The Great Seal of the United States (American Symbols)

 

Currency of USA

The United States Dollar is the official currency of United States of America.

United States Dollar is one of the highest traded and used currencies in international transactions and one of the world’s major reserve currencies. USD (United States Dollar) is also used by many other countries as official currency. The symbol of USD is $.

National Creed of USA

The American’s Creed is the National Creed of the United States of America.

Written in 1917 by William Tyler Page, National Creed was adopted by U.S. House of Representatives on April 3, 1918. The American’s Creed -

“I believe in the United States of America, as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”

National Motto

“In God we trust” is the National Motto of United States of America.

“In God we trust” was adopted as the National Motto of United States of America in 1956 and signed in law by President Dwight D Eisenhower.

 

Statue of Liberty

 

For the many immigrants who flocked from Europe to New York, the Statue of Liberty was the first image they saw of the USA. The statue was a gift from the French government for the 100th anniversary of America's Independence.

Design

 

Statue of Liberty

The statue was designed by a young French sculptor, Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi, who was striving to build a statue like the great Colossus that once stood at the Greek island Rhodes.

The statue's face was modeled after his mother's and the story goes that the body was modeled after a prostitute.
The crown of Lady Liberty, as the statue is often affectionately called, has seven spikes, symbolizing the Seven Seas across which liberty should be spread. In her left hand she holds a tablet with the Declaration of Independence and in her right hand a torch, symbolizing Enlightenment.

 

Construction

 

Statue of Liberty
under construction

The statue's steel framework was made by the French engineer Gustave Eiffel, better known as the man behind theEiffel Tower in Paris. Thanks to an ingenious construction consisting of copper plates attached to the metal framework, the statue is flexible enough to withstand heavy storms. Large iron bars attach the framework to a central pylon.

The Statue of Liberty was constructed inParis, France. It took nine years before it was completed in 1884 after which it was sent to the USA in 214 crates. Even before the arrival of the statue, Bartholdi himself had traveled to the United States to discuss the location of the statue with president Ulysses S. Grant. Eventually it was decided tot erect the statue at a small island in the harbor of New York City. Today the island is known as Liberty Island.

 

Liberty Island

The biggest and most embarrassing problem was the construction of the pedestal, which had to be paid for by the Americans themselves.
The statue's torch was displayed inMadison Square parkfor six years - from 1876 until 1882 - in an attempt to spark interest and attract funds. But it was only after publisher Joseph Pulitzer published the names of those who donated money for the project that the funds started flowing in. Eventually, the statue was erected ten years late, in 1886, when it was officially inaugurated by president Grover Cleveland.

 

The Statue

The Statue of Liberty is 46,5 meters (151ft) tall and together with the pedestal it reaches a height of 93 meters (305ft). You can take the staircase inside the statue and walk all the way up the 354 steps to the crown from where you have a nice view over New York City.

If you want to enter either the pedestal or the monument's crown it is best to reserve tickets well in advance. For more info on how to get tickets to enter the Statue of Liberty, take a look atthis website.

Questions:

1.American holidays; The stars and Stripes,

2. The Liberty Bell, The Bald Eagle, Uncle Sam,

3. The Statue of Liberty, The US National Motto

 

Theme 10 Languages of the United States:

Points:

1.The national dialect.

2. Native language statistics for the United States.

Many languages are used, or historically have been used in the United States. The most commonly used language is English. There are also many languages indigenous to North America or to U.S. states or holdings in the Pacific region. Languages brought to the country by colonists or immigrants from Europe, Asia, or other parts of the world make up a large portion of the languages currently used; several languages, including creoles and sign languages, have also developed in the United States. Approximately 337 languages are spoken or signed by the population, of which 176 are indigenous to the area. Fifty-two languages formerly spoken in the country's territory are now extinct.

The most common language in the United States is known as American English. English is the de facto national language of the United States; in 2007, 80% of the population solely spoke it, and some 95% claimed to speak it "well" or "very well". However, no official language exists at the federal level. There have been several proposals to make English the national language in amendments to immigration reform bills, but none of these bills has become law with the amendment intact. The situation is quite varied at the state and territorial levels, with some states mirroring the federal policy of adopting no official language in a de jure capacity, others adopting English alone, others officially adopting English as well as local languages, and still others adopting a policy of de facto bilingualism.

