Essay/Term paper: The need for an official language

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Literary Essays

The Need for an Official Language


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. People 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.