Published: April 28, 2008 05:36 pm            

Oklahoma pushes for English to be the official language

Rep. Randy Terrill of Moore, who author of last year’s highly controversial anti-illegal immigrant law, is currently trying to make English the official language of Oklahoma. Terrill has said his plan would require all official state government business be conducted in English. 

Some have suggested making English official is an unnecessary exercise since relatively few Oklahomans can even speak another language. While it may not be true for all, for most of us, English is all we know. Why go the trouble of codifying it as our language of choice?

Is this effort a thinly veiled example of racism rearing its ugly head in an attempt to put an additional barrier between Spanish speaking residents and others in the Sooner state?

We don’t think so. Rep. Terrill’s measure is designed to save unnecessary expense associated with some committee or bureaucrat suddenly deciding to go to the expense of, for instance, delivering taxpayer services in a language other than English. (His measure also provides exceptions for American Indian tribal languages.) 

Efforts at overcompensating for those who speak a different language from their adopted host country have been noted failures. An all out push was made in California to implement bi-lingual education, the thought being that native Spanish speakers would better learn if they heard the material taught in their own language first. After years of trying it, even those most in favor of the concept have declared it unsuccessful. It did not serve to enhance foreign students’ ability to learn, and hampered their assimilation into their adopted culture.

While there may be symbolic implications to this measure, there are very real practical reasons for adopting it. English is already the language of business the world over. It is silly to think it should not be so in government in the heartland as well.

        

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