Discussion for article #233404
I’m trying to learn Spanish and I use bi-lingual pamphlets as learning guides, as well as local Spanish newspapers. I’m guessing Spanish speakers can use them to help them learn English or make sure they are understanding the English.
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With each successive generation, fewer and fewer descendants of immigrants speak their ancestors’ languages. Often by the third generation, most can’t speak it at all. That’s why it is necessary for us to protect non-English languages in the U.S.
This reads like a college writing class “spot the non sequitur” test question. I don’t see how the conclusion follows from the premise.
Nowhere is it made clear how the natural process by which the grandchildren of immigrants losing their grandparents’ native tongue, which is how it’s been working here since the 18th Century, is a “problem.” (Though it is the reason the English-only loonies are hysterical fools.) Aside from all the touchy feely rainbow unicorn utopia exhortations, I see only one data-driven argument here:
Studies show that bilingual people function at a higher level cognitively.
This, however, is an argument for more foreign language education, not for multilingualism as an official policy or for policies to try to stem the inevitable progression by which third generation immigrants lose their great grandparents’ language.
I’ll concede, however, that this is a moral responsibility:
Let’s also remember that not all American languages are immigrant languages. We must provide more funding to Native American schools that teach native languages; this should include Native Hawaiians and other groups that are not recognized as tribes but are still working to preserve their languages (and if they want to be, should be recognized as sovereign tribes).
But it’s one that’s entirely different, morally, practically, and politically, from the “goal” of keeping third generation immigrants from losing their grandparents’ native tongue.
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The most destructive move any country could make is to make it officially “bilingual”. The only fabric that holds a country together is language, not religion or anything else. That is what language is - essential to unity. That is why all countries are officially monolingual. All those who study language from an ethnographic viewpoint know this. It is a fact. I know 9 languages, speak 4 of them, read the others. Language expands one’s understanding of other people, those who speak the languages people like me also know. That is why one studies languages - to know the people who speak them, and to know the foundation of their culture. You cannot know Navajos without knowing their language. You can work with them, but you won’t really know them. Language is an expression of culture as well as being a form of communication.
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Go to any other 1st world country - and many others - and people are bilingual.
There are multiple reasons for being multilingual…and that process should start in grade school when language learning is easy.
- It actually expands brain function. Multi-lingual people are “smarter”
- It expands your ways of thinking - other languages enable new thought patterns
- It expands your view of the world - the view of many Americans is very narrow.
In my life I have needed many languages including German, French, Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Burmese…wish I knew them better.
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Absorb yourself in the language. Read it and spend at least an hour a day in the study of it. Don’t fear your pronunciation or your grammar ( actually an American accent in Spanish is attractive ) and plod on. A new language is like leaning to drive a stick shift. You suck at it and suck at and suck at it then bang you have it.
“”"" I think she’s got it…I think she’s got it !!! “”""
Henry Higgins when Eliza came around.
And then when you tire of immersing yourself for an hour a day, and you don’t find some good reason to keep speaking it, you’ll forget all of what you learned within a year or two. If you have real frequent opportunities to use your second language, than you might just retain what you’ve learned. If you learn it just to learn it, your likely won’t remember it after must disuse.
All countries are not officially monolingual. Look it up. Keep in mind also that English in the U.S. is in no danger. Even if other languages become somewhat more visible, especially in certain local areas, the practical pressures for immigrants to learn English are very strong, and will continue to be, even though some measures are taken, such as printing some government documents in non-English languages. Expecting immigrants to learn English immediately on arrival, as some Americans apparently expect, is quite unrealistic. We U.S.-born Americans think English is “easy” because we learn it as infants, but learning languages at later ages is hard.
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Let me play devils advocate. I was born in the USA but taken away at less than a year of age and reared in Europe. I am married to a South American and spend a lot of time in the Amazon region. As you might guess I speak more than one language ( in fact I consider English a second language ) so if I chose I could jump on the author’s bandwagon:
What do you call a person that speaks two languages?
Bilingual.
What do you call a person that speaks three languages?
Trilingual
What do you call a person that speaks one language?
American
Hardie har har.
America is a huge place. I grew up in the Netherlands and with that background the immensity of this country is almost unfathomable. If I jumped in my car in Europe and drove for 3 days I’d have crossed 10 international borders and encountered a half dozen or more languages. If I did the same in the USA I’d go from forests to deserts to mountains…and nothing but English. If you are an American and only speak English…its OK.
