[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 58 (Wednesday, March 29, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H3885]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1115
      AMERICAN COMPETITIVENESS BENEFITS FROM MULTILINGUAL SOCIETY

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, America has a secret weapon in the 
dog-eat-dog world of global, economic competition: language.
  If you don't believe me ask the Japanese. When asked what was the 
most important language for world trade, a Japanese businessman once 
replied, ``The most useful international language for world trade is 
not necessarily English, but rather the language of your client.'' It 
makes perfect sense. Customers would much rather buy a product from 
someone who speaks in a language they can understand.
  America's secret weapon is the 9.9 million children who come from 
homes where a language other than English is spoken. These children can 
help America crack Japanese, Russian, and Latin American markets by 
speaking to global customers in languages they understand.
  Our biggest mistake would be to waste our tremendous language 
resources by following the simplistic drumbeat of English-only narrow 
mindedness.
  Support American competitiveness and reject English-only.

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