Among the many things he has done since retaking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a ´ó½yîIÁî (»å²¹¾±³Ù¨°ù²â¨-°ù±ð¾±, executive order) making English the official language of the United States.
While more than 30 U.S. states have already taken similar steps, this marks the first time in history that the country will have a national language recognized at the federal level ¡ª and a good opportunity to look at how all of this ¡°translates¡± into Japanese.
At the heart of the discussion is the term ¹«ÓÃÕZ (°ì¨²â¨²µ´Ç, official language). The situation in the U.S. has been comparable to that in Japan, as neither country specifies an official language in its ‘—·¨ (°ì±ð²Ô±è¨, constitution). The closest equivalent in Japan is article 74 of the ²ÃÅÐËù·¨ (²õ²¹¾±²ú²¹²Ô²õ³ó´Ç-³ó¨, Court Act), which simply states: ²ÃÅÐËù¤Ç¤Ï¡¢ÈÕ±¾ÕZ¤òÓ䤤ë (Saibansho dewa Nihongo o mochiiru, In court, Japanese is used).
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