Congress Passes Legislation to Limit Multilingual Highway Signs

U.S. English Chairman praises effort to rein in divisive and costly practice

The United States government took a stand against the possibility of enormous highway signs featuring instructions in hundreds of languages by passing legislation yesterday to maintain English as the sole language of America’s highways. The measure, passed and signed into law as part of the Omnibus Appropriations Bill for FY2005, prohibits the government from mandating that any highway sign be posted in a language other than English.

The measure, which passed by overwhelming margins in the House and Senate, includes the provision, “None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to require a State or local government to post a traffic control device or variable message sign, or any other type of traffic warning sign, in a language other than English...”. Cultural and commercial reasons for multilingual signage are specifically exempted, including the names of cities, streets and events, as well as signs related to an international border.

“The tide of government multilingualism is turning,” said Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of U.S. English, Inc. “In a time of unprecedented immigration, people are beginning to realize that if we are to live as one nation, we must be able to speak as one nation. With more than 300 languages spoken in the United States, multilingual highway signs could create legal and economic chaos.”

In October, a Toronto Justice of the Peace threw out a traffic ticket because a “No Left Turn” sign did not appear in both of Canada’s official languages –English and French. The ticket was scrapped despite the defendant’s admission that she saw, read and clearly understood the sign in English, and furthermore, had no proficiency in French. If multilingual signs were to be mandated, the cost would increase the government expenditure of $24 CAD ($19.62 USD) currently spent on multilingualism per Canadian annually.

“We applaud our Representatives for taking a decisive step toward unity under one language,” continued Mujica. “Multilingualism may be beneficial for the individual, but it is a costly and divisive practice by the government. We are hopeful that Congress will follow up by declaring English the official language of the United States and achieving English language proficiency for all Americans.”

U.S. English, Inc. is the nation's oldest and largest non-partisan citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S. English, Inc. (www.usenglish.org) now has more than 1.8 million members.