News & Media

U.S.ENGLISH In the News - Maybe just learn English

A dispute over language at a Wendy's last Thursday comes as the latest reminder that multiculturalism has its limits. Alexandria police say the restaurant's Pakistani manager and cashier attacked a customer with a rake and a pair of hedge trimmers they grabbed from the victims landscaping truck after the man suggested they learn Spanish, in deference to their Spanish-speaking employees and customers.

The comment apparently pushed the wrong cultural buttons for the Pakistanis, said to have been deeply offended by the remark. Now, the pair face felony assault charges for using gardening tools as their reply.

It's easy to sympathize with their frustration, if not their violence. Are native Urdu speakers now expected to learn Spanish, Korean, Farsi, Vietnamese, Hindi and all the other 300 tongues now spoken in the United States just to sell burgers and fries? Couldn't this ugly scene have been avoided if everybody at the Wendy's just spoke English?

Even though Virginia has an official English law on the books, our large immigrant population — and the current reluctance of Americans to "force" their language on newcomers — means that even children born right here in Northern Virginia often can't speak English when they start school. Well-meaning government programs ensure their parents don't have to learn it at all.

That's too bad, because both the U.S. Department of Education and the Labor Department found that the average English-speaking immigrant earned $40,741, but those stuck with their homeland's language earned just $16,345. The 1999 study eliminated other factors such as education — meaning the $24,000 difference is based on language skills alone. Similar results were reported by Duke University, the Pew Hispanic Center, Princeton University and the Brookings Institution.

Last month, Congress passed a measure prohibiting the government from mandating that any highway sign be posted in any other language than English. The law was a pre-emptive attempt to avoid the Tower of Babel nonsense that has overtaken Canada — an officially bilingual country. Last October, an English-speaking Toronto woman's ticket for making an illegal left turn was dismissed when she argued that the sign prohibiting it was not in French — even though Alice Napier doesn't speak French herself. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported that the ruling could result in the dismissal of thousands of Canadian traffic tickets.

Think it can't happen here? Some U.S. highway exit signs near the Canadian border include the French translation (sortie), the Social Security Web site already provides directions in 16 different languages and California offers drivers license forms in 32.

The Washington-based U.S. English Inc. — founded by the late California Sen. S.I. Hayakama to promote a unifying common language — says that instead of creating government forms in multiple languages to "help" immigrants, the same funds would be better spent teaching them English — enabling them to get better jobs and fully participate in America's decidedly multicultural life.

Asking immigrants to learn English isn't about being tough on newcomers, it's about giving them the best chance to thrive in their new land. There's nothing more welcoming than that.