Hispanics and bilingualism

Steven Edwards:

If there's one thing the United States should have learned from Canada's official bilingualism, it's that inserting two languages into the fabric of the national identity is a mistake.

While there were strong historical imperatives for putting French on an equal footing with English federally, most pure laine French-speakers still don't consider themselves Canadian.

In the United States, a similar division will become entrenched if Washington continues to allow the growth of regions or economic sectors where Hispanic immigrants can thrive in Spanish only.

So George W. Bush, the U.S. President, was on the right track last week when he insisted the U.S. national anthem should be sung in English only.

As is often the case with Mr. Bush, he didn't explain himself properly. And so his critics are gleefully pointing out he sang The Star-Spangled Banner in Spanish at stops at Hispanic festivals during his presidential campaign.

Others have shown that the lyrics, penned by Francis Scott Key as a poem in 1814, have been translated into several other tongues, including German, Latin and Yiddish. Even the U.S. State Department carries a Spanish translation on its Web site.

But in a week when the 40 million-strong Hispanic community demonstrated its economic and political power through huge marches, Mr. Bush rightly could not be seen giving any endorsement to redefining such a central national symbol.

Since the United States established itself as an English-speaking country, never has an immigrant group so threatened the "melting pot" concept.

In his book Empires of the Word, Nicholas Ostler argues English became the dominant language of the United States in large part because English-speaking colonists were far more likely to arrive in families than colonists from other parts of Europe.

Consequently, their numbers grew more rapidly than, say, those of the French, whose fur-trading coureurs de bois typified the single men who spread into new lands, but couldn't consolidate them.

Not only have Hispanics arrived with large families, they are immigrating at a time when the political correctness of the far left is succeeding in redefining the U.S.'s traditional nation-building principles.

It was once an accepted norm that immigration should satisfy the needs of the host country, whether they be to replenish an overall shortage of numbers or fill jobs in certain fields.

In the U.S. melting pot, immigrants were expected to assimilate. An essential part of this involved learning English so they could participate fully in the American Dream. Maintaining traditions was welcome, but not, as President Woodrow Wilson told new citizens in 1915, by "seeking to perpetuate what you intended to leave behind."

But today the pressures of political correctness are so powerful anyone who speaks out against establishment norms is given legitimacy.

In the current immigration debate, the marches showed rights to redirect the United States should be extended not only to those who entered the country legally, but also to the estimated 12 million who arrived illegally.

While melting-pot principles played a central role in creating a unified and prosperous country, allowing a major immigrant group to override them is leading to the Balkanization of certain parts of the United States.

Hispanics are sufficiently numerous in many areas of the Southwest and southern Florida that they can -- and many do -- spend their entire lives speaking Spanish and learning only a smattering of English.

Cuban expatriates in Miami, for example, virtually dominate the city's economy at all levels, and many Latin Americans describe it as their dream destination because it enables them to earn a U.S. salary without having to make any cultural or linguistic adjustments.

Florida has legislated English as the state's official language, but the level of Hispanicization is so great sales clerks in many stores are more likely to address customers in Spanish than in English.

New Mexico, with a population that is more than 42% Hispanic, has made Spanish an official language on par with English. Elsewhere, local governments and businesses provide services in Spanish in cities with sizeable Hispanic populations. There are even Spanish-only Metro cards in New York.

Yes, recent immigrants need a cushion, but not to the extent where they can spurn learning English and becoming a part of the country.

While Canada is officially bilingual in homage to one of its two "founding nations," the United States appears to be turning bilingual by stealth. Allowing it would change the United States for the worse.

Keep English the predominant language of U.S.

Sing our national anthem in English

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