Linguistic Unity Is Critical in an Increasingly Diverse Society

America's linguistic unity, that enabled the melting-pot crucible to forge one nation out of millions of immigrants from all over the world, is under pressure as never before in our history. The record numbers of non-English speaking immigrants the United States is receiving is adding to the nation’s diversity and putting enormous pressure on the assimilation process.

Census data confirms this. The number of households the Census classifies as “linguistically isolated” grew 65 percent between 1990 and 2000. More U.S. residents now speak a language other than English at home than at any time since Census began collecting the data. Census data also reveals the presence of growing enclaves in urban areas in which a language other than English is now the dominant language.  

But rather than encouraging new immigrants to acquire the English skills they need to assimilate and succeed in our society as it did in the past, government policy has shifted to one of promoting "linguistic diversity" by attempting to accommodate and conduct government operations in multiple languages.

Changing that policy, and restoring the melting pot model that has been so successful in making this country “one nation, out of many,” is the goal of the official English movement.   

Evidence that linguistic divisions exacerbate differences between groups is not hard to find. Across the globe countries that are divided by language are torn by social and political conflict, often violent conflict. The few exceptions, notably Switzerland, are countries in which racial, religious, and cultural barriers are weak or non-existent.

As the late Barbara Jordan, chair of the U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform observed, "Cultural and religious diversity does not pose a threat to the national interest as long as public policies insure civic unity." Designating one language for government speech is such a policy.  
 
Official English does not mean “English only.” None of the 30 states with official English laws prohibit government agencies from using other languages when there is a compelling public interest for doing so. These include: protecting public health and safety, assuring equality before the law, promoting tourism, teaching foreign languages, providing for national defense, and many other legitimate, common sense needs.
 
Over 85 percent of the world’s countries have at least one official language. Designating English our official language simply means that for the government to act officially, it must communicate in English. It means the default language of government operations is English, and no one has a unilateral right to demand government services in another language.