The author of this bit uses Switzerland as an example of the language superiority ( you know…better than you Americans ) of the European but how lame is that? They do speak 4 languages in that country but almost no one in it speaks all 4. Schweizerdeutsch ( an odd Francophified German ) is the actual language of Switzerland and if was all you spoke you wouldn’t be able to speak with 99 % of the world. You wouldn’t be able to use the internet or watch a movie. You wouldn’t be able to put an Ikea chair together or follow a recipe. So you would learn a major language out of necessity, in the case of Switzerland that would be German or French and you would have that language hammered into you since birth. Ask a Dane how far Danish ( a minor language ) would take him if that was all he knew? Or a Hungarian about Magyar if that was all she knew. That’s why those folks have command of a major language, often English, near that of a native speaker because they fucking have to. It’s pounded into them as a necessity…a must. And it starts when they are in diapers.
It’s OK to only speak English if that is all you need. If there is such a thing as an international language English is it and you can get around the entire world with it. You are OK Americans. But not everyone speaks English. And that’s a different argument. When your kid goes surfing in Costa Rica he’ll not see a "“Bienvenido a Costa Rica . Ahora hablan español” bumper sticker and a Costa Rican in the USA shouldn’t have to confront the English variant of that obnoxious shit. He’s probably struggling with English, encountering the same difficulty you do when you try to tackle another language and should be encouraged. Remember, that no how badly a person is using English that person is trying to speak to you in your language and that represents the highest form of human behavior and compliment. The Latin American in the USA wants to speak English. Hell most want to forget Spanish. Embrace them. Let your kids play with kids that speak another language if you can ( learning a language is a natural for kids ) and give a language a try yourself. Remember, in most cases if you master about 2000 words, just 2000, you can effectively communicate in that language.
You don’t have to speak their language and they don’t have to speak yours. But when “you’ve got it” you are going to love how much the world opens up when you do. But you are OK if you only speak in English. You are more than OK if you’ll work with those that do not.
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No, it isn’t!
Not so much but there is a solution to that. If you want to learn Spanish and you can find someone else that does, a friend, a wife…whatever…you can learn together and ONLY speak it to each other. You have to be “in” a language to learn it well.
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I totally agree that learning an additional language or two is extremely important. I am not so sure I agree with America becoming “officially multilingual.” Let’s face it English is becoming a world language. If you have ever spent anytime in Northern Europe you realize nearly everybody can communicate in English. I don’t think the Swedes have named English their official second language, nor should they. You can communicate nearly everywhere in the world using English. As our world continues to shrink it is ever more important that we all be able to communicate. English as it evolves is that language.
In English speaking America what would the official second language be? Spanish? French? No, let the schools teach Americans the second language they need, but keep the emphasis on English.
Actually it pretty much is. Americans speak Spanish in Texas, New Mexico and New York. They speak French in Wisconsin and Louisiana and just about everything in NYC. These are native born, European stock Americans I am speaking of. White guys, like me, that speak other languages.
You don’t have to. No reason to if you have no desire. But there is no threat to English posed by Spanish and no reason for a bilingual person to insult you for being monolingual. There is no bad in this argument. It’s all just preference.
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Canada is officially bilingual - English and French. I’m glad you know 9 languages, but you don’t know any facts.
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Although well written I cannot find a point in anything you say.
The USA is probably the most multilingual country in the world. Go lean on a light post in New York City and you will hear most of the world’s languages pass you in 30 minutes. I’m a bit confused by all the crap in the bit. I cannot see any reason to force language upon anyone or be knee-jerk opposed to another language. If the author wishes to expand language skills in America imposition and insult sure as hell aint gonna work. Why not force us all to eat Peruvian food or wear Indian dress?
I think adding a language or two to your capabilities a door opener. But if you don’t want to walk through that door why prep for it? Stay on your side with English. You’ll be fine.
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I think most of the world would agree with you. Although English is damn near mandatory where I grew up, the Netherlands, if you tried to make anything other than Dutch ( Nederlands ) the official language there you would have rioting in the streets. Almost no one speaks Dutch but they do in the Netherlands and no matter how elegant an argument you construct for making NL a bilingual country you aint going to do that. Most of the Dutch are bilingual and many are trilingual. But that is not forced upon them and it shouldn’t be forced upon American’s either.
English gets around. Pussy Riot just did a new song in English.
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Spot on! Most if not all bilingual people speak their native language plus English. English it’s how ideas and viewpoints crisscross the world, it’s the language that people from all over the world use to communicate with each other in America.
You are aware the world has many countries that are officially bilingual or multilingual? Officially so. And they are doing fine. I have no idea where you get your facts…but they suck.
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In order to promote and protect non-English languages in the U.S., we must take concrete steps. In areas with a significant non-English speaking population, let’s make public signage bilingual. We should provide all government documents and websites in the five most commonly spoken languages in a given jurisdiction. The government should provide interpreters and language access for all government interactions when requested, be they legal proceedings, immigration courts, or any other situation.
What’s the language the author of this article suggests should be used in a case where an Indian gets into a car accident with a Polish, the responding officer is Spanish, the judge Russian and the opposing lawyers Iranian and French? Just curious.