This Friday, February 28, the president of the United States, Donald Trumppublicly announced that it will turn the English In the official language of the North American nation for the first time in the 250 years of history of the country and plans to achieve its objective by signing an executive order “in the next few days.”
The new mandate will mark a new era in the United States, taking into account that this country never He has had an official language at the federal level, so Trump’s executive order will annul a rule issued by the former president Bill Clintonwho began to demand “linguistic materials” for people who do not speak English.
According to the American newspaper, The Wall Street Journal, The executive order that Donald Trump will sign “describes the need for unit, efficiency and civic commitment “, because the president has spoken” for a long time “about the Increased illegal migration through the southern border of the United States.
“This is a nation where we talk EnglishNo Spanish. There is a great need for English to become the main language that is spoken throughout the country because we have languages that come here and we do not have an instructor throughout the territory that can speak that language, “Trump said in a presidential debate of 2024.
Why is English not the official language?
According to the Census Office in the United States, although English is the language that is most used in the US territory and 32 of the 50 states They have declared it as an official language, the inhabitants of the Nation communicate in more than 350 languages, mainly in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese and Arab.
At present, neither the US Constitution, nor federal laws, establish the officiality of English in the United States; Therefore, during his 2024 electoral campaign, Trump received the support of the movement “English Only”that since 1989 has tried that Congress approve a law that gives the official nature to this language.
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As stated by various historians, the fact of formalizing English goes “against the principles of diversity and freedom on which the country was founded in the seventeenth century“, since not even the founding father of the United States, Benjamin Franklinformalized the language when he expressed his fear for the popularity of German.
Regardless, although English is not the official language at the federal level, census statistics in the United States indicate that more than one 94% of the population has the “appropriate knowledge” of this language, which remains one of the main tools for the integration of the newcomers to the country.
However, no matter how English remains the most spoken language in the United States, debate About the officialization exists from 1919when the then president, Theodore Rooseveltsaid that in the country there was only space for a language: “Americans have no need to be polyglots“He added.
Now, it is important to mention that since the beginning of the 80s, when the movement of the civil rights In the United States, dozens of laws were approved whose purpose was to benefit all citizens who did not speak English, with the implementation of new education systems with a bilingual base.
🔴 The goal that Trump has scored in a mythin asked our brothers on the other side of the puddle if they prefer to be called “Latinos” or “Hispanics” is to see it in loop
Historical Menoria and nothing to ask for forgiveness pic.twitter.com/bwx6dMyxBs
– Doctor Tricorn (@DOCT_RICORNIO) November 6, 2024