It takes more than a language to unify a nation

[Bethany K. Dumas]

I should probably stay out of this discussion, since I have not read all
the posts on the topic, but I cannot. I write to respond to this comment:

|When I voted in November in Berkeley, California, I first had to choose
|which language I wished to use. The choice was between Chinese, Korean,
|Spanish, English or Tagalog [sic]. It seems to me not unreasonable that
|since only U.S. citizens vote, and that one has to pass an English
language test to become a citizen, the ballet should be in English.

I'm confused. The ballot was available in English, according to your list.
That is, it was available in your preferred language. As we all know,
second language speakers are often more comfortable and more competent in
their native languages, even if they can pass tests in other languages. So
why exactly do you object to the ballot's being offered in the preferred
languages of others? Is it expense you are concerned with?

Bethany

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org