Language is the most important media in human communication. It makes
it much easier to exchange ideas. Imagine if everyone in this society spoke
his own language. What would our society looks like? Probably not as prosperious
as what we are now because business is very difficult to do due to the fact
that all documents have to be printed in different languages. Our whole society
would be split up because there is no communication between each other. The
fact that California has immigrants from different countries, makes different
languages to be used in our society. This causes us lots of trouble.
Printing the materials in two or three different languages costs our
government lots of money, in addition, it makes the operation of the government
inefficient. Everyone have to suffer from it because all this money come from
the tax.
Using different languages also breaks the unity of our society.
English: A memorial honouring Hans Meyer, the firs...
Arabic as official language
US states where English is an official languagePeople
are separated by what kind of language they speak; for example, people who speak
only Chinese will live in China Town. Those people also tend to hang around with
the same kind of people, those who speak Chinese. There is no communiaction
between them and the outside. Later on, different kinds of small groups will be
formed. Different gruops will have conflict since they don't share the same
culture, habit and language. The harmony of the whole society is going to break.
Development and growth of our society will slow down, and everyone have to suffer from it.
To avoid this, communication is needed to eliminate the conflict and misunderstanding.
This means we need to have a proper language that everyone can learn and use.
English is the best choice since most people know it. So it is necessary to make
English as the official language.
If English were the official language, all kinds of documents and publications in business
and government would be printed in English; in addition, all kinds of public services such as
the 911 Emergency service would be conducted in English.
For people who speak English fluently, there is no big difference for them. However,
those who don't know English, immigrants from other countries, will find their lives even
harder than before. To get a job will be difficult for them. Their inability to read the
publications from the government will cause them a lack of many kinds of benefits, rights
and services. For example almost impossible for them to get help from 911 Emergency
service if they don't know how to speak English. They cannot get their driver license because
of they don't know how to answer the questions in English. Moreover, they will not be
able to vote because they don't know how to fill out the ballot which is in English.
However, according to the Constitution, everyone in the country should have equal rights. So
, should we ignore the spirit of the Constitution?
For the good of the whole society, we definitely need to have an official language. However,
we cannot ignore the rights of those who don't speak English. They are also part of our
society. This brings the solution that we have to make some exceptional cases for this bill; for
example, the 911 Emergency Service, the driving test and the ballot must be excluded from it.
They should also be available in another language. Besides this, government should allocate
more resources in ESL education; makes it more accessible to those who want to learn
English. No matter what the government do, those who don't know English still have the
responsibility to learn English. Not only to make their lives better but also
for the benefit of the society.