U.S. English, Inc. Chairman Slams Metro Plan for Bilingual Signs

D.C. subway system considering translations into Spanish

Metro, the subway system that provides transportation in Washington, D.C., is considering a proposal to roll out thousands of Spanish language signs at a cost of millions of dollars. The move toward bilingualism, which would also include translations of maps and announcements, comes at a time when the transit system is already citing problems with overcrowding and underfunding.

“This is perhaps the best example of the many wasteful, divisive multilingual proposals in circulation,” said Mauro E. Mujica, Chairman of U.S. English. “Translating Metro signs into Spanish is a backwards-thinking idea from an agency that appears to have lost sight of its core mission. Metro is there to provide safe, reliable transportation service, not act as a translation dictionary to immigrants who have not taken steps toward learning our common language, English.”

According to estimates published in The Washington Times, the cost of creating a “bilingual” station would begin at $500,000, with sums as high as $900,000 for some multi-level transfer stations. Surprisingly, consideration of this significant expense for more than 80 Metro stations is occurring even as the system struggles to make ends meet. Recently, in an attempt to raise additional revenue, Metro unveiled trains wrapped in advertisements, and is now considering establishing store kiosks and selling entertainment licenses within the stations.

“If Metro was truly trying to help all visitors to the nation’s capital, they would translate every sign into the hundreds of languages spoken throughout the world,” continued Mujica. “If this was about people living in the Washington, D.C. metro area, each sign would be translated into the 110 languages spoken by residents of the capital region. However, the choosing of one language other than English is not about welcoming with open arms, it is about catering to one immigrant group over all others.

“If there is a city in the United States where English was the unifying factor between people of different nations, Washington, D.C. would be the example. Sadly, if Metro proceeds any further on the Spanish signage idea, Washington, D.C. will also be another prime example – one where common sense and cost effectiveness takes a back seat to political correctness.”

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.