Could someone who doesn’t speak English be considered an American?

44 comments

1. Yes, but that would be a somewhat unusual situation.

2. Absolutely. It’s really only about citizenship, I’d even consider long term residents without citizenship to be American, as long as that’s what they consider themselves.

3. Yeah they would, but I think they are doing themselves a disservice. I dated a girl who is a dreamer about 10 years ago and I bumped into her and her son a few weeks ago. I spoke to her son who is six in English and his mother said oh he only speaks Spanish. So I chatted with him a bit in Spanish, but when we parted a felt kinda bad for the kid and kinda mad at his mom.

4. Yes.

5. Yes. One thing that a lot of people dont know because it seems so obvious is that the US has no official language. English is just the most commonly spoken language.

6. If you’re an American citizen, you’re American.

7. Oh for God’s sake yes. The words you use have nothing to do with it.

8. 100% yes. While the vast majority of Americans speak at least some English, there is no official language here in the US. There are definitely neighborhoods where you could get by just fine in another language. Most official paperwork is available in multiple languages as well. In Los Angeles, for example, voting material is available in 20 different languages.

9. Americans are born all over the world, some just haven’t come home yet.

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   So it makes sense some Americans might not know English.

10. Sure. I run into lots of them! They run some of the best little restaurants here in Massachusetts.

11. Yes there is no language requirement to be a citizen.

12. Absolutely yes.

    Culturally at least, as long as you live (or have lived) in the US and think of yourself as an American, you’re American.

    There are people who would disagree, and of course legally citizenship matters, but as far as cultural identity goes, you could have lived in the US for 5 minutes and still be an American.

13. It’s actually way less complicated in the US. There’s no language gatekeeping to be considered an American. If you’re a citizen, you’re an American. End of story.

    Knowing English makes things much easier but it’s not a requirement

14. The United States has no official language, so it is a rather simple answer of yes.

15. Yes, for citizens who are born here, there’s no requirement to speak English. For naturalized citizens, there is a basic level of English required and tested for before becoming a citizen.

16. Not complicated at all in the US, really. Language isn’t a determining factor for whether or not someone’s American.

    Someone can be considered American while only speaking Dutch. Or Navajo. Or Chinese. Or Spanish. Or any language, really. It’s unusual since there’s so much advantage to speaking English and people who don’t learn English at all are often people who immigrated as older adults and don’t even consider themselves American, but it’s not that rare.

17. Yes. The biggest example of this is Puerto Rico. All Puerto Ricans are Americans, but most Puerto Ricans don’t speak English fluently.

18. If *you* moved here and only spoke Dutch and then obtained citizenship, you would be an American.

19. My great grandmother’s first language was German and she was second generation American.

20. “American” is an idea, a way of being, not a language or ethnicity.

21. Of course they can. Prior to World War II there were entire cities that only spoke native languages, French, German or Spanish. That didn’t make them any less American

22. Are you a citizen? If so, you’re automatically a citizen. Hell, you don’t even have to be a citizen to be considered an American by many.

23. Yes.

24. Have you ever heard an island called Puerto Rico? Spanish is still the dominant language there.

    They’re Americans just the same as nationalized citizens who predominantly speak their native tongue in ethnic enclaves scattered throughout the country. A language barrier doesn’t preclude someone from having the same rights as I do, there just may be a few challenges for them

25. Yes. Despite some very vocal assholes, they would be considered Americans by many Americans. The key really is them themselves seeing themselves as American, wanting to *be* American.

26. Yes, language doesn’t matter for citizenship. I used to teach English as a second language to student who were in the US preparing to start university. A handful of them were born here when their parents had been studying years ago and thus were citizens despite never really living in the states and speaking limited English. I also had a few students who had babies while studying here; they planned to move back home but saw it as a huge advantage that their child would have citizenship.

    However, if you’re applying for citizenship the test is in English so you’d have to learn it. But there are many people here legally that don’t speak English well or at all

27. Of course! There is nothing in the legal definition of “American Citizen” related to the language one speaks. Think of babies who don’t speak at all!

28. There is no national language. To be considered American you simply have to be born here.(and you can still be considered American if one or both of your parents were born here and you weren’t, if certain criteria are met)

29. Of course.

30. Yes? If you’re a citizen you’re American

31. As long as you hold citizenship you’re American wether you speak the common languages or not, obviously it’s easier for you if you speak English and Spanish as the more common two but not impossible to do well without them.

32. If you’re a citizen you’re American!

    The US is a melting pot, baby!!!

33. Citizenship ≠ language or ethnicity in America.

34. Sure lots of Spanish speaking people in the US. Mexicans in Los Angeles and Cubans in Miami where I’m from

35. Yeah, there’s plenty of parts of the US where English isn’t that widespread and plenty of people who don’t speak English but are American citizens in other parts. Perfect example is Puerto Rico where Spanish is by far the dominant language but everyone is American. The US is definitely different than most of Europe due to it being an immigrant country from its inception and there being the Native American population as well. I would say the English language is a core part of the US being the main language of the country since it’s founding and the US being the home of the majority of native English speakers, but I wouldn’t say it’s a requirement to be American.

36. If you’re born here you’re an American. If you’re born elsewhere, move here, assimilate, and take the citizenship test, you’re an American. Period.

    You are unlikely to be a financially successful American if you don’t speak English, but you can still be an American without it.

    That said, there are only two ways that would happen:

    1. You’re born here and don’t learn English
    2. You’re over 50 years old and have held a green card for more than 20 years when you take the citizenship test

    So the answer is yes, but it’s unlikely

37. Babies born here can’t speak English and they’re considered Americans

38. Officially? Sure. We don’t have an official national language. Unofficially, sometimes immigrants might think of “Americans” as being mainstream English speakers and/or white people. And some folks will think of “real Americans” as being English-speakers and lament other people’s lack of English. In practice, once you get to 2nd, 3rd generation kids of immigrants, people are probably going to know English.

39. I mean English is the language of the land (not officially) but you can certainly live your whole life in America and not know a lick of English and still be American.

    You’ve got Cajuns in Louisiana speak a dialect of French, practically anyone in or west of Texas has a pretty ok chance of speaking Spanish as a first or second language, tons of Asian communities that speak their native languages, Native American tribes, they all are just as me, an American. Puerto Ricans, all those folks are American as fuck to me.

    Even Pacific Islanders that have the unfortunate opportunity of being under control of the US and aren’t citizens would be American to me.

    Being American is for everyone that truly wants to be.

40. I can hear many Puerto Ricans laughing in the background.

41. Yes large swaths of the country only speak Spanish. My neighborhood in the Bronx is Dominican. There are people who work at the nearby Target who don’t speak English.

42. Yes, but it’s extremely impractical to live in the U.S. with minimal English skills outside of a few ethnic enclaves

43. There are entire areas in the Southwest where you could 100% get by only speaking Spanish. I live in Southern CA in a large suburb or LA, and depending on what store I walk into, there’s like a 50/50 chance the store clerk will open the conversation in Spanish, and I’m very white. And every store for basic daily living needs has Spanish speaking staff, as do most law and accounting firms and medical offices.

    Now, I would find it hard to believe someone could make it through the public school system never learning English, and if you’re under 50, you have to take an English test to naturalize. But I’m sure there are some native born Americans and know there are a lot of older naturalized immigrants who don’t speak English.

44. I love living in a city where there are so many languages and not everyone can speak each others but you make an effort to learn basics in each to speak to each other… both people slowly picking up more and more. It keeps my mind sharp and always learning.