“Generally speaking, bills that don’t actually do anything have a high rate of passage,” Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee Chairman Pete Brungardt (in photo), R-Salina, told the Lawrence Journal-World. In that case, the bill that, in Brungardt’s words, “acknowledges that English is what we speak here” likely will become law. Especially now that the only constructive part of the bill — a House amendment that provided money for adult language classes — was removed by the Senate.
The result, according to Melinda Lewis of El Centro in Kansas City, Kan., is that nothing changes. “I expect that life will go on just about the same for folks as it did before; people still wanting to learn English, and having difficulty doing so, and some people being irrationally upset by the presence of other languages.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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33 Comments
I disagree. It’s a necessary first step. A few years ago, this same legislation was presented by a Senator only to be trounced. Now it’s been revived and will likely be passed.
A group, whether it be a nation, State, town or school, is only as efficient as its ability to communicate.
As a rule, anymore, when I shop for anything, I will take a look at ingredients (food items) or specs – if I see any language but English- I put it back. I simply don’t buy the item. There are actually quite a few that are now doing that. A passive boycott, of sorts, you could say.
If manufacturers think they must cater to languages besides English – we all need to let them know by no longer buying their products.
We speak English here. If you come here – assimilate like my ancestors did.
Or go home.
It really IS that simple.
Great Bill! It’s quite simple: this is America. The language is English. Go figure!
Without the Bill, the Melinda Lewis’s of the world would be litigating government agencies to conduct business in “their” language, because, as you know, they are “Hispanic,” and must have special execptions to the laws, customs and traditions of America.
I got a great email about this.Automated phone answer:”Press 1 to conduct this call in English. Press 2 to disconnect this call until you learn to speak English.”
You cannot expect a newly arrived immigrant to learn English overnight. You have to give them time to learn it and while they are, we have to try and support them in their native language as best we can. BUT, on the other hand, we as an English speaking nation have every right to demand that immigrants that wish to be a part of this nation learn our language, history, political structure and Constitution. I have no problem with people speaking other languages to each other but they do not have the right to demand that everybody else learn it. A new immigrant should be told that they are expected to learn English. I would give them their driving license test in Spanish- the first time but “in 4 years you have to renew and the next test will be in English”.
Kev, they can take all the time in the world to learn English as far as I’m concerned, but let’s not make it so comfortable that they decide it’s not worth the effort.
All of our ancestors, unless they spoke English to begin with HAD to learn. And they did – or they were the odd-man-out.
My ancestors spoke German, Bohemian, and Russian. All learned English. All insisted their offspring learn English.
This is a no-brainer.
English – ONLY English.
Adapt – or fall behind.
Social Darwinism.
GSheridan:
Why focus on Hispanics? Bi-lingual education teaches English to whomever requires it. Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Portuguese, French, German, and Spanish. Why are you obsessed with Hispanics? Currently in Houston Texas 50% of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Hispanic immigrants speak English. If you missed the salient point let me spell it out for you. Immigrants from these three predominant countries speak English in EQUAL numbers.
I live in a community where there is a large group of Russian immigrants and their children receive bilingual education
By the 3rd generation 97% of Hispanic immigrants can speak ONLY English. There is currently a lack of “qualified” Spanish speakers in the United States.
I agree with Melinda Lewis’ statement in the editorial. That is, life will go on when the English bill passes. Hardly any differences will be noticed. Business will still offer a Bilingual option on their phone lines. Some will have a Spanish speaking person on their payroll.
Nothing will change if the bill passes.
Nothing to see here, move along.
Gee, if it bothers you so much that people are speaking a language you don’t understand, WSU has a very good languages program! Get busy and learn Spanish or Chinese or whatever; you’ll be better off, more employable and most of all, more understanding.
A society needs to speak a common langauge.
English will be that langauge for the world in the next 20 years, but yet we in America tend to be a bit late in recongizing that.
The quote: “some people being irrationally upset by the presence of other languages” is asinine.
Irrationally upset? How about enraged by having to pay for translators in the 911 center? How about being fed up with legal documents having to be printed in multiple languages? How about outrage at the use of tax payer supported translators for court proceedings?
It is also dangerous when these people cannot read a STOP sign, or “merge left” sign.
What is irrational about being upset by waste of funds and increasing highway threats?
And, Jed…I will learn Chinese the day I move there. Until then, I live in an English speaking country and expect to be able to communicate in MY language, not some foreign tongue.
Will the 2007 award for most obnoxious poster go to GSheridan?
More feel good do nothing legislation.
The United States is under full scale invasion. The best we can do is say the people here speak English? Oh yeah, that’ll solve the problem.
I am deaf and hard of hearing and I “DEMAND” that all of you learn Sign Language!
That money that was sought after in the bill for adult English classes for immigrants could be paid for by the employers that hire illegal slaves.
As soon as this bill is a law, it will open up avenues for the legal citizens of this state that become victims in accidents because of lack of language to have legal recourse for civil laws suits.
So this is a do nothing bill but still mangages to waste taxpayer money
Wise, plaintiff’s of Civil cases don’t need any legal leg to stand upon. All they need is an attorney that will take their case.
