by Nox Makabi

Created on: July 30, 2008

By no means should English be the only language spoken in this country. Not a single place on Earth does there exist a country where only one language is spoken. I do, however, firmly believe that if you so much as VISIT a country, you should at least be fluent in essential phrases of that country's language. I see it as a great disrespect if you visit a country and know nothing of its primary language. In America, English is the language. Since the influx of immigrants, there has been much dispute. Yes, Spanish has become a very prevalent language spoken in the states but BY NO MEANS should this nation cater to the newcomers. If they want to call this country home, they should be able to say it in English. They should have enough respect to assimilate into the cultures. The cultutres should not conform to its new members.

There are a few examples of why people in this country should speak English. One warm evening the ice cream truck made its way throughout my neighborhood. I was waiting outside with my dollar twenty-five and as the truck came to a stop I approached the window. Asking for what I wanted the response I was given was a simple, "No hablo englaise." I calmly made my way back into my house. That experience made me so unspeakably angry. Habitant of this country for all eighteen years of my life, I never once was faced with such a gap. The wall between this man and myself was something a bit incomprehensable. I soon will make my vacation to Marseilles, France. I proudly have five years of French under my belt and I will be glad to pay the people I encounter the greatest respect with my ability to speak their language. There is no greater display of ignorance than residing in or visiting a country and not speaking the language.

English is the language of business. World-wide there are countless people who get by on a day-to-day basis with a limited knowledge of English, but they try. The Mexicans coming into this country have no prior exposure to English and this has caused a divide. This is the worst kind of wall that could divide the members of a nation. There is a mixture of native English speakers with no exposure to other languages. The real xenophobes who believe whole-heartedly that English is god and there is nothing higher. There are the numberous people with a general awareness of other languages, the ones who dabble with language cassettes but give up shortly after. Also there are the people who are bi-lingual or multi-lingual. They have the greatest advantage, but there are also those countless among us with no skill or knowledge of the language they must understand in order to get by.

I still do not believe that English should be the only language spoken in this country. If we were so selfish to say that, we would lose much of the culture diversity this country posseses. English is the primary language, a public language that has an irreplaceable role in America. Other languages are just as irreplaceable. Where would we be after a long day of work when we go home and can't speak a different language. My sister and I converse in French every so often and I think its a wonderful thing. Families in this country speak their language at home and transition to English while at work. When dealing with common people and people of a country that one does not personaly know, speak to them on a personal level in the language they are most accustomed to.

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