English as the Official Language Essay -- Language

â€Å"Emblematic of the period, Theodore Roosevelt asserted in 1919: ‘We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns out people as Americans and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding- house’ † (Daniels, 8). The question that has been around for hundreds of years: â€Å"Should English be declared the official language of the United States?† is still a controversy - refighting the same old sociolinguistic issue of the 1970s. The increased concern with different languages was obviously related to the World War but also to the major shift in the quantity of immigrants to America. For centuries, the United States of America has been considered the ultimate country where dreams are made and a place where everyone wants to migrate to for better living standards. It is argued that dialectally diverse nations need a standard language to permit mutual understanding and in a global society, for instance, it is the whole world that can benefit from a national language. French as well as Latin once took on this role as an international medium of communication and in this era, as well as the future years, English is and should be the global voice. Three episodes are worth examining in order to highlight the importance of America adopting English as the official language. How do immigrants affect the United States? What does it mean to make English the official language? And what are the advantages of making English the answer to unity? Although English and immigrants from all over the world are different means of reasoning, these issues reveal that they could be used for similar purposes in justifying this research. The debate regarding immigrants has been around for over one ... ...998): Web. 15 Apr. 2012. Daniels, Harvey. Not Only English: Affirming America’s Multilingual Heritage. Illinois: Urbana, 1990. Print. â€Å"Immigration.† Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 2011. Print. Mujica, Mauro. â€Å"Why the U.S. Needs an Official Language.† World and I. 2003. Web. 15 April 2012 Nicolino, Nicole M. "?Por que no podemos leer en la biblioteca?: questioning the application of official English legislation to public libraries." Journal of Gender, Race and Justice. (2007): 1. Web. Pelofsky, Jeremy. â€Å" Number Of Illegal Immigrants In The U.S. Is Stable.† Reuters. N.p. 24 March 2012. Web. 31 March 2012. â€Å"Real Solutions For The Economy: Stop Illegal Immigration.† John Birch Society. Savvy panda, n.d. Web. 11 April 12, 2012. Vall, Sandra Del. Language Rights And The Laws In The United States. NY: Tonowanda, 2003. Print.