Is the official language of the United States English?

Many people think that the official language of the United States is English. But few people know that the US is a country that does not have a state language. Despite the fact that for more than 80% of the population, English is the mother tongue and means for daily communication, it has not received official status.

Why is English so popular in the US?

In America, the popularity of English began with the migration of the first migrants from Europe to the New World in the 17th and 18th centuries. Among the immigrants were representatives of different nations, religions and races, and in order to understand each other, they needed one common language, which became English. Most of the migrants were peasants and representatives of the bourgeoisie. This fact explains the main difference between the English and American languages - in the second there are no complex grammatical constructions, a lot of times are not used and the pronunciation and writing of the majority of words are different. But if you know the basics of British English, you can learn American easily.

We can say that thanks to English, America has such a developed culture and a special national character, because the settlers left Europe in search of a new and better life than at home and brought to the new country not only European culture, but also a strong desire to be independent and prove, That they can achieve better results in the economic, military and social spheres. And today, in spite of the fact that English is not the state language of the USA, it remains the leader among other languages, as it was in the days of the first settlers.

What languages are spoken in the US?

In the United States, the English Language Foundation is engaged in language policy . It is a non-governmental organization, which is the most influential in the sphere of linguistic issues in the country. According to him, in America in active use are at least 377 languages, among which are both popular English and Spanish, and rare pampangan, munda and foulani. The most multilingual state - California, spoken in 207 languages, and the least-lingual - Wyoming - there are 56 languages in use.

Separately it is necessary to say about the Russian, which is among the top ten most used in the US. For more than 3 million citizens of America this is the mother tongue. Russian in the country is engaged in the American Council of teachers of the Russian language and literature.

Why did not English become the official language of the United States?

Periodically, the English Language Foundation submits a petition to Congress for the recognition of English as an official language, but it does not gain the required number of votes.

The history of the USA knows many attempts by linguists to give official status to any widely used languages, among which, besides English, were German, French, Japanese, and Spanish. But these attempts were unsuccessful. Why? The US positions itself as a democratic state that provides its citizens with many freedoms. Recognition of any one language as state language will lead to infringement of the rights of immigrants who are full citizens of the United States, but do not speak English or other widely spoken dialects in full. For this reason, the state language of the United States does not exist.

What are the differences between British and American English?

American English differs from British:

• Vocabulary - after the migration there were new words (teenager, hitchhike), some British words were replaced (elk by moose) or changed the original meaning (pavement in British - pavement, and in American - pavement).

• Orthography - simplified the writing of a number of words - British color, labor, favor, cancelled, traveled, catalog, dialogue, center, theater, metre, maths, gray on American color, labor, favor, canceled, traveled, catalog, dialog, center, theater , Meter, math, gray.

• Grammar - in the British version, the Present Perfect Tense is used to express recent events , in the US, in addition to this time, you can use Past Simple Tense. To express future actions, the British use Future Simple Tense, and Americans - the turn to be going to.

• Phonetics - the same words can be pronounced differently - British addrEss, English - Adress.

Which English should be taught?

Today, people who study English, think about which English version to teach, and often the choice falls on the American version. There are several reasons for this:

• American English had a great influence on the worldwide version of the language. This was facilitated by the situation after the Second World War, when the United States became one of the main players on the international arena in politics, economy and modern technologies

• This fact has led to the fact that the number of speakers of British English has decreased many times, compared to those who speak American.

• The American media and the economy have a greater impact on the international arena than the British.

Despite the fact that the US state language is not English, it should be taught with a carrier if the student goes to live in America. And if the language is just needed to know, then the British variant will do, especially since it is classical.