{"id":9647,"date":"2006-05-19T05:31:45","date_gmt":"2006-05-19T12:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2006\/05\/19\/language-means-things.html"},"modified":"2006-05-19T05:31:45","modified_gmt":"2006-05-19T12:31:45","slug":"language_means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/05\/19\/language_means.html","title":{"rendered":"Language means things"},"content":{"rendered":"

The advantage of having the Senate back on track viz immigration reform is that something might actually get done about it. The disadvantage is that it’s an opportunity for everyone and their brother to toss in their own jingoistic amendments, whether out of personal conviction or the chance to earn votes.<\/p>\n

So the Senate managed to pass<\/a> this James Inolfe amendment<\/a> ot the immigration bill yesterday:<\/p>\n

The Government of the United States shall preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America. Unless specifically stated in applicable law, no person has a right, entitlement, or claim to have the Government of the United States or any of its officials or representatives act, communicate, perform or provide services, or provide materials in any language other than English. If exceptions are made, that does not create a legal entitlement to additional services in that language or any language other than English. If any forms are issued by the Federal Government in a language other than English (or such forms are completed in a language other than English), the English language version of the form is the sole authority for all legal purposes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I am of mixed feelings here. On the one hand, I do believe that a common language for the land is a worthy goal, and that whatever we can do to encourage that is of value. I’ve been frustrated, at times, at seeing ballot measures being printed in fifty different languages, and at the attitude from some that it’s not just a service being provided, but a right to which a non-English speaker is entitled.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, if this were just about being reasonable, I wouldn’t worry that much. Assuming it stays in its current form (I’m sure the House will jump all over this in conference committee and try to hammer out something even stronger), some folks will use this as a round-about way to deny <\/em>services — sorry, lady, that form’s only in English, figure it out yourself <\/em>— and to further separate, not unify, communities, to further establish non-English speakers as second-class residents, effectively if not statutorily cut off from government communication and services.<\/p>\n

Now, the amendment, as it stands, does allow for translated services and communications (“unless specifically stated in applicable law”), and it doesn’t say that such translation cannot be done, only that someone doesn’t have legal grounding to demand it be done (which may face some court challenges of its own). But it still feels a hell of a lot like a Why don’t those damned furriners speak English?<\/em> kind of bill.<\/p>\n

I also worry a scosh about “preserve and enhance the role of English as the national language of the United States of America. ” That smacks a bit of “the Academy,” and conjures images of some well-meaning bureucrat trying to dictate how the language should be formed. Which never goes well.<\/p>\n

Note that, after the Inolfe amendment was voted on, it was further amended <\/a>(as proposed by Colorado’s Salazar) to change “national <\/em>language” (which had read “official <\/em>language” in Inolfe’s original proposal) to “common and unifying <\/em>language.” Which is a subtle but distinct difference (and would be more welcome if the rest of the amendment weren’t so annoying).<\/p>\n

Again, I think folks who come to this country should be encouraged to learn English. And most of them, in fact, strive to do so. This amendment will do little to change that, but it will give folks who don’t like immigrants in the first place a great way to say, “Non-Yankees, Go Home.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The advantage of having the Senate back on track viz immigration reform is that something might actually get done about it. The disadvantage is that it’s an opportunity for everyone…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,24,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-law","category-writing-and-language","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27102,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/03\/14\/oh-rick.html","url_meta":{"origin":9647,"position":0},"title":"Oh, Rick","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 14-Mar-12 8:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"you're so cute when you're mangling the ConstitutionAnd when you blithely insult your hosts in sunny Puerto Rico.'\"Like any other state, there has to be compliance with this and any other federal law,\" Santorum said. \"And that is that English has to be the principal language. There are other states\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":134057,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/08\/07\/could-i-immigrate-to-the-united-states-under-the-raise-act.html","url_meta":{"origin":9647,"position":1},"title":"Could I immigrate to the United States under the RAISE Act?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 7-Aug-17 11:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Based on the proposed Reforming American Immigration for Strong Employment (RAISE) Act, I don't quite sufficiently score as being a worthwhile future citizen of the US -- largely because I'm older, I'm not planning on multi-million dollar investments, I don't have a Nobel Prize or Olympic Medal, and my prospective\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/immigration%2Btest%2B2017.PNGimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/immigration%2Btest%2B2017.PNGimgmax%3D660.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/immigration%2Btest%2B2017.PNGimgmax%3D660.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":133429,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/05\/08\/trump-finally-scrubs-muslim-ban-language-from-his-campaign-website.html","url_meta":{"origin":9647,"position":2},"title":"Trump finally scrubs "Muslim ban" language from his campaign website","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 8-May-17 9:26pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Not that it's like nobody will remember Trump talked about banning Muslims from coming to the US, but it took a \"fake media\" press question asking why, if the current Trump Muslim-ish travel bans aren't about banning Muslims from coming to the US, those campaign statements aren't still out there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2265,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/07\/18\/brotherly_love.html","url_meta":{"origin":9647,"position":3},"title":"Brotherly love","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 18-Jul-02 2:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A New Republic article on the largess heaped on Florida -- and, thus, on Jeb Bush's constituents -- by Dubya. In 2000, when Hillary Clinton ran for the Senate in...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":133255,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/04\/11\/furriners-with-unassimilated-kids-strange-language-and-dangerous-foreign-ties.html","url_meta":{"origin":9647,"position":4},"title":"Furriners with unassimilated kids, strange language, and dangerous foreign ties","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 11-Apr-17 10:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A century ago, it was German-Americans who were the target of suspicion, of accusations, of fears that they were trying to betray the nation, to turn American over to the Huns. They spoke their own language, don't you know, and had their own traditions, and there were millions of them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":134844,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/23\/look-truly-patriotic-act-allegiance.html","url_meta":{"origin":9647,"position":5},"title":"A look at a truly patriotic act of allegiance","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 23-Sep-17 1:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Immigrants being nationalized swear an oath of allegiance, not to the flag, not to the military, not to the national leader, not to a cultural group or historical victory or nationalist value set or symbol or even to a vague \"United States.\" They swear an oath to the US Constitution.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/naturalization-ceremony.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9647\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}