The argument of English being the official language is floating about the NY Times. The most recent one bemoans the fact that someone from Peru had to learn English and they note:
It was a preview of what the next five decades would bring, as the two languages jostled for primacy in my mind. Our moves back and forth between the United States and Peru during my childhood compelled me to latch on to whichever language I needed most at different times, even while striving to retain the other. Sometimes my English was stronger, sometimes my Spanish. No one had to tell me which language mattered when, or whether one or the other was “official.” Wherever I was, I knew. In his March 1 executive order designating English as the official language of the United States, President Trump asserts that a single shared language is “at the core of a unified, cohesive society,” that it serves to “streamline communication,” promote efficiency and “empower new citizens to achieve the American Dream.” On these points, I have little disagreement. Just about every immigrant I’ve ever known in the United States — starting with my father — has sought to learn English for just those reasons. It was relatively easy for my sisters and me to pick it up as kids, and my mother had learned it well from the beloved American nuns who taught her in Peru. But my dad, coming to it later in life, always had to work at it.
The author misses the point. When the scholars wrote the Pentateuch they took a collection of languages of the Old Testament and organized it, one may wonder how many changes as languages changed over time as well as over geography.
We know well the battle over the Council of Nicaea using Greek and Latin. One can see English Law change over a millennium, Words mean something. The Supreme Court issues opinions in English, often parsing English words to render their opinions.
Now if we say that any language can be used we will admit that words can mean whatever we want them to. We align with the folks in Alice in Wonderland! The argument of no official language admits to open chaos.
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