Wouldn’t You Agree?

To the Editor:

I recently posted my thoughts on social media about English being the language of the USA. I have noticed as I drive through our little towns, there are more signs popping up in Spanish, or retailers are advertising on radio and TV in Spanish, and I do not understand them or the sidewalk signs.

There were some younger folks on social media who informed me that in America, we now have ‘many’ languages, and that the WWII generation fought their wars with all the troupes speaking different languages, and that if people wanted to buy a car, they should be able to even if they can’t speak English inAmerica.

My question to them would be how could they drive in America if they cannot read English road signs, or even pass a driving test for that matter?

We may have many different languages and cultures, but most of the population in the USA speaks English, the primary language of our country. There may be all kinds of folks here who do speak German, or Czech, or Spanish, or French, most likely in the privacy of their own homes, but the first and recognized language of America is English.

We could not go into another country and expect it to change it’s language just to appease those who didn’t want to learn theirs.

Most of us are not happy when we cannot understand what a sign says, or that our taxes have to pay for interpreters for some businesses or schools, when the people who move here should acclimate and learn the language. My ancestors did it when they came from the old country but nowadays, it seems we are supposed to be OK with a different language and we are the ones supposed to accept and change for those differences.

What if signs in German or Czech were posted all over town, how would people who don’t speak these languages feel if they could not understand these signs and or commercials?

It is also can be an imposition in more ways than one for businesses to have to hire those that can speak both ways, but it is wrong for those that cannot get the job because they cannot.

I can tell you this, there may have been different ethnic groups that fought together in WWII and maybe at home they spoke their cultural language, but serving in the military, they had to speak the same language, ‘English,’ to make things work. They had to be unified, on the same page so to speak, no pun intended. Can you imagine a U.S. General speaking English to his troops and half of them could not speak English? I don’t think wars could be won in that way.

Young people will learn with age, that there are some things needed to keep a country sovereign. It’s way more than just driving in one’s local town and not being able to understand the sidewalk signs, although that is bad enough.

Stimmst du zu?

Glynis Tietjen La Grange