Hurrah! Does this mean that the Americans are now going to learn to speak English? The bastardised version foisted upon the world now is NOT English.

Large regions of the United States still inhabited by their previous ethnicities were seized by conquest. American nativism is an oxymoron. Moral and historical arguments for hegemony are specious today in a world that claims to recognize democratic self-determination. As in Quebec, arguments for anglophone hegemony tell far more about the disturbed advocate than possible merits of monolingualism.

What is conspicuous about life in the United States and, generally, Americans abroad is how they are permanently stuck in the trap of American english. Obviously, it does not preclude complex reasoning, subtle perception, creative imagination, emotional maturity or quiet speech. But doesn't it sometimes feel like it?

Consequently, we make some frustrated eccentrics in the USA.
Sous les pavés, la plage !

I wonder what the americans would think of our ignorant and pathetic english do gooders ,and politically correct morons in our society.probaby if our home news was availiable to them they would die laughing .

I don't think this is targeted a particular ethnicity, but it simply addresses that it places an unnecessary burden on the city. Since the United States has been an English-speaking country for 400 years, it only makes sense that English be the language of communication in the government. This only applies to government, the does not prohibit the use of any other language outside of the local government. Most governments of the world have an official language which is used, why should the US be any different? Sure, some of the largest supporters are borderline xenophobes, but that is beyond the fact that this is a burden to society. Toubon Law is much more extreme than English-language laws in the US!

The issue of targeting latinos isn't valid. Latinos will be the largest group affected simply because they are the largest minority in the region which doesn't speak English. However, the US has had a long history of immigration and all those until the latinos in the last few decades have learned English. Millions of immigrants came to the US between the 1880s and 1930s, all of them learned English, many of them came to escape adverse conditions. Why is it that immigrants today can't learn English? It is a great burden on many parts of society from schools to hospitals to employers when there are such large amounts of people who do not or just barely speak English?

The best way to sum up this issue is to think of it this way: If I moved to Russia, per se, should I expect the government to provide all services to me in English? Apply your answer to this article.

It's a shame that the $300,000+ being spent on this embarassing election wasn't invested in ESL classes instead. There is a shortage of affordable English classes for immigrants here in Nashville, with waiting lists at many of the programs. Let's help them succeed, not punish them for speaking something other than English as their native language.