On a Monday morning in Donnarumma Hall, Professor Elizabeth Boquet, Ph.D., decided to start our Teaching and Learning Grammar course a little differently than usual. Rather than having us discuss the chapter we had read for homework, she asked us to write a response to a recent executive order from President Donald Trump.
In a statement released on March 1 on the official White House website, “this order designates English as the official language of the United States.”
Particularly relevant to her Teaching and Learning Grammar course, where she discusses linguistics and language varieties with her students, Dr. Boquet prompted us to engage in a discussion regarding our opinions on this newly declared “official language.”
My first thought was one of confusion. I don’t see how declaring an official language for the country is at all necessary or beneficial to anyone. After sharing my thoughts with my classmates and engaging in further discussion, I became increasingly concerned about how this new official language would impact non-English speakers and the languages being taught in schools.
“I think that it is definitely a political statement to issue an executive order making English the official language of the U.S.,” Dr. Boquet shared with me. She also pointed out that while English is the most commonly spoken language in the U.S., the country has never had a nationally declared official language. “An order like this doesn’t make anyone learn English any faster; I think that’s really important,” Dr. Boquet said, “all it does is make the process harder.”
As stated in President Trump’s order, “In welcoming new Americans, a policy of encouraging the learning and adoption of our national language will make the United States a shared home and empower new citizens to achieve the American dream […] This order recognizes and celebrates the long tradition of multilingual American citizens who have learned English and passed it to their children for generations to come.”
To me, this statement seems more like a push towards assimilation rather than unity and efficiency. Putting an emphasis on multilingual Americans passing down English to their children eradicates their own native languages and discredits their cultures as a whole.
“There are ways of making spaces less hospitable, and enforcing any type of language is a powerful way of doing that,” Dr. Boquet said.
Prof. Sergio Adrada-Rafael, Ph.D., professor of Spanish and Chair of the Modern Languages and Literatures Department, passionately echoed Dr. Boquet’s sentiments.
“It puts on this additional pressure and sends the message that languages are less valuable here,” he said.
Dr. Adrada-Rafael also added that over 20% of households in the U.S. speak languages other than English and that 80% of countries are officially multilingual. This contradicts Trump’s aim to make monolingualism seem like the norm when it is actually the exception. Dr. Adrada-Rafael also pointed out that New York City is home to the largest variety of languages spoken in the world, with over 600 languages in Queens alone. “It’s contradictory that when you have this city in your country—the most linguistically diverse city in the world—that you are still saying, no, English has to be the official language.”
In the declaration, President Trump implies that he believes languages other than English have no place being used to officially communicate, as the statement says: “[I]t is in America’s best interest for the Federal Government to designate one—and only one—official language.” This statement is a slap in the face to any multilingual Americans who have come to this country seeking new opportunities, as it implies that their language and culture are not valued here.
Dr. Adrada-Rafael also noted that “even if [Trump] did not mention it explicitly, there is a racial component there.” He went on to explain how, because the majority of English speakers in the U.S. are white, declaring English as the one and only official language implies that people who are non-white and non-English speakers are inferior. “It is very negative, it really hurts the U.S. as a country and as a society to declare English as an official language.”
Not only does English as an official language negatively impact non-English speakers in the U.S., but it also will be a detrimental hit to languages being taught in schools. By enforcing English as the official language, the motivation for students to study other languages will decline.
“Enrollments might even get worse over time with this declaration,” Dr. Adrada-Rafael said. “It might affect the [number of] students we get in our classes or the mentality they come to our classes with.”
Dr. Boquet also noted how this declaration will negatively impact language learning in schools. She shared that she is already “thinking about ways of making sure that people feel safe and secure in their communities, regardless of their level of fluency in English.”
Junior Melody Olivan Sánchez is a heritage Spanish speaker at Fairfield University and provided her perspective on the official language declaration. “I was disappointed but not shocked,” she said. “Since I was little, I have always been implicitly and explicitly told to learn, speak and write in English.” She said that although she learned English at a very young age, speaking Spanish with her friends and family is where she truly feels at home, and that her identity would not be the same without it. “I see this new statement as interrupting any opportunity and pride there can be in learning and speaking more than just the English language.”
In agreement with Dr. Adrada-Rafael and Dr. Bouquet, Olivan Sánchez feels that “this new declaration will affect the funding, resources and opportunities that language departments and educators can receive. I can’t imagine how stressful and overwhelming this new declaration can be to language faculty educators.”
The United States has long been seen as a nation that embraces people of all cultural backgrounds, yet declaring English as the official language undermines the countless non-English speakers who have shaped this country’s success. The true “American Dream” is about opportunity and inclusion, regardless of language or heritage. But under Trump’s vision, that dream seems less about unity and more about erasing diversity—an attempt to whitewash the very people who make America what it is.