It takes more than a language to unify a nation

[Stefan Dollinger]

I am very puzzled by the call (or at least suggestion) for "English-only ballots" and "English-only cereal boxes". 
While I understand that someone can start feeling uneasy about seeing another language in a place where there used to be only the majority language, these feelings are the expression of societal fears (a culture of fear, some have argued). I strongly believe that one should celebrate any diversification of codes in a society and embrace multilingualism. In Canada, they've had English and French texts on boxes since 1969 and English is still spoken. In Europe, you find up to 12 languages (sometimes more) on these boxes. Which linguist would not find that beautiful? It's up to us to tell the non-linguist and make them see the beauty in it. And yes, especially in the States.

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