Of course there is. But most people can't be bothered to say it.
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Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
That probably depends on where you live. Indiana does a lot of business with Germany, and it would be reasonably justified for high schools to require that, or Spanish, given the large amount of immigrants here, to graduate. But the high school I went to didn't even offer German. It offered Spanish, which would be helpful to know around here, and French, which serves no real practical use here given you are far more likely to encounter someone from Germany than France.
Monk Of Reason
༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ
A standardization across the nation seems best but there is no one single language that can fit that description.
There is a very good reason for teaching youngsters a second language that has nothing to do with business or ordering food in a restaurant.
Learning a language you weren't raised speaking might be the best way of developing your cognitive skills possible. It is like building muscles in your brain. Realising that your language is not the only way to think, and that other languages are not your language in code, and all the other brain stretchers involved with learning another language are invaluable life lessons.
It is far more important than learning to say "Do you want fries with that?" in Chinese.
Tom
Learning a language you weren't raised speaking might be the best way of developing your cognitive skills possible. It is like building muscles in your brain. Realising that your language is not the only way to think, and that other languages are not your language in code, and all the other brain stretchers involved with learning another language are invaluable life lessons.
It is far more important than learning to say "Do you want fries with that?" in Chinese.
Tom
Bunyip
pro scapegoat
Sure, and if we all had the exact same skin color and were democrats who love Taylor Swift, that would reduce the need for so many 'accomodations' also.
Maybe if we just cloned the same person, so we were all identical? Then the shops would only need to accomodate one size?.
Jews & Poles knuckling under to the Nazis.
(You know you expected at least the first example.)
Uh......OK.
Race, political affiliation, & music taste don't require accommodation by government.
Note that I'm not arguing for uniformity, but rather for a single thing in common, ie, language.
Bunyip
pro scapegoat
Sure no worries, I respect your view. In Australia there are hundreds of different language groups - I hope that persists.
So do I.
The world has lost many interesting languages recently.
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
You had me until that liking Taylor Swift part. It makes me want to blast Slayer until my ears bleed, lol.
I invoke Godwin's law which means you automatically have lost the argument. But if more is needed "Warsaw Ghetto". And a good friend of mine, now deceased, was a member of the Polish resistance.
I don't think Godwin's law applies when Hitler is actually relevant.
When discussing pogroms, he's the poster child.
Moreover, I was responding to a rather leading request.
Which should be stated as......
"Push 2 if you're a cheese eating surrender monkey."
But that's combatative. I'm Canadian.
Is "combatative" the wourd for "combative" in your native language?
(Notice that I'm fluent in Canuckistanian because of how I spelled "word"?)
Even more so!
Shadow Wolf
Certified People sTabber & Business Owner
I have to admit, Canada and "combative" just do not seem to go along. Maybe it's because I'm American, and it seems like someone is always getting shot in Indianapolis (specifically the "club" strip), but Canada and combative seems to be just as possible as pop music putting out anything that is good and worth listening to.
Copernicus
Industrial Strength Linguist
I want to reiterate a point I made earlier. Even though English is not designated as the "official language" in federal law, it is the de facto official language. There is no other language in the United States, and no public schools that I know of have ever favored some other language over English. Within the educational system in the US, the explicit goal of bilingual, ESL, and English immersion approaches is to graduate children who are fluent in English. No reasonable educator argues that children graduating from a US high school need not be fluent in English, and some degree of fluency in English is required of those who seek to become naturalized citizens. So all of the arguments that suggest English is somehow under attack in the United States are bogus. English is the official language of the United States, even if it is not enshrined in the Constitution.
Our esteemed friend, Revoltingest, has argued: "Note that I'm not arguing for uniformity, but rather for a single thing in common, ie, language." I want to say that I agree with that goal 100%. A single common language that is English in the United States. That is not only a good thing, but it is the status quo, even with our large immigrant populations. In my experience, fluency in English is the goal of the vast majority of immigrants. They pay what money they have for English instruction, and they work hard to achieve it. The sad fact is that fluency is biologically handicapped. Children can become fluent in a second language. Adults can only succeed up to a point, and it isn't always a matter of diligence or intelligence. Sometimes it is just that human brains stop being programmed to learn language by osmosis after puberty. Then it becomes increasingly more of a challenge as people grow older.
So a law that declares English the "official language" is not going to help more people learn English. Its only real effect will be to deprive those who find English a challenge of rights that they are entitled to as citizens.
Our esteemed friend, Revoltingest, has argued: "Note that I'm not arguing for uniformity, but rather for a single thing in common, ie, language." I want to say that I agree with that goal 100%. A single common language that is English in the United States. That is not only a good thing, but it is the status quo, even with our large immigrant populations. In my experience, fluency in English is the goal of the vast majority of immigrants. They pay what money they have for English instruction, and they work hard to achieve it. The sad fact is that fluency is biologically handicapped. Children can become fluent in a second language. Adults can only succeed up to a point, and it isn't always a matter of diligence or intelligence. Sometimes it is just that human brains stop being programmed to learn language by osmosis after puberty. Then it becomes increasingly more of a challenge as people grow older.
So a law that declares English the "official language" is not going to help more people learn English. Its only real effect will be to deprive those who find English a challenge of rights that they are entitled to as citizens.
Bunyip
pro scapegoat
I am a bit of a troglodyte - I didn't even know who she was week ago. LOL.