It takes more than a language to unify a nation

David Bowie db.list at PMPKN.NET
Tue Feb 27 14:59:35 UTC 2007


From:    "James A. Landau" <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>

> About those multi-lingual labels:

> Don't forget that in Canada there is a law (I don't know if it
> applies to all of Canada or only just to Quebec) that consumer
> products must have labels in French.  Hence any vendor in the United
> States who wants to sell his products in Canada must add French to
> the label, whether or not the vendor expects to sell to any
> significant number of Francophones south of the border.

It's also worth noting that those who say that printing Spanish as well
as English on labels adds a horrific burden on a manufacturer are
ignoring the fact that it opens up the possibility of selling their
product in Mexico and points south, which may well not have been
possible with an English-only label.

As a serious question, does anybody know offhand what the position of
the US Chamber of Commerce (or similar lobbying organizations) with
regard to English-only laws is (if they have a position on it)? Quick
googling doesn't give me anything on it, though i may just be picking
the wrong search terms.

<snip>

--
David Bowie                               University of Central Florida
     Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
     house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
     chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.

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



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