Given that there is a large Hispanic population in some States,are there any laws requiring road and other signs to be in Spanish and in English there?

Is there an established practice of publishing public documents, such as forms giving information about state benefits or driving licences, in both languages?

In Wales 'bilingualism' is the law.In fact not just the road signs but all public documents appear in both Welsh and English.

In general we cater for major languages where there are large communities speaking them here.

I've just seen the following warning notice outside a shop in Cambridge: " Nolite fumare: Licet nemini his in aedibus fumare " That's a great thing about Cambridge. People assume, correctly, there's a large Latin speaking community, and it smokes: " Do not smoke:nobody is allowed to smoke in these buildings" The shop is of an old-fashioned 'gentlemen's outfitters'. It surely has a big trade in corduroy jackets, suitable for leather patches on the elbows, as worn by ancient dons (professors) while they puff away on their pipes.

I don't believe there are any laws. English isn't even the official language of the US anyway. I can't count the number of times I've had to "press one for English" when calling a credit card or utility company, though. The DMV has forms in Spanish as well. There are also ample opportunities for Spanish-speaking people to learn English.

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In Wales 'bilingualism' is the law.In fact not just the road signs but all public documents appear in both Welsh and English.

It would appear that the only signs which the Welsh want to have solely in English, Fred, are the Bed and Breakfast signs!

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Originally posted by Fourbrick2:

It would appear that the only signs which the Welsh want to have solely in English, Fred, are the Bed and Breakfast signs!

'Bed and breakfast' may not exist in Welsh That's not to say that some academic hasn't made a 'translation' of the idiom. As in France, there are linguistic purists who render English terms and neologisms into the local language. As in France, everyone uses the English version unless perchance the new version is snappier and easier. That rarely happens.What the Welsh do not do, but the French do,is invent new 'English' words, using existing ones as the root, or give new meanings to existing ones.

You can tell instantly whether any place thinks of itself as Welsh speaking or, formerly, was Welsh nationalist because the signs always have the Welsh version above the English version. Elsewhere the English appears above the Welsh. In the former the natives can be quite mischievous. One example which made our national press was of a car park where drivers were told of concessions and off-peak rates in Welsh but not in English