Political Economy of Culture: Where Should President Obama Start: By Designing a Consistent language policy or on Imposing English Language as a Requirement to the Path of U.S. Citizenship?

[Cynthia Groff]

Hello all,

I've enjoyed listening in on this conversation, particularly for the
different perspectives based on different national experiences and
different focuses within the field.

Legislating a language policy in the US would bring many unforeseen
consequences. Currently immigrants in many states are able to study
driving laws in the languages they understand best. I'd hate to see
this, and many other of our pieces of our multilingual richness, made
illegal. Worse still, educational provisions for linguistic
minorities, challenging as they are to provide now, would face even
more barriers.

A recent article from Québec reminded me: "Oh yeah! THIS is why we
don't want an official language in the US"...
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/editorials/quebecs-language-laws-reach-a-new-low-in-sainte-agathe/article7460761/
"Quebec’s language laws have long been controversial and a source of
antagonism, but their implementation still has the power to annoy and
shock. That’s the case with the announcement that a quaint Quebec town
has reluctantly agreed to comply with an order from a language
inspector to stop including one page of English-language information
in its monthly bulletin to ratepayers. It’s an order so petty and
unnecessary that it amounts not to the protection of a language but to
an ominous government overreach into common courtesy and mutual
respect."

Cynthia
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