Increasingly in this country, states, cities and counties are being required to post dual language signs for services. There are also more and more forms and instructions which are having to be printed in two languages.

You're telling me that your legislators have passed laws in various states saying,

Be it hereby enacted as a Federal/State Law that, from the date hereof:-

(1) Driving Tests shall be conducted in the language of the candidate,

(2) Forms appertaining to government business shall be made available in any language required by the applicant, and

(3) Any instructions issued by a government department shall be issued in all languages necessary for them to be understood by the intended recipients.

OK - I know you don't write laws like that, but I exaggerate to make a point. If you are aware of such a law or byelaw, please tell me. I shall be amazed, but I suppose nothing is beyond the politically correct brigade.


What galls me is that more regulations are being written which force states which do not have a large Hispanic population, to spend the funds necessary to print dual language forms, even though they probably won't have much use for them.

If that's true, I agree it's stupid to require states that have no speakers os a particular language to legislate in that language. But in USA, this might just be the legislature being forward thinking. Some states will soon become predominantly Spanish speaking, by all accounts. Only oppressive legislation coupled with the brutal suppression of Hispanics will stop that. Take it from us Brits. We know. We've done it. Otherwise, it's a nonsense.

But it's dafter of the state concerned not to seek a waiver or exemption.

... the city of Philadelphia forced that business owner to remove his "English Only" sign or face stiff fines. Mind you, he wasn't trying to prohibit non-English speakers, merely informing his customers that English was the only language he spoke.

The Irish have been coming into the UK for hundreds of years looking for work. In the 1950's many Jamaicans came to this country to settle down and try to find work. At that time it was common to see signs in many hotels/hostels, shops and workplaces saying "No Irish, No Blacks. No Gypsies." Some of the hostels might have added, "No dogs." Those signs are illegal now.

It is just possible that the Philadelphia authorities interpreted "English only" as racial rather than linguistic. It was definitely intended to be provocative because in an English-speaking district, you would announce that you speak other languages if you do, but you would not bother to announce that you speak the same language as almost everyone else unless you had an ulterior motive. Do they prohibit signs that say "Ici on parle Francais" or "Hier Mann spricht Deutsche"?

Again, almost no argument, except the part about them not forcing English speakers to learn another language. It can be kind of difficult to learn something when half of your lessons are given in a language you don't understand. And as you say, you don't have to go to that school. UNLESS that school is the public school where you live and that second language is MANDATED by the state of federal authorities. Then you have the choice of attending a dual language PUBLIC school, or paying for a private school. My argument is that the dual or foreign language schools should be the private schools, not funded by tax dollars.

I suppose I have to concede a lot of what you say here. I agree you cannot legislate against wilful ignorance.

I don't see why that prevents a state running dual langage schools in districts where two langages are spoken. I don't think state schools should be dual language in areas where only one language is spoken, but I doubt there are many (or do they bus people in to justify it?).

Moreover, I don't suppose the pupils of the Khalil Gibran International Acadamy will be 100% English speaking, or that pupils who have no desire to learn Arabic will be forced to attend it. Meanwhile, the new school adds to the richness and diversity of New York's culture. And Arabic speaking Americans (13th most common language in USA according to the 1990 census) are just as entitled to receive a full education as Spanish speaking Americans, French speaking Americans or English speaking Americans.

But the way things seem to be going, that examiner in Hickville might lose his job if he doesn't understand Spanish.

I won't hold my breath until that happens.


And what if it's an Arabic driver. Must he learn Arabic as well? And Portuguese? And Russian, and Turkish and every Chinese dialect also?

If, and only if, there's a justifiable demand for it. And then, why not?

For better or for worse, the US is an English speaking country.

... and Spanish, and French, and German. There are hundreds of languages spoken in USA, including many that are native to your country.

You want to become a US citizen? Learn to speak the language!

Which one?

Oh and I just read an article on emigrating to Mexico. It wasn't official, but it didn't mention the need to learn Spanish once. And Spanish is not Mexico's official language de jure, just de facto.