On March 1, 2025, President Donald Trump declared English the official language of the United States in an executive order. While English has remained the most widely used language in the U.S., it was never actually made our official language. Until now.
For years, English has been the modern-day lingua franca of the world, the language used for international diplomacy and business. Replacing French, it has become more and more widespread, which has made it a popular second language due to its growing prominence on the global scene.
It also has always been at the core of the United States as a country. As Trump points out in his executive order, “Our Nation’s historic governing documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, have all been written in English.” It also holds the title of official language of 30 U.S. states. It makes sense to make it official on a national level, especially as the U.S. was among the few remaining countries without an official language. However, all of this has been true for years, so why now?
A more recent development leading to this is the influx in immigration. With so many non-native speakers entering the country, language is becoming trickier. The “Great American Melting Pot” is no longer just a free country of diversity; it is a jumble of language barriers and miscommunication. By making English our official language, we will avoid some of these divisions. Trump’s executive order states, “A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language.” At its heart, this executive decision is about unity.
With all that being said, this will require work for those who don’t already speak English. This can be quite a daunting task, as English is grammatically one of the most difficult languages to learn due to all its odd rules and endless exceptions. It is a blend of many other languages, notably Latin and German, which only further muddles the language. It can be especially difficult if you didn’t grow up hearing it and internalizing those rules, as is the case for most non-native speakers. Many native speakers couldn’t even explain English grammar to you. They can use it subconsciously because they grew up with it. But no matter how hard it may be to learn, for those who want to make the U.S. their home, their lives will be much easier in the long run if they learn the native language of the country.
So what are the implications of this change? One of the concerns is that there could be a loss of other languages or that it may discriminate against those who speak other languages. According to the last census, 67.8 million people in the U.S. spoke languages other than English in their home lives. Clearly, this is a very large group that could be affected by this. However, learning English doesn’t mean they have to abandon their native languages.
While there may be a fear that when they speak their native language and English the next generation will only inherit the English, the bulk of internalization of language happens at home; it is up to the family either way, not the government. Children absorb language. And if they are exposed to two languages throughout childhood, they will be able to use both. Standardizing English for the purpose of smoother documentation and communication in our country is not a threat to this. The White House is not trying to replace others’ languages with English but instead add it to their linguistic repertoire. According to Trump, “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.”
While a concern for retaining native languages may be precedented, language is ultimately a choice that is made in the day to day, not in a large-scale executive order. There is nothing in this national update that will affect Americans’ rights to learn languages or pass down their native tongues to their children; it only ensures that amidst multilingualism, there will be a common thread across the country, tying us together.
This decision is not an attempt to establish dominance or push out diversity. If anything, it is a move toward diversity – a diversity in which new Americans have the tools and the resources to operate well in a new environment and access the full extent of the freedoms that the U.S. is offering them.
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
