Bill proposed that would make English the official state language of Pennsylvania

[pghin08]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11258/1174808-454.stm

que lastima.

[mrveggieman]

Are these bills really neccessary? English is already the defacto language of the united states.

[duane1969]

Not that much of a stretch. English has been the official language of all legal documents since the Revolution. According to the article 31 states have already done it.

This statement confused me...

It also could prevent truckers who don't speak English from getting a commercial driving license and driving their heavy rigs down state highways where they can't read the road signs.

If they can't read the roadsigns after English is the official language then they can't read them now either so this is a moot point. Besides, I have driven most of the northeast and have yet to see a single roadsign in anything but English, so I don't see the problem with dealing with this regardless of the official language law. This is a public safety issue.

[pghin08]

Not that much of a stretch. English has been the official language of all legal documents since the Revolution. According to the article 31 states have already done it.

This statement confused me...



If they can't read the roadsigns after English is the official language then they can't read them now either so this is a moot point. Besides, I have driven most of the northeast and have yet to see a single roadsign in anything but English, so I don't see the problem with dealing with this regardless of the official language law. This is a public safety issue.

I thought the exact same thing.

[Star_Cards]

defining a national or state language is a waste of time to me. Everyone knows what the majority of the people speak. There's no reason to waste tax dollars to define it. Besides, even if it's the state language it doesn't mean like anyone is going to or can force anyone else to speak that language.

[duane1969]

defining a national or state language is a waste of time to me. Everyone knows what the majority of the people speak. There's no reason to waste tax dollars to define it. Besides, even if it's the state language it doesn't mean like anyone is going to or can force anyone else to speak that language.

I think the key component here is the requirement that all government issued documents be issued in other languages. When English becomes the official language of the state then the requirement of printing welfare pamphlets, job applications, etc. in Spanish becomes null and void. They only have to be printed in the official language.

The expense of making English the official language is quite small compared to the cost of printing millions of copies of forms and pamphlets in other languages for a very small non-English speaking population.

In a time when federal, state and local government needs to find ways to cut wasteful spending, this seems reasonable to me.

I am just curious when the Fed will follow suit. Pennsylvania will make 32 of the 50 states that have adopted this. It should be clear to the Fed that this is what the people want.