More on South Carolina and English-only drivers' license tests

[Harold Schiffman]

McConnell mad at DMV over Spanish manuals

By The Editor | July 13, 2007 - 1:53 pm - Posted in Legislature, Around the
state, Executive
We honestly never knew that English is the official language of South
Carolina. Apparently, in 1987, the state legislature made the decision to
codify an official form of communication.

§1-1-696. Official State Language.

The English language is the official language of the State of South
Carolina.

§1-1-697. Use of Language Other Than English Prohibited.

Neither this State nor any political subdivision thereof shall require, by
law, ordinance, regulation, order, decree, program, or policy, the use of
any language other than English; provided, however, that nothing in
§§1-1-696 through 1-1-698 shall prohibit a state agency or a political
subdivision of the State from requiring an applicant to have certain degrees
of knowledge in a foreign language as a condition of employment where
appropriate.

§1-1-698. Exceptions to Prohibitions Against Use of Language Other Than
English.

Sections 1-1-696 through 1-1-698 do not prohibit any law, ordinance,
regulation, order, decree, program, or policy requiring educational
instruction in a language other than English for the purpose of making
students who use a language other than English proficient in English or
making students proficient in a language in addition to English.

So when Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell discovered that the
Department of Motor Vehicles had published nearly forty thousand driving
manuals en español, he was muy enojado.

But after they are distributed the agency says no more will be printed.
Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell of Charleston says he was shocked
to learn the state had the Spanish manuals.

He says the official state language is English and official business should
be conducted in English. [AP]

But ironically, when we went to the DMV's website to get our Spanish driver
manual, we found this gem:

               Driver License Manual

*The South Carolina Driver Licens Manual is available in English online and
in English and Spanish at your local DMV, and is extremely handy to have
around when you're studying for your first driver license.
*
McConnell is right. The folks at the DMV should probably brush up on their
English before they print any more "Driver Licens Manuals" - especially if
they plan to do so in another language.



-- 
http://www.palmettoscoop.com/2007/07/13/mcconnell-mad-at-dmv-over-spanish-manuals/
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or
sponsor of
the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree
with a
message are encouraged to post a rebuttal. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20070714/b8b82f48/attachment.htm>