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The American Language

The American Language

Date: Jun 06 2006

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Immigration has always been a hot topic in the U.S. Recently, the debate has gotten hotter among average citizens and government representatives. One of the key issues in the debate is about language: Should English be the official language of the United States?

Last week, the U.S. Senate voted to make English the national language of the U.S. Listen to Dave and Taylor talk about English as the national language.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Taylor

Taylor

Dave

Dave

Taylor:  You know, Dave, President Bush here in America and the Republican government has been pushing for a bunch of immigration reforms and, ah, simultaneously, they’ve introduced, ah, to now proclaim English as the national language for the United States of America.

Dave:  Right, the senate just voted on it to make it the national language, not the “official” language.

Taylor:  Right.

Dave:  I don’t know that there’s much of a difference there.

Taylor:  That means that, ah, all paperwork is, they have no obligation to provide translation services for anybody who doesn’t speak English.

Dave:  Right. Yeah, English has always been the dominant language and most people would argue that, “Well, yeah, it is kind of the official language by default.” But, to make it the actual official language is kind of a scary thing because along with that comes a lot of federal policies and federal regulations for education, for example.

Taylor:  Mm hm. You know, they’re not all going to suddenly convert to conversing with everybody in English, you know.

Dave:  Right. People don’t realize that when immigrants come to the U.S., it’s not the first generation who become assimilated. It’s the second and third generation who become assimilated.

Taylor:  Right.

 

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Discussion

America is considerably underdeveloped when it comes to language diversity. Fewer than 10% of adults can speak a second language. Many Americans believe that a common language (in this case, English) promotes national unity. Two groups, English First and US English, have been trying to make English the official language of the U.S. for many years.

Multilingualism is common in many countries around the world. India has 18 official languages, with Hindi and English being the most widely spoken.

In Hong Kong, English and Chinese are official languages, and Cantonese is also widely used.

Luxembourg is a trilingual country where French, German and Luxembourgish are the official languages.

Do you think countries should have a single official language? Do you think having a common language promotes unity?

 

Comments

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Totto

Totto

Sudan

I agree having a single language promotes unity, but if the means learn the offcial language and get rid of your own, then noi wont agree to that.

04:45 PM Oct 13 2008 |

Retaj

Retaj

Saudi Arabia

in any country i think it should be an official language and a local one,because of the daily life it will be difficult to speak one language all time.
thx

07:16 AM Oct 12 2008 |

dillab90

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I love english

05:32 PM Oct 11 2008 |

angel_deguzman

Philippines

in our country we have more than 170 languages but tagalog is our national language

08:23 PM Sep 28 2008 |

lazygirl321

Viet Nam

    hi! how to lear english

11:03 AM Aug 31 2008 |

ariunsanaa

ariunsanaa

Mongolia

I love to learn.

06:03 AM Jun 22 2008 |

nelli44

Kuwait

hiii, i wanna learn the american english online some one help me pls

04:48 PM Apr 28 2008 |

nelli44

Kuwait

hi, i like the american language so much i really wanna learn it .

04:45 PM Apr 28 2008 |

sylviaf

Argentina

American language is nowadyas the best way to communicate to other people ,to understand songs and films…..I just love it

11:33 AM Apr 08 2008 |

nigina

nigina

Tajikistan

Hi, I an Nigina

09:58 AM Apr 02 2008 |

hamouda

Tunisia

American English is a trait of national identity.it's the language of buisness &high technology .it's should be maintained as the official language in america.

01:49 PM Mar 27 2008 |

yaris83

yaris83

United Kingdom

what the mater  whith you ana, do you need company?

08:40 PM Mar 11 2008 |

Jenjen

Philippines

Hi! I'm Ana from Spain. lalalalaaa I'm boring in this moment lalalalaa xD

GOODBYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

06:59 PM Mar 11 2008 |

Jenjen

Philippines

I am Ana from Spain and I think English is a very important language. Because where ever you go everybody understands English. I love it!

06:55 PM Mar 11 2008 |

Jenjen

Philippines

I am Ana from Spain and I think English is a very important language. Because where ever you go everybody understands English. I love it!

06:52 PM Mar 11 2008 |

yaris83

yaris83

United Kingdom

Yes it sweet Wink, i find this website; it's seems good to learn american Pronunciation with audio courses

americanenglish.freehostia.com

06:12 PM Mar 11 2008 |

ijishaji

ijishaji

India

american english is sweet

07:41 AM Mar 11 2008 |

jAdE

jAdE

Turkey

i love American English even though there aren't so many differences between themSmile

11:13 PM Jan 20 2008 |

sharlotta80

Uzbekistan

Yes,i know there is no big differences between US & UK english. But UK English sounds beautiful too. 

05:37 AM Dec 25 2007 |

hadjira

hadjira

Algeria

ok there are difference between UK english and USenglish but not big diffrent 

but i like it American englishWink

08:11 PM Dec 24 2007 |

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