"Only it seems to me that once in your life before you die you ought to see a country where they don't talk in English and don't even want to."*

California is a very linguistically diverse state with an estimated 200 plus different languages being spoken.  Within my own family, English is not the primary language spoken at home by any of my grandchildren.  Yet, the California Constitution provides that English is both the "common" and "official" language of the State of California.  Cal. Const. Art. III, Section 6.  The California Constitution further prohibits the legislature from making any law which "diminishes or ignores the role of English as the common language of the State of California".  Interestingly, California's original constitution was written in both English and Spanish.  In fact, Section 21, Article XI of the 1849 Constitution required publication of all laws in Spanish and English.  California was a bilingual state for three decades until the adoption of the 1879 Constitution which omitted the dual language requirement.

The California Corporations Code is consistent with California's anglophone predilection.  It provides that "Whenever any notice, report, statement, or record is required or authorized by this code [the Corporations Code], it shall be made in writing in the English language".  This statute does not prohibit the use of other language.  However, the failure to include an English version of the notice could call into question the validity of the notice, report, statement or other record.  

It should also be noted that this provision is not limited to corporations, it also extends to partnerships, limited liability companies and other entities governed by the Corporations Code. 

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*Thornton Wilder, Our Town.

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