Dateline: 10/23/00
Is the United States in danger of becoming a bilingual country? And
if so, is that possibility indeed a danger?
Pat Buchanan, the Reform Party candidate for U.S. president, thinks
so on both counts.
Buchanan has struggled in his long-shot campaign, and he currently is
getting only about 1 percent in the national polls. But the fact that Buchanan
chose creeping bilingualism (or multilingualism) as a theme in his first
TV commercial, which started airing two weeks ago in 13 states, most of
them with high Spanish-speaking populations, shows that the issue is one
that resonates with a significant number of Americans.
The commercial begins with a man sitting at his kitchen table who starts
choking when he hears a news report that "English is no longer our national
language." He struggles to reach the phone to call 911. "Please listen
for your language," says a recording when the phone at the 911 office is
answered. "For Spanish press 1, for Korean press 2, for Bengali, press
3, ...."
"Do you ever miss English?" the announcer on the commercial then asks
as the commercial goes on to make a pitch for Buchanan and his call for
strict limits on immigration. "Vote for the third party first," concludes
the ad, which campaign officials plan to run until election day.
At least one of Buchanan's radio ads also has emphasized the language
issue, pointing out with alarm the multilingual nature of the Los Angeles
School District.
It all seems a bit absurd, considering that not only is English firmly
established as the national language of the United States, but that it
also has become the de facto world language for travel, trade, diplomacy
and online communications. Ironically, even in Buchanan's ad the 911 recording
is in English. But the growing use of Spanish and other non-English tongues
has nonetheless raised concerns, some legitimate, some xenophobic, that
the United States could be losing some of the unifying effect that a single
national language can have. From the days of the Tower of Babel onward,
language differences have been more often a cause of contention rather
than an impetus for harmony.
Although immigration and language issues have been a matter of political
dispute for some time, they were all but unspoken during most of this year's
presidential campaign until the Buchanan ads started airing. The issue
has surfaced, however, in some congressional campaigns.
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