Why is interpretation an editorial page issue for Floridians? The state, whose southern tip lies just 90 miles from Cuba, is heavily populated with Spanish speakers, so language is a daily concern in every aspect of daily life. Language services have become a political hot potato in New York City’s mayoral race. The Democratic candidate charged that incumbent Mayor Bloomberg has shortchanged translation and interpretation services that help immigrant parents become more involved in their children’s education.

Various rulings, executive orders, and regulations require institutions receiving Federal funds to provide in-language services to individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP). Each private firm or public agency that provides services to the public must figure out what to translate and when to interpret. The Orlando Sentinel editorial says that Courts in Florida are a good example of best LEP practices. The Courts provide interpreters to make sure the state’s residents know what is happening when they interact with the judicial system. Maybe presidential candidate Al Gore could have used a little help in the Florida courts a few years ago, but that’s another discussion.

There has been some backlash against these LEP rulings. In March a federal court dismissed lawsuit challenging government mandates of interpretation and translation. The suit was filed by a group of doctors claiming that the regulations imposed undue financial burdens and by the English-first advocacy, ProEnglish. According to its website, ProEnglish “is a member-supported, national, non-profit organization to working to educate the public about the need to protect English as our common language and to make it the official language of the United States.” Its agenda includes: 1) “Adopting laws or constitutional amendments declaring English the official language of the United States, and of individual states”; 2) “defending the right of individual states to make English the official language of government operations”; 3) “ending bilingual education (e.g. foreign language immersion) programs in public schools”; 4) “repealing federal mandates for the translation of government documents and voting ballots into languages other than English”; and 5) “opposing the admission of territories as states unless they have adopted English as their official language.”

To us, the ProEnglish platform sounds a bit like the Know-Nothing Party of the 1850s. Whether ProEnglish members like it or not, the United States is a multicultural society — and a multilingual one at that. Maybe they think the “e” in “e pluribus unum” stands for English?