English only in Chicago suburb
Carpentersville, a suburb of Chicago with 37,000 residents, voted this week to make English the only official language, despite the fact that 40% of the residents are Latino.
According to Trustee Judy Sigwalt, quoted in the Chicago Tribune, multiple languages are responsible for tearing her community – and country – apart.
Village President Bill Sarto, however, thinks that the measure will only succeed in painting Carpentersville as an unwelcoming community.
So who’s right? Should multilingual communities be encouraged or suppressed? Do they help to unite or divide? Have a look at the article and decide for yourself…
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June 23rd, 2007 at 3:34 am
Living here and being envolved in the process, I can tell you right now, it is should be required to speak English. All legal immigrants have gone though the process of learning English. It is a requirement of citizenship! Sure, nobody can tell people what they can say at home or on the street. But why should any village or city be required to provide information in other languages? Should the people that wish to use other language bear the cost of translating information. Why should my money be used to educate those that should have a working knowledge of the American speaking language of English? Why come here if you want to join us?
June 23rd, 2007 at 3:30 pm
First, the resolution does absolutely nothing. It is NOT English Only. It simply repeats what the State of Illinois already has - nothing to even encourage English.
Society is doing a disservice to any ethnic minority that it encourages to segregate itself by a language. When governments cater to a specific language, it lowers the overall educational level of the entire society.
Where are you now required to speak a language other than english in the U.S. ? McDonalds, Burger king, landscaping companies and other low paying jobs. Although there are now higher paying jobs that require a language other than english, those jobs have had their pay level REDUCED. Making it possible to exist in our country without being conversant in english will result in the same outcome we have seen in other countries. Can we not learn from the mistakes of others?
My family immigrated to an english speaking country from a non-english country but before we could go, every member of the family over the age of 16 had to be conversant with “working english”. Yes, there was a test.
Successive administrations in D.C. have committed treason to our citizens by not enforcing immigration laws for over 40 years. This is why there is now a backlash of sentiment against non-english speakers because the illegal element of our population has risen to be as high as 40,000,000 or more.
The back-lash needs to be directed at your elected officials.
Call your Senators and tell then you are against any immigration reform (other than the removal of EMTALA, anchor baby and education of illegal residents at taxpayer expense) until the illegal population drops below 100,000.
With proper enforcement of current immigration laws, the non-english speaking component of our society will not be assimilated. If we continue to cater to foreign languages, assimilation WILL NOT occur. Until we start to elect people with a spine to office, our country will continue to deteriorate and you will witness the removal of our middle class which will complete the decline of our once great country!
June 26th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
[…] base highlights a recent move to make English the official language of Carpentersville, Illinois, a town not far from my hometown. This situation in Carpentersville stands out because 40 per cent […]
June 26th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I disagree with the spirit of English only legislation and don’t see any point to this latest measure - it seems intended to say “we don’t like you.” If the proponents of this measure were actually interested in bringing the community together, there are plenty of ways to do that. But they chose this.
It saddens me and embarrasses me as an American to see intolerance expressed about language and issues like this. It also disturbs me that what seems to be most prevalent on the web as far as people expressing their opinion seems to be in support of this kind of legislation. For other Americans like me, who oppose the spirit of this legislation - where are your comments?
I found another article in the Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-sarto_sub_20jun20,1,1860473.story?ctrack=1&cset=true) - an editorial about the mayor, who in fact opposed the measure, and thought he made a nice point:
“He’s thought in a new way about his grandparents, Italian immigrants. His grandmother never learned more English than she needed to raise her seven kids and send her English-speaking sons off to fight in World War II.
He’s been thinking about the Polish caretakers who came into his house to tend to his father-in-law.
“It gave me a look at the rest of the world and how they view America,” he said.
His Spanish doesn’t extend much beyond “gracias.”
“But lately,” he said, “I’ve been thinking that instead of pointing the finger at others and saying, ‘Learn our language,’ maybe I could learn some of theirs. It would be a good way to reach out to other people.””
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I wish this were a more common view in America.
June 29th, 2007 at 2:04 am
Declaring English the official language of our government is essential and beneficial for the Village and its residents. Official English unites the community by providing a common means of communication; it encourages immigrants to learn English in order to use government services and participate in the democratic process; and it defines a much-needed common sense language policy. We support Official English because:
1. Official English promotes unity
There are 132 languages spoken in Illinois and many of those are spoken in our Village. Immigrants of many nationalities built our community, but the “melting pot” melded us into one people. This long tradition of assimilation has always included the adoption of English as the common means of communication.
Unfortunately, the proliferation of multilingual government sends the opposite message to non-English speakers: it is not necessary to learn English because the government accommodates them in other languages. A study published by the U.S. Department of Labor found that immigrants are slower to learn English when they receive a lot of native language support (Monthly Labor Review, December 1992). Thus, multilingual government services actually encourage the separation into linguistic districts. This division of the Village into separate language groups contributes to racial and ethnic conflicts. Designating English as the official language helps reverse this harmful process.
2. Official English is pro-immigrant
Immigrants benefit from the elevation of English to official status. Instead of the mixed message government sends by making it possible to receive a host of services in a variety of languages, immigrants will understand that they must know English to participate fully in the process of our government. Providing multilingual services creates dependence on “linguistic welfare.”
Bilingual-education programs say to Hispanic parents: “Your children aren’t real Americans and never will be.” Bilingual education ensures Hispanic children will grow up to be second-class citizens because such programs keep Hispanic children from learning English when they are young and can do so most easily.
Life without English proficiency is a life of low-skilled, low-paying jobs. Studies of Census data show that an immigrant’s income rises about 30% because of learning English. Knowledge of English leads to the realization of the American dream of increased economic opportunity and the ability to become a more productive member of society, which benefits everyone.
3. Official English is common sense government
The designation of Official English eliminates the needless duplication of government services in multiple languages and the related expense. It is not the responsibility of the Village to provide services in the 132 different languages. It is the responsibility of each individual either to learn English or to find a friend or family member to translate.
Official English legislation recognizes the need for common sense exceptions permitting the use of other languages for emergency, safety and health services and foreign language instruction. Of course, because Official English is only a limitation on government, it does not affect the languages spoken in private businesses, religious services or private conversations.
Conducting meetings and proceedings, along with providing ordinances, forms, documents, publications, Web sites and signage in foreign languages, directly undermines our naturalization laws that require immigrants to learn English and needlessly costs our residents a fortune to maintain.
What does “Official English” mean? It means that our government has decided that in order for its actions, laws and business to be authoritative, they must be communicated in the English language. It means that there can be no disagreement about which language is the controlling one for discerning the meaning that government intends. And it means that absent a broad, public interest reason for using another language, the default language of all government operations is English.
Official English also sends a message to all those who want to participate as citizens in this great community, that there are responsibilities as well as benefits for being here. And, one of those responsibilities is learning to speak the language of our Country — English. There is no reason why our expectations for non-English speaking immigrants today should be less than our expectations for the generations of immigrants that preceded them.
English is the glue that unites citizens of all races, colors and creeds. It is vital to the assimilation and advancement of new immigrants, and to the future well being of our Village. Federal law requires people to demonstrate their ability to read and understand basic English in order to naturalize. A recent Zogby poll found that 79% of voters and 81% of recent immigrants supported such a law. Therefore, there is no valid reason to have bilingual communications in our Village governmental process.