any country needs one language that is the central, basic...and yes, possibly 'official' language of commerce and trade. This is generally the language (and dialect) spoken by the major news sources, whether government or private.

This is not an attempt to 'rate' languages as better or worse, or to discrininate. It is just a way to allow citizens to communicate at ANY time. In some countries of the world, political events have created a situation where two or more languages have 'almost' equal standing, and this often causes dissention and provincinal bickering...witness Quebec.

The US, by virtue of being attractive as a destination for the dissidents and underprivileged of the world to better themselves, has an increasing number of people speaking different languages, Spanish being merely the most obvious of these. With Mexico, Puerto Rico, and several Central American countries feeding the immigrant flow, there are a LOT of folks who arrive here speaking 'almost' no English, and the pressures on several states to create almost a dual language system is mounting!

I don't see why it is not obvious that this is not a good long-term solution. Spanish is merely the 'biggest' pressure point right now. In the Washington DC area, there are very significant populations of Asians and other ethnic groups creating many awkward issues, along with many benefits of a diverse culture.

You cannot expect store clerks, doctors, telephone operators, police...etc...to always have someone available who can translate and clarify when language problems interfere with business, health, public safety, courts of law...and just plain living!

It is ok...even desirable...if people want to retain and cherish the language and culture of their ancestors, but the ONLY sane and sensible way to keep peace and communication working is if they seriously apply themselves to becoming proficient in the language and customs of their adopted country also. Yes, this means that the US will 'gradually' change in subtle ways, as it always has as new inputs to our huge country are added, but it is impossible to have sigificant, growing populations of Arabs, Asians (of various backgrounds), Latinos, and Eastern Europeans living here AS almost independant sub-cultures, without inevitable conflicts. We already have many African-Americans who barely interact with 'mainstream' America..(whatever you may conside that to be).

It is simple...people tend to not like and trust those who look, sound and act 'different'...and to expect artifical, patchwork 'programs' to solve this growing problem is foolish. We have enough problems with bias based on US regional accents! (do you doubt me?...there are few forces in the universe as powerful as stereotyping!)

Solution? Easy to describe, VERY hard to implement....a slowdown of immigration, stronger requirements for would be immigrants to know English, mandatory classes for those already here. Money that is going toward BI-lingual programs should be partially diverted to support cultural programs to celebrate and study 'minority' cultures and language groups without encouraging separatism and ghettos.

Do I have any real hope any of this will happen? Nope...politics and pressure are too strong. I fully expect it will just get worse and that we will see more arguments and strife.

Anyone have a better idea?