Bassackwards

AMERICA, of course, has always been a place of many languages, along with our common tongue, English. German, its cousin Yiddish, Chinese, Italian, Polish-they have all been spoken here, especially in homes and community centers. But Spanish in today’s America is something else: a language coddled, bowed to, enshrined.

We could talk about “bilingual education,” which too often turns out to be monolingual education, and in the wrong tongue. We could talk about Spanish-language election ballots. We could talk about “For English, press 1. Para español, oprima el dos.” But let’s talk, instead, about Construction Spanish.

About the Author

Jay Nordlinger

Jay Nordlinger was a senior editor of National Review and a book fellow at National Review Institute.

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AMERICA, of course, has always been a place of many languages, along with our common tongue, English. German, its cousin Yiddish, Chinese, Italian, Polish-they have all been spoken here, especially in homes and community centers. But Spanish in today’s America is something else: a language coddled, bowed to, enshrined.

We could talk about “bilingual education,” which too often turns out to be monolingual education, and in the wrong tongue. We could talk about Spanish-language election ballots. We could talk about “For English, press 1. Para español, oprima el dos.” But let’s talk, instead, about Construction Spanish.