Should the United States have one or more official languages?

Introduction

The United States of America is almost 236 years old yet we do not have an official language. There is a dire need that the United States should designate an official language. The United States is traditionally perceived as a country where English is vastly spoken. When we think of Japan, we do not think the citizens will be speaking Russian. When we think about Germany, it is normal to think the German people will speak German. This issue has created a split in the public opinion; however, this researcher believes that the country will benefit by designating an official language.

This is one of the hottest debates by both US citizens and illegal immigrants. The implications of making a decision to designate a language are far reaching for individual states and the nation as a whole. This research paper will cover the financial aspects of declaring an official language, the choice of what language should be the official language of the US, and the history of designating a language for the United States. This research paper can discover that because the United States does not have an officially designated language, there are many problems for this country.

Ramifications

There are a lot of ramifications for the United States of not having an official language. Among various ramifications, implications in terms of cost are considered to be the most important, which are discussed further. The costs for providing multilingual services for the states, nation and the taxpaying public have increased, and will continue to increase unless we, as a nation, decide on one official language.

Impacts in terms of Cost

According to the Report to Congress by some authentic source, the cost of enhanced language assistance are difficult to quantify, but may also be significant. The translation services range from printing documents such as voting ballots, driving test and forms for social services, as well as health and safety documents. In the United States it can be find documents printed in a variety of languages in Police Stations, US Post Offices, and Welfare offices. The California Department of Social Services translates multiple forms in over 20 different languages. Many millions of dollars are spent covering the cost of multilingual services every year.

The following costs were found in a report to Congress by an authentic source, the total cost of providing multilingual services for the Immigration and Naturalization ...