¿Solo Inglés?

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Should America only speak English? The simple answer is no. Currently, in the United States, there are many people whose native language is not English. According to a survey that was done in 2012, and that was conducted by Christine P. Gambino, Yesenia D. Acosta, and Elizabeth M. Grieco for the U.S.  Census Bureau shows that at least 84.6% speaks another language at home of those who are foreign-born. The United States should not only speak English only because the country itself has many citizens and people that benefit from speaking different languages such as culture, communication, and its economy.

In an article called, “What is the relationship between language and culture?” written by Georgia, a student from the University of Luxembourg, one of the things that stood out about language is that language isn’t just about communication, but ‘as a symbolic system to create and shape realities.' This particular quote stood out because language is not about talking [communicating] but a system in which we share and shape our values and discovering new things in the world. Take notice that the language of “English” is not the only language in the world that can share these things throughout America. Also, there’s much religion that’s in the U.S., and each religion has a way to communicate its people by using the language that these people speak. By having to speak only English will result in the ignoring of historical and current linguistic diversity in America.

It is a fact that the United States is one of the most developing diverse countries compared to others. The United States is also known as the country of Immigrants. Due to its vast diversity, multiple languages are close to catching up to the language of English such as Spanish. According to an article called, "What is the future of Spanish in the United States," by Mark Hugo Lopez, director of Hispanic research at Pew Research Center, and Ana Gonzalez-Barrera, a senior researcher, mentioned that "more than 37 million speakers, Spanish is by far the most spoken language in the U.S. today among people ages 5 and older." Some of the most spoken languages in the U.S. [after English] are Spanish, Chinese, French, Vietnamese, and the list goes on.
As a country of immigrant, it’s not the best idea to make America an ‘English Only” language because many immigrants will not be able to somewhat understand nor speak since their native language is not English.

If America becomes an ‘English Only’ than one of the things that will get effect will be its economy. It will affect them because when doing international business, it will not look so good for them [America] since it will appear that their language is ‘superior’ than other languages. Don't believe it? Well, according to an article called, "Why multilingualism is good for economic growth,”by Gabrielle Hogan-Brun, a research fellow in Language Studies, mentioned that the current statistic shows that the United Kingdom loses about 3.5% of its GDP (gross domestic product) every year due to the lack of languages skill in workforce. Moreover, that is not all. It also mentioned that “one in six US businesses is losing out due to lack of language skills and cultural awareness…” 

It does not matter what languages someone might speak, because it is one of the things that makes this country unique and exceptional. The fact that someone may not know English or know only English does not make it right to be just one language. As an immigrant country, we are supposed to be united…right?