Since the 1965 Immigration Act, Spanish is the second most common language in the country, and is spoken by approximately 35 million people. The United States holds the world's fifth largest Spanish-speaking population, outnumbered only by Mexico, Spain, Colombia, and Argentina. Throughout the Southwestern United States, long-established Spanish-speaking communities coexist with large numbers of more recent Hispanophone immigrants. Although many new Latin American immigrants are less than fluent in English, nearly all second-generation Hispanic Americans speak English fluently, while only about half still speak Spanish.

According to the 2000 US census, people of German ancestry make up the largest single ethnic group in the United States, and the German language ranks fifth. Italian, Polish, and French are still widely spoken among populations descending from immigrants from those countries in the early 20th century, but the use of these languages is dwindling as the older generations die. Russian is also spoken by immigrant populations.

Tagalog and Vietnamese have over one million speakers each in the United States, almost entirely within recent immigrant populations. Both languages, along with the varieties of the Chinese language, Japanese, and Korean, are now used in elections in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, New York, Texas, and Washington.

Native American languages are spoken in smaller pockets of the country, but these populations are decreasing, and the languages are almost never widely used outside of reservations. Hawaiian, although having few native speakers, is an official language along with English at the state level in Hawaii. The state government of Louisiana offers services and documents in French, as does New Mexico in Spanish. Besides English, Spanish, French, German, Navajo and other Native American languages, all other languages are usually learned from immigrant ancestors that came after the time of independence or learned through some form of education.

 

Spanish speakers in the United States

According to the American Community Survey 2009, endorsed by the United States Census Bureau, the main languages by number of speakers older than five are:

1. English – 229 million

2. Spanish – 35 million

3. Chinese languages – 2.6 million + (mostly speakers of Yue dialectssuch as Taishanese andCantonese, with a growing group ofMandarin speakers)

4. Tagalog – 1.5 million + (Most Filipinos may also know other Philippine languages, e.g. Ilokano, Pangasinan, Bikol languages, and Visayan languages.)

5. French – 1.3 million

6. Vietnamese – 1.3 million

7. German – 1.1 million (High German) + German dialects like Pennsylvania German, Hutterite German, Plautdietsch, Texas German

8. Korean – 1.0 million

9. Russian – 881,000

10. Arabic – 845,000

11. Italian – 754,000

12. Portuguese – 731,000

13. French Creole – 659,000

14. Polish – 594,000

15. Hindi – 561,000

16. Japanese – 445,000

17. Persian – 397,000

18. Urdu – 356,000

19. Gujarati – 341,000

20. Greek – 326,000

21. Serbo-Croatian – 269,000

22. Armenian – 243,000

23. Hebrew – 222,000

24. Cambodian – 202,000

25. Hmong - 193,179

26. Navajo – 169,009

27. Thai - 152,679

28. Yiddish - 148,155

29. Laotian - 146,297

Additionally, modern estimates indicate that American Sign Language is signed by as many as 500,000 Americans.

The total sample size for these figures is 286 million people.

The United States does not have a national official language; nevertheless, English (specifically American English) is the primary language used for legislation, regulations, executive orders, treaties, federal court rulings, and all other official pronouncements; although there are laws requiring documents such as ballots to be printed in multiple languages when there are large numbers of non-English speakers in an area.

As part of what has been called the English-only movement, some states have adopted legislation granting official status to English. As of October 2014, out of 50 states, 28 had established English as the official language, and Hawaii had established both English and Hawaiian as official.^[19]

In 2014, three more states, Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, considered enacting English as their official state language.^[20]

 

States that are de facto bilingual

· Louisiana (English and French legally recognized, although there is no official language) (1974)

· New Mexico (English and Spanish both de facto)^[30]

Status of other languages[edit]

The state of Alaska provides voting information in Iñupiaq, Central Yup'ik, Gwich'in, Siberian Yupik, Koyukon, and Tagalog, as well as English.

California has agreed to allow the publication of state documents in other languages to represent minority groups and immigrant communities. Languages such asSpanish, Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, Persian, Russian, Vietnamese, and Thai appear in official state documents, and the Department of Motor Vehicles publishes in 9 languages.^[31]

In New Mexico, although the state constitution does not specify an official language, laws are published in English and Spanish, and government materials and services are legally required (by Act) to be made accessible to speakers of both languages.^[32]

 

 

Second most prevalent language in each US state.

