[jedberg]

> As such, this current executive order effectively does nothing.

That's not true. For example, there was a story the other day of a librarian who was instructed to throw away all passport application forms in Spanish, as they would no longer be accepted.

If you go to the official Spanish page, you can see that the links to the forms are either broken or now redirected to their English version:

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/es/pasaportes/requis...

That's just one example of many.

[n3storm]

Thanks. Feels funny seeing people say this government is doing nothing or nonsense and has no ulterior motives or implications. Funny in the sense of: are they blind? are they naive? or are they supporters?

Hundred of technocrats and modern nobility cannot be wrong.

[dmayle]

There's an effect to be sure. I am, however, talking about legal status. As one of the other commenters pointed out, the actual text of the executive action is about rolling back a previous executive action designed to prevent Title VI discrimination. So, if I were affected as mentioned in the parent post to this, I would be reaching out to the ACLU to find a lawyer to help with challenging this.

As to the stated wording though, "making English the country's official language" (which mirror's wording used in the most recent presidential address), the executive order has no power to do so, because it's not a law.

[kortilla]

>Funny in the sense of: are they blind? are they naive? or are they supporters?

You’re not understanding the comment you are laughing at.

There was no legal change, there was an operations change in how the federal government does things.

It’s still legal to speak whatever language you want and you don’t need to speak English

[n3storm]

I do understand. Everybody knows they are not going to ban spanish or put in jail gay-trans writers.

It's all about twisting laws to disserve whatever collective they go after, so their voters (voters believing they are antagonists of the other collective) keep satisfied and vote again.

Meanwhile they give contracts and move money and services towards their friends, the ones that financed their campaign so they can bring the message about the evil collective to the voters.

One of the oldest tricks in the world.

[OJFord]

I assume GP meant as a legal instrument, rather than it's sociological effect. (Otherwise there would be little point to the comment? They mean to prevent the latter by raising awareness of the former.)

[wegfawefgawefg]

i live in japan. i do all my paperwork in japanese. yes it is hard. no i dont think they need to offer it in english. i learn new kanji every time.

[jedberg]

Japan is famously anti-immigrant though. Almost everyone in Japan is of Japanese ancestry.

The USA was built on immigration. It's called "the great melting pot" for a reason.

[schnable]

A common language is a key component of the "melting" part.

[2muchcoffeeman]

But you need to take actions to build that sense of identity and make everyone feel welcome. You also want your citizens to feel like they can share their traditions and participate in others traditions.

So at some point, you’re going to have to make accomodations for everyone, at least in the most popular languages because if you want new talent, you might be dealing with a family that has to bring their aging parents along if they want to migrate, or someone’s spouse.

[SoftTalker]

They did used to make immigrants change their names when they arrived, though -- if they were too unlike "regular" English names.

[wegfawefgawefg]

my great grandpa changed his name when they came to new york because it sounded too italian. I have his modified name as my middle name. Its a cool story to me that everybody in my family knows.

Even amongst the older people of the family it didnt seem like a big deal.

[throwaway2037]

    > Japan is famously anti-immigrant though.

These misinformation needs to end. I'm tired of it. More than 20 years ago, this was true, but today it is certainly not. There are all varieties of non-Japanese working in convenience stores, factories, farms, and hotels all over Japan. Plus there are more non-Japanese attending uni than ever before. Many will stay for work. Plus, getting a skilled work visa in Japan has never been easier. Sure, not as easy as Germany, Australia or Canada, but still light years ahead of 20+ years ago. They even have a special highly skilled visa now that allows people to get permanent residence in 1 or 3 years. Again: 20+ years ago this was impossible to imagine. Today, it is the reality.

[wegfawefgawefg]

I live here. Wish it wasnt but sorry its still true. I wont give too much context because it would make me look horribly racist, but to put it in vague terms: Japanese people are regularly confronted with weird and bad aspects South Asians bring to Japan. These aspects would be funny annoyances in the USA, but in Japan is more serious business.

This happens regularly enough that the average city dwelling Japanese person has to confront these negative aspects on a daily basis.

This seems like the primary basis for the racism.

The secondary basis is just general racism you are familiar with. Women regularly wil take the stares to avoid getting on the elevator with me. I have seen them stop and turn 180° to the stairwell. My friend with a big beard gets lots of wacky suspicion. We are stopped at every single airport in asia for a bag search, japan, korea, and taiwan. Japanese people have told us he looks like a terrorist cultist... Hes literally just a regular fat mexican with a beard.

[tchalla]

There are many countries around the world which conduct paperwork in more than one language.

[AlecSchueler]

Japan is a different country.

[fzeroracer]

Japan offers a decent amount of paperwork in English. Not all of it of course but many government sites, applications etc will have both English and Japanese versions.