Quotes & Sayings About Official Language

It became the country's official language in the 13th century under the reign of Alfonso X el Sabio (the wise one) as he tried to unify a country that was housing a number of languages, including arabic, hebrew and latin. — Pilar Orti

It will be, I suppose, a foolhardy Government that tries to push through legislation making knowledge of both official languages one of the qualifications for election to the House of Commons or appointment to the Senate, but maybe it will have to come to this as a price we must pay for equality of the two great language groups of our founding fathers. — Judy LaMarsh

Siarad Cymraeg?" said Old Shacob.
"He wants to know if you speak Welsh," said the surveyor.
"NO!" yelled the official at the old man before him.
"Tamn it all; his language, man!" shouted Dan. "What you expect in Wales - Chinese, or what?! — Geraint Goodwin

We will go to every part of Tamil Nadu and tell the people that Hindi is coming and that it is like a thunder strike on the heads of Tamil and Dravidian people ... If Hindi were to become the official language of India, Hindi-speaking people will govern us. We will be treated like third rate citizens — C. N. Annadurai

Though Urdu is the mother tongue of only 5 percent of Pakistanis, it is the official language of the state and is taught in schools nationwide. — Dilip Hiro

After the non-Japanese Carlos Ghosn was brought in by Nissan to turn around the struggling auto manufacturer, he made English the company's official working language. — Rebecca MacKinnon

For years, "Sorry, I don't speak French" has been the reflexive response of English-speaking Canadians to a request, a comment, or a greeting in the other official language. Part apology, part defiance, it is a declaration of the otherness. That is not me. I don't do that. The language barrier is her, at this counter, now. — Graham Fraser

The official language of the State of Illinois shall be known hereafter as the American language, and not the English language. — Frank Church

Stop being silly, her name is Reshidatu. It is a pity that our official language is English, and a greater pity that our three major languages is the WaZoBia. — S.A. David

Instead of this confusion, we need the unifying force of an official language, English, which is the language of success in America. — Ernest Istook

I've long believed that having multiple official languages makes it very hard to sustain a united polity. — Kevin Drum

The Soviets, at least some of them, believed in what they were doing. After all, they did it themselves and recorded what they did, in clear language, in official documents, filed in orderly archives. They could associate themselves with their deeds, because true responsibility rested with the communist party. The Nazis used grand phrases of racial superiority, and Himmler spoke of the moral sublimity involved in killing others for the sake of the race. But when the time came, Germans acted without plans and without precision, and with no sense of responsibility. In the Nazi worldview, what happened was simply what happened, the stronger should win; but nothing was certain, and certainly not the relationship between past, present and future. The Soviets believed that History was on their side and acted accordingly. The Nazis were afraid of everything except the disorder they themselves created. The systems and the mentalities were different, profoundly and interestingly so. — Timothy Snyder

We recognised Urdu as the second official language and made it a medium of examination in all Bihar Public Service Commission tests. — Lalu Prasad Yadav

I support local solutions to illegal immigration as protected by the 10th amendment. I support making English the official language of all documents and contracts.. — Rand Paul

All official institutions of language are repeating machines: school, sports, advertising, popular songs, news, all continually repeat the same structure, the same meaning, often the same words: the stereotype is a political fact, the major figure of ideology. — Roland Barthes

English should be our official language. Reading and speaking English are requirements to become a citizen. — Ernest Istook

My plays have been translated into all of the official languages of South Africa except Afrikaans. — Zakes Mda

When the film [Certified Copy] was in the Cannes Festival, I realized that the fact of having it shot in a different culture, in a different language, in a different setting, that wasn't mine and that I didn't belong to, gave me a totally different relationship to the film. When I was sitting in the audience during the official screening in Cannes, I didn't feel that it was my film. — Abbas Kiarostami

With all the divisive forces tearing at our country, we need the glue of language to help hold us together. If we want to ensure that all our children have the same opportunities in life, alternative language education should stop and English should be acknowledged once and for all as the official language of the United States. — Bob Dole

Clutter is the official language used by corporations to hide their mistakes. — William Zinsser

Any place where they got to vote on whether English is the official language don't belong in the United States. — Patricia Cornwell

I think we can all agree that the official language of the United States should be Latin. — Michel Templet

Anyone who asserted wrong teachings, anyone serving the devil or his demons, earned instead an equally remarkable antagonism. In their official high meetings together, Christians thus could not keep their own disagreements within the bounds of civil language; their continual quarrels required the intervention of the civil authorities; and all this was well known and noted by friends and foes alike. — Ramsay MacMullen

In fact, for a period stretching over seven hundred years, the international language of science was Arabic. For this was the language of the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, and thus the official language of the vast Islamic Empire that, by the early eighth century CE, stretched from India to Spain. — Jim Al-Khalili

English, although the official language of Nigeria, was a formal language with which strangers and non-relatives addressed you. It had the potency of digging craters between you and your friends or relatives if one of you switched to using it. So, our parents hardly spoke English, except in moments like this, when the words were intended to pull the ground from beneath our feet. — Chigozie Obioma

I believe it is essential to have English as the official language of our National Government, for the English language is the tie that binds the millions of immigrants who come to America from divergent backgrounds. We should, and do, encourage immigrants to maintain and share their traditions, customs and religions, but the use of English is essential for immigrants and their children to participate fully in American society and achieve the American dream. — Jim Sensenbrenner