The Politics of Bilingualism in Recent American History

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Bilingualism
America has one of the most diverse population with reference to the number of cultures that are integrated into the society. Over the years, the United States has become a diverse society, however this is not a new aspect. This is an aspect that can be traced back to the foundation of the nation. It was the foundation of the immigrants from the different parts of the world that formed the nation as it is today. Over the years the cultures have then formed a conglomerate of different factions that then used their new found identity to push forth their idea. Throughout the years, the United States has never designated an official language (Anzaludua, Gloria). Due to the fact that the nation has managed to integrate all of the different cultures, there is an element of oneness. It is this that leads most people to have the notion that there an element of monolingual nation (Quach, Claudia). Naturally most of the people speak English and even when they come to the united states, they learn how to speak and write in English. This means that, most of the people are used to the English language being the main one and therefore assume that it is the national language (Rodriquez, Richard). From the 60s, there was not much demand for bilingual services, this meant that there was not any form of competition for language legislation (Quach, Claudia). However, it is crucial to note that the issue of multilingualism has been there all along, the only reason that it has not been eagerly visited is that, it hasn’t gotten much attention, and in the few times that it has there have been some form of backlash especially where the language is from a minority culture.
One of the most recent developments that puts the issue of multilingualism into perspective is one involving Venessa Ruiz, who is a newscaster in Arizona. In one of her broadcast, she speaks English and uses some of her Spanish language words (Johnson). This was okay until some of her fan started complaining that they were not comfortable with the fact that, she was mixing up the English language with Spanish words. In her defense, she responded by saying that, she was lucky to have grown up with the experience of a bilingual and that she hoped that at one time her audience will soon feel comfortable with the language (Johnson).
‘…English and Spanish in America. First is that of Vanessa Ruiz, a newscaster in Arizona. Apparently many Anglophones in her audience are annoyed by her overly Spanish pronunciation of Spanish names and place-names during her English broadcast. (One tweeted at her “You are a newscaster. Not a mariachi. Speak English.”) Ms Ruiz replied in a cheerful on-air commentary: she was “lucky” to grow up bilingual, and that she had faith that her viewers would get used to hearing the words in question pronounced “the way they are meant to be pronounced”….This is slightly confused; there is not a single way that anything is “meant” to be pronounced: tomato, tomahto, “park the car in Harvard Yard” and “pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd.” Mexico is pronounced meks-ick-o in English, and meh-hee-ko in Mexico. What about a name like “Rodríguez”: the rhotic burr of an American "r" twice, or a trilled “r” to start the name and a quick tap for the second r, as in Spanish?’ (Johnson)
From the case it is apparent that there are underlying issues that affect bilinguals in the country. This brings to ligh...