Vote Down English Only in Nashville, Tennessee

An "English only" rule would cripple the country-western industry.

It hasn't used English for decades.

Thanks for this piece Barbara, very interesting.

Geez.....english only in an english speaking country, wow, yeah, can't let this happen, would be so anti-American. Press 1 for Spanish, 2. Hindi, 3 for Swahili, 4 for Laotian, 5 for ????, oh, if you speak english...hang up

Hello.  This is an interesting article.  Surely no one can issue a rule that "English would be the only language spoken."  Perhaps Nashville's proposed English only rule is qualified by something?  Otherwise, what would be done to enforce the rule - burst into the homes of Spanish-speaking families and arrest them?  There must be more to this rule than is presented here, right?

Just want to know.  Thanks.

Mary

Incidentally, having separate languages promotes subcultures, and subcultures promote poverty.  I advise all people to become literate in the language of the country where they reside for their own good and for the good of their children.

Mary

English only is EXACTLY what we need!

Being able to speak English is actually one of the requirements for American citizenship, but it hasn't been enforced.

Funny, if you go to other countries, they could care less if you can't speak their language. I spent 9 months traveling around South and Central America and I could almost count the number of signs I saw in English on one hand. Why should we be expected to bend over backwards for them.

You want to move here for the opportunity, learn the fu*king English language!

I think this is bogus or the author did not understand. She is probably mistake. It is probably a law about English remaining the dominate language so that stores will not be forced to provide info in other languages or so that schools don't have to provide a second language. That can happen. That has happened. But outlawing other languages from being spoken will never happen. It goes against the constitution.

Yes, the United States was built from the sound of many voices, many languages. BUT everyone back then LEARNED ENGLISH at some point. If I moved to Japan I would not expect the Japanese to provide everything in english just so that I can understand. So why expect that here?

Just so you know, if you come into the country legally you have to pass english tests. What does that tell us? We are being asked to provide extra help to people who moved into the country illegally or who are simply here on a work visa. If someone is living in this country and can't speak english they should probably be asked, with the help of a translator, why they can't speak english and how exactly they arrived here.

Are tax dollars should not go to benefit people who break the law. My grandparents had to wait seven years to reside in the US. If they were able to wait Pedro should be able to pick up a book and learn some basic english before running the border and taking a job away from someone else.

And don't give me that "they do the jobs none of us will do" spill. Have you seen the factories that have been busted lately? Those were all $10 to $15 per hour jobs. The one good thing about this bad economy is that it proves that people want jobs and that illegals HAVE THE JOBS THEY NEED! Why do you think so many illegals are moving back to where they came from. They know that the demand for jobs is going to point fingers in their direction if they remain here.

True, what is the colour of labour ? We are all in the same boat. I have more in commen with an american worker than an English boss. All americans should learn how to spell english. How about those German words like sure and hi ?

You guys will say that until things really get bad. The truth is that corporations want illegals in this country and with the economy crashing they will make sure that even more do. They want that because an illegal normally is not paid the same wage as the rest of us or at the least the employer does not have to worry about benefits.

Yes, this is America. And yes America accepts all. However, if you have not noticed we have used the english language as the dominate language since the founding of the country. If you have not noticed the constitution was written in english. It was not written in other languages just to make everyone feel better. So why should we do that now?

To serve in the US military you must speak english, aside from when we do joint efforts with other forces. To be a federal or state employee you must speak english. So if our military and government favors english, why not?

Yes, it would be great if everyone could speak english and spanish. But whats next? If non-english speaking people from another country starting moving to the US would we have to learn their language next? Should our kids learn every language that exists today just so everyone is happy? That is not realistic.

And yeah, legal workers should be mad about what has happened with the economy. On the same note, illegals should fix their own country before flocking to ours. Americans have fought hard to establish ourselves on a global scale. Not all of our history is great, some of it is ugly, but you will find much uglier history throughout the world. Funny how the US is seen as the international bad guy when England, Germany, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, Turkey, China and a several other countries have tried at one point to take over the world as they knew it. That does not make bad US actions OK, but I can tell you right now we have less blood on our hands that some of these other countries that critique our every move today.

This story is bogus I think. I can't find anything about it and the author offered no references. This is the fear that the left uses to stir people up.

Here is an update on this story. It will cost our city up to $500,000 to hold this election as reported in the Nashville City Paper this morning.

One person mentioned the cost of the election as a reason for not having an English only vote. Consider this: the election is a one-time cost. The cost of printing multi language documents is an infinite cost that could run into the millions, not to mention fragmenting the culture.

Remember the tower of Babel.