultures are the same.
If English were to be made the official language of the U.S., it would take away resources from individuals whose English proficiency is lacking. They would be disconnected from what goes on in their children’s schools or their government.
The “us vs. them” mentality that would be imposed by making English the official language is also extremely counterproductive. Like it or not, people who don’t speak English live in the U.S., and learning a new language as an adult is hard. Children who go to American schools will learn English, but their parents might not. Yes, their lives would be much easier if they knew English, and they deserve access to resources that would help them learn English if they chose to do so, but in the meantime, two-way communication is still necessary. Those who have limited proficiency in English still deserve access to health care, education, forms and contracts in their native language. Not knowing what is going on when they receive a letter from their child’s school because it is in a language they do not understand only serves to frighten and alienate people, not “motivate” them to learn more English.
Multilingualism should be encouraged. Discouraging the learning of other languages makes English seem like the superior language, feeding into anti-immigrant ideologies. The truth is there are people with limited English proficiency who live in the U.S., and they make valuable contributions to society. Offering resources in languages other than English is an essential first step towards enabling those communities to become even more valuable.
Nicole Dan is a UF political science sophomore. Her column usually appears on Mondays.