Spanish

French

German

Tagalog

Contrary to belief, the state of Pennsylvania was never officially bilingual. The state has a history ofPennsylvania Dutch German language communities that goes back to the 1650s. There were attempts to recognize German in Pennsylvania in the 18th and 19th centuries due to the prevalence of German speakers in the state. This situation prevailed until the 1950s in some rural areas.

The state of New York had state government documents (i.e., vital records) co-written in the Dutch language until the 1920s, in order to preserve the legacy of New Netherland, though England annexed the colony in 1664.

Native American languages are official or co-official on many of the U.S. Indian reservations and pueblos. In Oklahoma before statehood in 1907, territory officials debated whether or not to have Cherokee, Choctaw and Muscogee languages as co-official, but the idea never gained ground.

The issue of bilingualism also applies in the states of Arizona and Texas, while the constitution of Texas has no official language policy. Arizona passed a proposition in the November 7, 2006 general election declaring English as the official language. Nonetheless, Arizona law requires the distribution of voting ballots in languages such as Navajo and Tohono O'odham in certain counties.^[34]

In 2000, the census bureau printed the standard census questionnaires in six languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese (in traditional characters), Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

Native American languages[

Native American languages predate European settlement of the New World. In a few parts of the U.S. (mostly on Indian reservations), they continue to be spoken fluently. Most of these languages areendangered, although there are efforts to revive them. Normally the fewer the speakers of a language the greater the degree of endangerment, but there are many small Native American language communities in the Southwest (Arizona and New Mexico) which continue to thrive despite their small size. In 1929, speaking of indigenous Native American languages, linguist Edward Sapir observed:

"Few people realize that within the confines of the United States there is spoken today a far greater variety of languages ... than in the whole of Europe. We may go further. We may say, quite literally and safely, that in the state of California alone there are greater and more numerous linguistic extremes than can be illustrated in all the length and breadth of Europe."

According to the 2000 Census and other language surveys, the largest Native American language-speaking community by far is the Navajo. Navajo is anAthabascan language with 178,000 speakers, primarily in the states of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah, in addition to smaller numbers of speakers across the country.Dakota is a Siouan language with 18,000 speakers in the US alone (22,000 including speakers in Canada), not counting 6,000 speakers of the closely relatedLakota. Most speakers live in the states of North Dakota and South Dakota. Central Alaskan Yup'ik is an Eskimo-Aleut language with 16,000 speakers, most of whom live in Alaska. Cherokee belongs to the Iroquoian language family, and had about 22,000 speakers as of 2005.

The Cherokee have the largest tribal affiliation in the U.S., but most are of mixed ancestry and do not speak the language. Recent efforts to preserve and increase the Cherokee language in Oklahoma and the Cherokee Indian reservation in North Carolina have been productive. Western Apache, with 12,500 speakers, is aSouthern Athabaskan language closely related to Navajo, but not mutually intelligible with it. Most speakers live in Arizona. The O'odham language, spoken by thePima and the Tohono O'odham, is a Uto-Aztecan language with more than 12,000 speakers, most of whom live in central and southern Arizona and northern Sonora.

Choctaw has 11,000 speakers. One of the Muskogean language family, like Seminole and Alabama. Keres has 11,000 speakers. A language isolate, the Keres are the largest of the Pueblo nations. The Keres pueblo of Acoma is the oldest continually inhabited community in the United States. Zuni has 10,000 speakers. Zuni is a language isolate mostly spoken in a single pueblo, Zuni, the largest in the U.S. Ojibwe has 7,000 speakers (about 55,000 including speakers in Canada). TheAlgonquian language family includes populous languages like Cree in Canada.

Many other languages have been spoken within the current borders of the United States. The following is a list of 28 language families (groups of demonstrably related languages) indigenous to the territory of the continental United States.

In addition to the above list of families, there are many languages in the United States that are sufficiently well-known to attempt to classify but which have not been shown to be related to any other language in the world. These 25 language isolates are listed below. With further study, some of these will likely prove to be related to each other or to one of the established families. There are also larger and more contentious proposals such as Penutian and Hokan.

Since the languages in the Americas have a history stretching for about 17,000 to 12,000 years, current knowledge of American languages is limited. There are doubtless a number of languages that were spoken in the Americas that are missing from historical record.

Statistics

Native North American languages "spoken at home" (American Community Survey 2006-2008)