English: Has It Become A Foreign Language In America?

On most days, I tend to read around the many sites on the Internet that offer venues for people to speak their minds. It's a variety of situations, with one being this website, others being different other forums, and others being comment sections of various newspapers, online publications, sports franchises, other people's blogs, and what have you. Couple that with listening to people talking and seeing noticeable spelling errors on cable television (cable access channels and even local television news). In fact, I can go around many places in full view every day, and I've discovered one common situation: I realize I live in a nation that does not know very much about the main language that's spoken here.

Face it, sports fans, Americans do not do English well. We can't spell it. We can't read it. We can't write it. We danged sure cannot speak it. While I don't claim to be an English major, it shouldn't take much to notice that we've got a big problem in our society. And the advent of texting being implemented into some of our social media isn't helping, either. Yes, the language is complex, as certain words are sometimes spelled the same, but have different meanings and contexts in which they are used. We don't understand proper usages of adjectives and adverbs, of plurals and possessives, and of the use of question marks. We don't get things like contractions and how they are to be used. We also don't understand past and present tenses of certain words. There are synonyms and antonyms. Other words are spelled differently but have the same sound. And we don't understand the concept of I before E, except after C. Where we struggle the most, though, is in spelling. It looks like an alarming number of people out there have failed just about every spelling test given to them. Never mind that some can't type, but, my gosh, have they even checked their work before saving it? One example is, I've seen people put together video presentations on YouTube, but the most critical part of their showing contains one or two (or more) misspelled names or words. Oh, the humanity!! They didn't check their work before submitting it, and it just ruins their presentations, no matter how good it otherwise turned out. Good presentation......shot straight to hell.

If people can just take time to study the English language, even a little at a time, they might be amazed at how much they can get out of this and realize that this is relevant in everyday use in many relationships of life. I'm not really talking about those where English is their second language. I'm mainly talking about those in which this is their only language, the one they've supposedly grown up speaking. I hurt for many people right now at what they are missing out on. Plus, knowing more of this great language makes you more intelligent and better at the things you do. I'm not in any way saying that I've arrived; I, myself, still have a ways to go. So do many of you out there. And if you've mastered this, then congratulations. You've done yourself a good service in building yourself up to be a better, sharper individual. I've long been a proponent of seeing English become the official language of the United States, and it should have happened long before I was born. Now, it still hasn't happened (sadly) and may never happen. Still, illiteracy can be conquered. Laziness and complacency won't get it done.

Americans, please learn English. Touch English. Make it a part of you.