I’ve got a question. Could a State be allowed to have a main Language other then English? For instance, could the Major Language of say, Lousiana be French, or with Hawai’i, Hawaiian instead of english as the main language?
for example, instead of hearing english all the time in a neighborhood within the two states I used as examples, you have french or Hawaiian being spoken. instead of them speaking english a lot in schools, it’s french or Hawaiian that these two states generally will use.
could a State be allowed to do this?
EDIT: alright, I’m seeing lots of thumbs up, that states such as Louisiana could have another language other then english widely spoken, however, I also see the concern that, though this is, it’s best to still teach english due to english being a widespread language already.
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There is no official language in the US, so if it worked out that way, then there’s no reason they couldn’t as far as I’m aware.
They can have official languages while the US as a whole has no official language. For example Alaska has almost two dozen official languages most of which are native, while Hawaii has Hawaiian and English, S Dakota has Suoix and English, and the US territories have seperate official languages.
With that said, English is pretty universally dominant and other languages that are commonly spoken exist regardless of whether or not they are official. There are neighborhoods in California that mostly speak Spanish but Spanish is not an official language of California even though it is taught (poorly) in school.
Who exactly would stop them?
If it happens organically, there’s no “allowed” — it’s just the way things are.
Sure, there’s no official language at the national level. A number or states have set one or more, nothing stopping them from not picking English.
We do not have official languages here on a federal level. So states can do what they want.
Not really but don’t tell that to the English only lobby against Puerto Rico Statehood.
You could make up your own language and speak just that and then teach others until it becomes the primary language and theres nothing anyone could do to stop you.
My only thought on this is that English should be the language of contracts, courts, etc.
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There is no such thing as “allowed”. People can speak whatever they want as long as someone else understands them. You go to places in Williamsburg NY (heavy Hasidic Jewish population), Brownsville TX (large Mexican population) or Chinatown in CA and you most likely will hear people speaking languages other than English and many stores around the area prob will have bilingual staff. They do this because it is good for business-you cater to your customer base.
The US has no national language. If a state government tried to impose a specific language, it would most likely get stricken down in court.
The US has no official language and in many parts of it, another language is predominantly spoken in the area. Where I grew up I encountered Spanish speakers a lot more than English speakers. In a neighboring city where I live now, there’s a great number of people who speak Russian and Ukranian. I don’t know what you mean by “allowed”
Sure, would depend on what the state’s citizens wanted, although in practice the languages that people speak is what determines what is used, at least in my state.
English has been the official state language of California since 1986 (the state attorney general later issued guidance that the approved proposition was “advisory” in nature). Spanish was the original official language of the state, which I discovered when researching for a term paper in the SJSU library years ago and came across the Acts of the California Legislature from 1853. The laws were printed first in Spanish, followed by an English translation for those who didn’t speak or read the language of Government.
In practice, California voting materials are provided in English, Spanish, and a large number of Pan-Asian languages. The exact number of languages varies according to county. Go into any Government office, however, and I can guarantee that any official notices will be posted in both English and Spanish, with instruction to obtain the information in several other languages. Realistically, the government can’t deprive citizens of information just because they speak a non-English language, no matter what the law says. As a practical matter, itwould make for extremely inefficient administration.
There are several cities where english isn’t the main language.
Miami, El Paso, San Antonio are all Spanish first English second.
There are also alot of smaller towns that speak French, Dutch, or German first.
And that’s before you into all the indigenous languages in Alska, Hawaii, and the SouthWest.
our states with major non-english languages are too diverse to give one recognition over the others. plus, most states already unofficially use spanish for everything so it doesn’t matter