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Lisa Lim

English was recently designated the official language of the United States of America, via an executive order issued by President Trump on March 1, 2025.
At face value, instituting an official language – one granted a special legal status that elevates its use in government, education, and other formal domains – should not necessarily raise eyebrows.
Save for Australia, Eritrea, Mexico, and the United Kingdom – and, until just now, the US – all countries have an official language. Many have more than one: Hong Kong has two, English and Chinese, India has 22, and Bolivia recognises 37 official languages – Spanish and three dozen indigenous languages.
Also at first glance, such a policy may seem pragmatic. While there are some 350 languages spoken in homes across America, 78 per cent of the country speak only English at home.

As in any multilingual context, diverse groups with different languages usually need a lingua franca – a common language – for inter-group communication. Furthermore, the position of English as a global language is undeniable, one which confers cultural, social, and economic capital.
A quick look at history offers an alternative perspective. It was not English but Spanish which was the early coloniser language: the first permanent settlement in what is now Florida was founded by Spain in 1565 – half a century before Jamestown and the colony of Virginia was established by English settlers.
Today Spanish is spoken as the primary language by some 43 million people in the US – 14 per cent of the population. Already in the 18th century, the growing multicultural population of migrants meant that when John Adams proposed in 1780 that English be made the official language of the US, this was deemed undemocratic and a threat to individual liberty.
The implications of Trump’s executive order are far-reaching, with the potential for harmful impact on communities. This is because it goes beyond merely acknowledging the dominance of English.
It additionally revokes a Clinton-era executive order from 2000 that required federal agencies and other recipients of federal funding to improve access to services by providing language assistance to persons with limited English proficiency.

In other words, the current executive order removes the requirement for such bodies to provide documents and services in other languages to those who require them.
For a significant one-tenth of the population who speak English less than “very well”, this means that there is no guarantee of full and equal access to critical information and support in their own language for navigating essential public services.
The lesson of this extends beyond the US. Underlying such a policy is the ideology of linguistic assimilation – that everyone should be able to speak and function in the dominant language of the community.

In contrast is linguistic pluralism – the coexistence of different language groups and their right to maintain and cultivate their languages on an equitable basis. That’s an ideology which better reflects and supports the cultural and linguistic diversity of most of today’s multicultural and multilingual states.
Such linguistic pluralism has long been found to assist economic development, especially in a global economy.
More fundamentally, to be able to use and receive support in one’s heritage or community language is considered a human right.
The United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, adopted in December 1992, states unequivocally: “Persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities […] have the right to enjoy their own culture, to profess and practise their own religion, and to use their own language, in private and in public, freely and without interference or any form of discrimination.”
Most pointed is the TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) International Association’s formal statement opposing the recent executive order, in which it reiterates its long-standing support for the right of all individuals to preserve and foster their linguistic and cultural origins – a clear demonstration of the possibility of an inclusive practice of advancing English language learning while honouring learners’ home languages.


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Trump order on English as official US language ignores human right to use one’s own tongue

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Culture

US president’s revoking of a Clinton-era order to provide language assistance to poor speakers of English appears to flout a UN declaration


US president’s revoking of a Clinton-era order to provide language assistance to poor speakers of English appears to flout a UN declaration.


United States

Donald Trump

Language Matters

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

Trump order on English as official US language ignores human right to use one’s own tongue

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}US president’s revoking of a Clinton-era order to provide language assistance to poor speakers of English appears to flout a UN declaration

US president’s revoking of a Clinton-era order to provide language assistance to poor speakers of English appears to flout a UN declaration