发布时间：2008-01-02 来源：中国翻译人才网 发布者：上海翻译公司
Bill Introduced In Congress To Declare English As The Official
Language Of The United States
WASHINGTON, May 25 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Yesterday a bipartisan
group of Congressmen introduced legislation to declare English
the official language of the United States government.
Republican Congressmen Bob Barr of Georgia, Howard Coble of
North Carolina, and Bill Jenkins of Tennessee, along with
Democrat Congressmen Ralph Hall of Texas, and Ronnie Shows of
Mississippi introduced H.R. 1984.
This legislation, "The English Language Unity Act of 2001"
would require nearly all federal official government business to
be conducted in English, and all documents to be printed in
English, while protecting individual Constitutional rights.
Exceptions would include documents to protect public health and
safety, law enforcement, court translations, and tourism.
U.S.ENGLISH Chairman/CEO Mauro E. Mujica applauded the joint
Republican and Democrat effort to recognize English as the
official language of the United States, and said this
legislation would encourage assimilation.
"Official English would encourage immigrants, giving them an
incentive to learn English and to assimilate," said Mujica. "If
all government services are provided in other languages, the
urgency to learn English would be gone. And without English,
immigrants have little chance of obtaining decent wage-earning
jobs, which statistically hurts their children's success in this
country. As an immigrant whose mother tongue is Spanish, I can
testify first-hand that English is indeed the key to opportunity
in America.
"The 2000 Census numbers have shown that our foreign born
population has increased to about 30 million within the past
decade," said Mujica. "In a country which is becoming more
diverse, and where 329 languages are spoken, we must have one
common official language in order to unite, and communicate with
each other. Of course, official English legislation would only
effect government -- not private businesses, organizations,
churches, or private speech."
Studies of the Census show that an immigrant's income rises
about 30 percent as a result of learning English. Another study
published by the U.S. Department of Labor found that immigrants
are slower to learn English when they receive a lot of native
language support. In addition, 2000 Census numbers show that
Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites are increasingly becoming
segregated, creating poverty-stricken enclaves. One of the
reasons cited for the creation of these enclaves is the language
barrier.
U.S.ENGLISH has been active in all of the states where
official English legislation has been a legislative priority. In
November 2000, Utah voters passed an initiative declaring
English as the official language of their state, and Alaska
passed their official English state law in 1998 through a voter
initiative. So far, 26 states have already declared English as
their official state government language.
U.S.ENGLISH is the nation's oldest, largest citizens' action
group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English
language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen.
S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S.ENGLISH currently has more than
1.5 million members nationwide. To learn more about U.S.ENGLISH
please visit our website at http://www.us-english.org.