- Move aims for cohesion in the country characterized by immigration.
- Agencies are flexible to offer help in other languages.
- Nearly 68 million people speak a language other than English.
Washington: President Donald Trump has appointed English as the official language of the United States, saying that this would bring cohesion to a country characterized by immigration around the world.
The White House has published a Trump decree which says that it is “long time” that English is declared the official language of the country.
“A language designated at the national level is at the heart of a unified and coherent society, and the United States is reinforced by citizenship which can freely exchange ideas in a shared language,” said the document.
The order reveals a presidential mandate of the 1990s under the president of the time, Bill Clinton, demanding that federal agencies and agencies receive federal funding to provide assistance to non -English speakers.
According to the new document, agencies will always have flexibility to decide the help to offer in languages other than English.
“Nothing in this order […] requires or directs any change in the services provided by any agency, “said the decree.
He adds that agency heads are authorized to determine what is necessary “to carry out the mission of their respective agencies and effectively provide government services to the American people”.
Trump published a blizzard of decrees during his first weeks in power, seeking to put his right cachet on the country.
However, many of his ordinances are disputed before the courts, in particular when they seek to cancel federal funding approved by the congress.
While the White House recognizes that more than 350 languages are spoken in the United States, the order says that English has been the language of the nation “of the foundation of our Republic” and “the historic historical documents of our nation, including the declaration of independence and the Constitution, were all written in English”.
Nearly 68 million people speak a language other than English at home, according to figures from the 2019 US government.
While English is by far the majority language of the country, more than 40 million people in America speak Spanish at home.
In addition to other groups of immigrants, including Chinese and Vietnamese, the complex American linguistic landscape includes dozens of Amerindian languages.
