Onion: Idaho erklärt Englisch zur einzigen Sprache, die sie kennen
Die armen Idahoans: In Amerika gelten sie (wohl zu Unrecht) als ausgemachte Hinterwäldler und sind dem Rest des Landes immer für einen Scherz gut. So schreibt die Satirezeitung “The Onion”:
ID—The Idaho Legislature passed a unanimous resolution Monday declaring English the only language the elected assembly knows how to speak, write, or understand.
(…)
The legislature is expected to pass a separate resolution later this week officially declaring out-of-towners “suspicious.”
Dabei sagen meine geheimen Idahoischen Quellen: “Wie gemein — und überhaupt, die Gesetzgebungsperiode ist doch schon lang wieder vorbei…”
May 27th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Idaho utilizes a citizen legislature which typically means that the representation is not the most sophisticated. This short sighted resolution was in response to the high number of Mexican illegal immigrants now living in Idaho. The legislature is offended that English is a second language and several of the state, county and municipal government offices that provide services offer bilingual forms and directions. America is a land of immigrants and apparently the Idaho legislature has forgotten it takes one to two generations before English will become the primary language in a family. That all being said, solving the illegal immigration problem is a whole different matter.
May 28th, 2007 at 1:14 am
Hi Jenny, thanks for your comment! I’m surprised to see you commenting on my German blog, yet you are very welcome to!
Let me first make clear that the article cited by me came from the satiric newspaper “the Onion”, so it was not meant seriously.
However, thanks for refering me to the actual bill (no. 1172, I assume) which indeed makes English the Idaho state language. I do agree that this is pretty short sighted, for one reason: I got to know America as a country that is more diverse than any country I have never seen. Its cultural heritage is the fundamental point making the US special, and English has “just” been a lingua franca, or the smallest common denominator for people to communicate there.
Now, by declaring this the “only true” language, they deny this cultural background. In other words, they are simply burning their most important cultural asset due to their fear of the unknown.
But on a side note, I agree that isn’t quite connected to the illegal immigration problem and doesn’t mean that shouldn’t be solved.