On March 1, President Donald J Trump signed an executive order to make English the official language of the United States.
President Trump’s fact sheet for the order justifies the action with various key points. It says: “Roughly 180 countries have an official language — the United States is one of the few nations in the world to have no official language designated. More than 30 states and five U.S. territories have already embraced English as the official language.”
The main goal of the executive order is to unify the American people.
The Executive Order only impacts the Executive federal branch of the government, meaning that the effects of this won’t be seen in states that have already applied similar laws, such as Georgia.
To better understand the impact of the Order for local residents, the Technique interviewed state congressman Gabriel Sánchez, a first-time representative and son of Colombian immigrants.
“They can say whatever they want, but they can never stop us from ensuring we have language access in our communities. Whether [the] White House is gonna help or not, we don’t need them to fight for ourselves,” Sánchez commented.
Sánchez expressed that students and citizens should see little to no change in the way they interact with government agencies and services.
“As an elected official, I take a very important responsibility to ensure that my people are educated, our community knows how to advocate and we know what this means and what it doesn’t mean as well. It’s important for people to recognize the difference between the actual impacts of this versus some over exaggerations that can lead to more fear, which is unnecessary,” Sánchez added.
Rey Martinez, one of three current Latino Republicans in the Georgia House of Representatives, did not respond to an interview request.
To better comprehending the executive order’s cultural impact, the Technique also interviewed Professor Deborah Shchildkraut, author of “Press ‘One’ for English: Language Policy, Public Opinion and American Identity.
Prof. Schildkraut offered some insight into the short-term effects of the oOrder. “My initial reaction is that it will largely be symbolic and the impact may vary by state,” Schildkraut mentioned. This is due to government agencies and state governments being able to choose their policies, something Rep. Sánchez echoed.
“Immigrants themselves often do have lower rates of speaking English very well, but their children and children’s children … rates skyrocket because the incentives are so strong even without making English the official language”, Schildkraut added.
Understandably, the first-generation immigrant population will be affected the most, as further generations continue to learn English by osmosis and due to the financial incentives of learning English.
“The executive order does not prohibit providing multilingual translations of government services or websites”, Schildkraut confirmed. In essence, the Order will not affect the day–to-day operations of most states or government organizations, provided they continue having a degree of independence.
How might the executive order affect the day-to-day use of the language? Will the restriction affect beyond government and into culture? The Director of the Spanish Program at the Institute, Prof. Cecilia Montes-Alcalá, has some answers.
“Wherever there is language contact (whether those languages are official or not) there is going to be some type of language mixing or alteration. This is a natural phenomenon that happens in other countries as well, especially in border situations. Spanish will continue to be spoken in the U.S. regardless of this executive order, so the so-called Spanglish is not going anywhere,” the professor added.
The executive order is not the norm in a globalized world, where multiculturalism and speaking various languages prevail. “Most nations around the world have an official language but multilingualism is the norm, and many of them have several official languages. The closest example in North America would be Canada. In South Africa, for example, at least thirty-five languages are spoken and twelve of them are official,” Montes-Alcalá mentioned.
The interview concluded with a warning of the consequences of such an order: “There is no logic behind proposing new legislation to mandate something that is already happening. In other words, the measure is clearly symbolic, but one immediate consequence is that federal agencies will no longer be required to offer translated documents to people who do not speak English. It is too soon to forecast the longer-term consequences but it does not bode well for a multilingual and multicultural country such as the U.S.,” Montes-Alcalá concluded.
While the Executive Order is still fresh, its impact will be seen immediately. While the order is intended to create more cultural unity, some of the interviewees consider it will only create more division. Only time will tell the long-standing effects of President Trump’s new policy.