We also need STRONG punishments for employers of illegals, including jail time.
Question #1) Is Kansas required to print “official” documents in Spanish and English now?(Wasting tax dollars)Question #2) Is Kansas allowed to stop this practice with this bill?(Saving tax dollars)
Anybody know the answer? The Eagle seems not to want to tell us.
“Will the 2007 award for most obnoxious poster go to GSheridan?”By momI thought you were on strike.
Why can’t they learn english before they come to America? My little sister has taken 5 yrs of Spanish so she can become a foreign exchange student in South America. I really appreciate the fact that she looks before she leaps!
First signs of illegals in your area…Vehicles with a name on the back glass. This is a we will help illegals code..Trash every where.Cars parked in the front yard.Finally roosters crowing.
Hmm. Original post was about a law which (apparently) accomplishes nothing. If this is the case, it is a stupid law and should not be passed.
I find it interesting how little, in general, the comments here have to do with the original blog posts.
Anyhow, to the comments: I am not irrationally bothered by people speaking other languages. I loved that bit about walking through the sidewalk cafes in Tiberius. So many cultures and languages.
I /am/ learning Chinese (at WSU, no less), and I hope to go to China at some point, whereupon I will do my best to speak their language (and probably get laughed at). I also have a smattering of Spanish, which I used to the best of my ability while in Mexico and Venezuela. Hearing other languages does not bother me – it intrigues me.
With that said, I find it — shall we say — inefficient for a government to have to support a number of different languages in terms of signage, official documents, and the like. In Canada, it is one thing. But this is not Canada.
The USA is not a small country at a crossroads of several others; historically it has not been necessary to make great accomodations for other langauges. Times change, of course; However I think is it entirely reasonable for immigrants to endeavor to learn the language, and while some assistance is fine, too much assistance is, well, too much.
Back to the topic at hand:
If a bill which purports to make English the state’s official language, actually allows local government to save money, then I am in favor. If the bill does nothing of the kind, then it should be tossed, with extreme prejudice.
why is everybody here so bigoted? to think that everybody in the world must learn english is quite ridiculous…almost everybody in the U.S is overweight. Does that mean eveybody who moves here must become overweight?
America is a place that is made up of every culture in the world…so why does one need to be dominate over the other?…maybe you all should take hitler up on that one…
GSheridan winning a civil law suit is like throwing sticks and stones, the more sticks and stones you have the better, getting an attorney is the easy part, convincing a judge is the hard part.When you said “It’s a necessary first step” I am with you on that.We currently have no official state laws on language, no legal foundation to begin with for the law of the land.I am a little surprised; that most on the blog (so far) did not picked up on the Do-Nothing English bill that it is a means for the justification for state tax supported language programs.Re-read the article it said “a House amendment that provided money for adult language classes — was removed by the Senate.”If this bill passes Melinda Lewis should realize that it will still be that necessary first step for the justification for state tax supported language programs.
What an interesting topic! Having lived in Taiwan for the past ten months with at least ten months to go I can relate to those who come to America without the ability to communicate in the native language of the land. I find it quite helpful to occasionally see signage or labeling in English but I don’t expect to be able to see it as it is up to me to survive in the environment that I have chosen to be in, not the environnments responsibility to adapt to me. If I have the desire and ability to learn enough of the language to survive then good for me – if I choose not to acquire that needed tool then shame on me because I deserve whatever befalls me for my ignorance!The same should apply to those who come to my chosen homeland, America.
It is perfectly alright for companies and manufacturers to make signage and labeling bi-lingual if they so choose but legislation to require – or deny this ability is asinine as is legislation that declares the obvious while accomplishing nothing.
I don’t know if people like GSher, et al realize that this bill will not do. It will not make businesses only offer English in the products, packaging and signs. It will not make customers speak English in stores, restaurants, the mall, etc.This bill will not DO anything other than say the official language of Kansas is English, which it already is because that is the primary language of the vast majority of the people here.The point of the original post was that bills that do not DO anything are a waste of time and money.
Well, it appears we should be throwing out the old dictionary and writing a new one as most english words have their history in a foreign language.
English: The official language . . . hogwash.
Do any of you realize that one of the first bills voted on by the U.S. Congress was to abolish the use of English and make Hebrew the national language? It came within one vote of passage.
I thought that was German Jed. But pardon me if I remember my History lessons incorrectly.
Yeah, the great influx of Hebrews in the 1700s into the U.S. :)
There were some, but not very many. hehe
Repub,Well, there were Jewish bankers in Philadelphia who helped finance the revolution, but the arguments given for making Hebrew the national language were:A. It wasn’t English (seeing as we were a bit peeved at the British)B. It was supposedly the language of Adam and Eve.In the end, convenience won the day of course.
I’m only an occasional poster here, but I see that my initial call on it was the right one. Bigot City.It’s sad really, but this is the kind of legislation the ignorant, the bigoted, and those who don’t speak or wish to learn another language tend to support.And you wonder why no one likes, wants to come to, or desires to stay in this state?