The Endangered English Language
Michael Reagan, FrontPageMagazine.com, August 25, 2006
All across the U.S., hordes of immigrants — legal and illegal — are chattering away in their native language and have no intention of learning English, the all-but-official language of the United States where they now live.
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The result? According to Census Bureau statistics reported in Human Events:
* In California, 42.3 percent of the people do not speak English at home. More than 28 percent speak Spanish instead. One in five Californians told the Census Bureau they speak English “less than very well.”
* In the city of Los Angeles, for example, 60.8 percent of the people do not speak English at home. Instead, more than 44 percent speak Spanish while 31.3 percent say they speak English “less than very well.”
* In the city of Santa Ana, a whopping 84.7 percent do not speak English at home while more than 75 percent speak Spanish instead, and 50.8 percent say they speak English “less than very well.”
* In Miami, Florida, 78.9 percent do not speak English at home, 69.8 percent speak Spanish instead, and 46.7 percent say they speak English “less than very well.”
* In Passaic, N.J., 72.7 percent of the people do not speak English at home, 62.9 percent speak Spanish instead, and 45.4 percent say they speak English “less than very well.”
The 10 states with the greatest percentage of people five years and over who speak a language other than English at home are:
1. California: 42.3 percent;
2. New Mexico: 36.1 percent;
3. Texas: 33.6 percent;
4. New York: 28.2 percent;
5-6. Arizona: 27.4 percent; and New Jersey: 27.4 percent (tie);
7. Nevada: 26.2 percent;
8. Florida: 25.4 percent;
9. Hawaii: 24 percent; and
10. Illinois: 21.5 percent.
Where is all this leading? The other day I read a story headlined “Will English Survive Immigrant Flood?” As Pat Buchanan warns in his new book, State of Emergency — Third World Invasion and Conquest of America, if our language is gone, the conquest is complete.
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Incredibly, while huge numbers of immigrants already here refuse to learn English, in other parts of the world people are learning English just so they can come here. As I heard last year in Kenya, the students there said that English is the language of business and to get ahead in this world you have to learn to speak it.
We are really enabling immigrants to avoid learning English and assimilating into our culture because we give them everything they need so they don’t have to learn to speak English or become part of the traditional melting pot.
By enabling these people, we build an enclave for them that looks like the one they ran away from at home, thereby preventing them from assimilating and becoming part of the American dream. English is the language of business and trade — if you can’t speak it you can’t get out of the occupational ghetto and move up the ladder. You are stuck where you are.
Tragically, the answer to the question of English surviving the immigrant invasion is probably “no.” The English language is on its death bed, a victim of the enablers.