Do you know what you call someone who speaks three languages?
Trilingual
Do you know what you call someone who speaks two languages?
Bilingual
What do you call someone who speaks one language?
American
This is a joke I heard from a Serbian lady in college and it galled me. I wanted to say, "It is not my fault, foreign language was not needed and I was not even forced to study other languages at school". The Serbian lady spoke at least three and maybe four languages. My roommate Bob from Zaire (at the time) spoke five. The Japanese kids I tutored were almost as bad as Americans but at least the ones I taught were learning English.
I knew very few Americans who spoke another language in college and that has not really changed. Even in Japan, the majority of long-term ex-pats still had only a weak grasp of Japanese. The Education Week article by Jackson, Kolb, and Wilson supports learning another language, expressing how beneficial it is to a persons mind. It says learners of foreign languages do better in other subjects, contribute more to the economy, and the defense of the country. For me, perhaps the most important aspect is the insight speaking a foreign language gives you into the culture of the people who speak that language. Can you imagine if we sent an ambassador to a country and he could actually speak that language? How un-arrogant would we look, for at least a while. It would help our business people tremendously. Instead of going in with our brusk, direct approach, we might be able to understand how business is done in a culture and learn to adapt. I know plowing through is the American way and some would even be offended if told to adapt (Obama bowing in Japan). The days of plowing through are coming to an end. It worked for us for a while but if we do not adapt I fear we will be left behind. Besides, learning a foreign language is fun and opens doors to another world.
I have heard that joke from many people around the world. I know plenty of Americans who can speak multiple languages but not enough. You are right, just being able to have a small insight into another culture is huge. It helps us understand our fellow human beings. Unfortunately for me I don't speak another language and it will severely hinder my drive to travel and to communicate with people who travel here. When I was in high school it was not mandatory to learn a second language but they told us it would be soon. I guess that time never came... too bad:(
ReplyDeleteyep, that's a joke I've heard before. Although I agree with what you're saying, I think it's going to be very difficult to get people to learn a second language. After all, why bother when everybody speaks English? My wife had a very hard time learning Dutch in the Netherlands. Every time she couldn't find the right word when talking to someone, they would just switch to English. Because the Netherlands is such a small country (that relies heavily on trade), nobody speaks our language. As a result, we just make it a point to speak other languages.
ReplyDeleteSo, although it would be wonderful if Americans learned second languages, I just don't think schools are ever going to make it mandatory. Especially not because politics in this country seems to be mostly about being patriotic.