30 September 2014
Should the ability to speak Basic English be a requirement for U.S. Citizenship?
Yes it should be, that’s a simple question. If you are going to a country to better yourself, you should at the very least learn to speak the language of the country. When one does not care to learn the language of the country they want to be in says to me they don’t really care enough about the country to learn the language, they simply want what the country has to offer and nothing more. Society cannot even begin to function properly if people cannot communicate effectively with each other. If the people seeking citizenship aren’t willing to learn the language, then the name of the country needs to be changed. In the U.S. the language spoken is English. It is almost impossible to gain a decent paying salary in America if you don’t speak a foreign language. Almost all applications require you to be Bi-lingual, but there are so many people hired on a daily basis who are in management positions who only speak one language and it’s not English. This to me is wrong on many levels. There are plenty of Vietnam veterans who fought for this country and regular American citizens who cannot gain decent employment, and are being turned down for not being bi-lingual. But someone who speaks very little to no English at all has a bi-lingual management position. That arises questions in itself. Who completed your all English application for you? How did you get a bi-lingual position when you only speak and understand one language?
According to CBIA Human Resources it is not at all unusual for a company to have employees whose native tongue is a language other than English. In some work places this has caused problems. For example two cashiers chat with one another in Spanish while dealing with English speaking only customers. A customer can later complain about the rude behavior. To avoid these types of situations from occurring, some employers adopted a speak English only policy. The employers that decide to put this policy in to play must now consider the complaints that can be made against them for discrimination based on national origin and a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act found on www.eeoc.gov which protects individuals against employment discrimination on the bases of color and or race as well as national orgin.