David Monniaux wrote:
Not true. We
(the USA) lack an *official* national language. Depending
on the state, 1-5 languages are used. Compare to the EU.
Come on. All official sites, all political debates, all major news etc.
are in English. Can a latino legislator do a speech in Spanish in the
Capitol US? I doubt so; at least, I doubt it could happen in practice.
Not true. The official website of Texas <http://www.state.tx.us/> is in
both Spanish and English, and this is true of many states with large
Spanish-speaking populations. Every ballot I've ever used to vote in an
election (I'm from Texas) was printed in both English and Spanish; in
the last election, my absentee ballot came with a Vietnamese version as
well. All government buildings have their signs in both English and
Spanish. Basically, there is no official piece of communication you can
get from the Texas state government that does not have every word of
English translated to Spanish, and in the Houston area Vietnamese is
often included as well.
(Compare the uproar that would ensue if a European country allowed
people to vote using Turkish-language ballots.)
-Mark