In America, speak English
May 16th, 2009Let’s just say I get a 12-month contract job for a Software company in Costa Rica. Within six months, I will guarantee you that I will speak Spanish fluently, have one or two favorite bars, play the popular sport (which I assume is soccer) and know at least five or six regular players, know good beaches on both the Pacific and Caribbean side of Costa Rica, know the best three or four restaurants in town, know a local farmer on a first name basis, know a dentist, a chiropractor, and a masseuse.
All the bartenders in those one or two bars will call me by my first name. So will the waiters or waitresses in those restaurants. So will the checkers in the local supermarket. I will be able to give you directions to all those places, plus will be able to tell you where the post office is, where the larger banks are, where the department stores are, etc.
Now, I don’t expect everyone to immerse themselves as much as I do. I’m blessed with gift of gab and know my social skills are much better than the average Joe or Jane. But I do expect people when coming from one country into another to learn the language. Anyone who refuses to learn the language spoken in their new country is an idiot and should be deported.
Just to make it clear
I do not think that at home, you should be forced to speak a language. That’s your own personal choice. But it would make sense to practice it as much as you can. You want to be able to communicate with native speakers. If you can’t, you shouldn’t be there except for vacational purposes.
In America, studies have shown that Hispanic folks who speak English make considerably more money than those who don’t. Imagine that.
Do as the Asians do
I had Asian friends in high school. One friend, I’ll call him Chang, was told by his father that if he got a C on his report card, don’t bother coming home. Chang’s father was serious. He meant it. So Chang got all As and Bs. Always.
They learned English fast. I remember meeting Chang in 7th grade. He had been there a year. By 9th grade, his English was pretty dang good. Funny thing is he still had problems with the concept of plurals, but other than that, he pretty much looked and acted like an American.
I also remember how proud Chang and his family members were when one by one, they became officially Americans. They voted in every election and had a lot of civic pride. More power to them.
You’d think this would all be common sense, but apparently it’s not. There are those in the Hispanic communities that want Americans to cater to them, to have Spanish only classes, and refuse to become Americanized. I’m calling a spade a spade. Those people are idiots.
Best blog post of the week
On an entirely different topic, I need to start doing this again. On my original blog, I used to link to other blog posts that I liked. I’ll start it up again, and try not to go more than a week without a blog post.
Neal’s post called “There is No Quick Fix” is excellent. Give it a read if you have a few extra minutes.
By the way, if anyone knows a Software company in Costa Rica that is hiring and pays well, let me know. I have a friend of mine who just got back and showed me pics. Dang, I’d love to work there for a year.
i don’t disagree with anything you’ve said here really. I do agree that you need to learn the language when you move here.
i would like to add that i also believe americans need to value foreign language study more. our local school district only has one or two classes of kids beginning foreign language study in 8th grade. the rest of them have to wait until 9th grade and they are not encouraged to do more than 2 years of study. this all comes from a school that makes the kids chant the missions statement about “being well prepared to participate in an increasingly diverse global society.” what a load of crap.
given the linguistic roots of english it behooves us to engage in foreign language study if for no other reason than that it enriches our understanding of our own tongue. given that the world is indeed shrinking and business is conducted across cultures so frequently it broadens our perspective and ability to understand the way others think when we’ve disciplined ourselves by studying a foreign language (i’ve studied mandarin, your chinese friend had troubles with plurals because they don’t exist in chinese the way they do in english. the noun never changes into a plural form. it’s all contextual.)
when i was in college and spent most of my time with the foreign students it became clear that the polyglots were the ones who had the most opportunities opened to them.
so, move here and be required to learn english? yes, definitely. live here and be required to learn something other than english? also yes.
for the record, i’ve also studied spanish and french.
I’d love to learn French. It’s such a pretty language.
I started, then got sidetracked.
I don’t think a foreign language should be required, but strongly encouraged. It really depends on the school. Out here, we have a lot more languages offered in the local HS.
And yeah, he spoke Cantonese but I think it’s the same - no plurals.
To really be good at a foreign language, you have to be immersed in it. Learning it in school doesn’t work half as well as getting thrown into the pond and being forced to swim.
I was in Spanish 4 in high school, and the teacher spoke almost exclusively in Spanish. The problem was the students spoke mostly English. Once you get to a higher level foreign language class, you should be forced to think and speak in a diffferent language. By the way, I finished Spanish 4 as a sophomore, and there was no Spanish 5, so over the next few years I forgot a lot of the Spanish I learned and had to relearn it on my own. If done right, a student should be able to become fluent by the end of high school.
There was a Spanish 5 in my California HS but not my Texas HS.
God, I have enough trouble with English. I’d like to learn German or another language. I might pick it up easier than English.
If I’m going to go to another country, I’m at least going to pull out the translate book. or find somebody to teach me.
Hi there. You know I agree with this post 100%. I have said it before but our neighbors dont speak English and just recently there granddaughter tried starting our house on Fire. Well Jeff went over to see any one in the house spoke English and the little girls parents were there thankfully. But her parents have been here for like 15 years and they still dont speak the language. Come on now..
I was in the military for 13 yrs. I spent 3 in Spain and I got to the point where I was thinking in Spanish. When I got home my parents thought I had gotten stupid. What was happening is that they would say something, then I would have to translate, (in my head), what they said into Spanish, formulate my reply, then translate it again back into English.
Another thing. I found many Americans to be hypocritical on this subject. I would meet American GI’s who said that foreigners who come to America need to learn English, but they would go to other countries and say that they are American, they don’t need to learn any other language. That pissed me off. I always tried to learn as much of the native language as I could.
I and still semi fluent in Spanish, Tagalog, and I know some phrases in Korean and Italian.
We in Canada have the same situation with the French speakers in Quebec.
To mollify a small vocal minority, and to get their vote on both the provincial and federal levels, Our government has decreed that everything must be printed in both official languages.
This includes everything from cereal boxes to governmental documents.
Considering that even those who are adamant French speaking also speak English ( but refuse to) and the vast majority of our citizens have English as their primary or only language, all this has done is increase costs for buisiness.
I agree whole-heartedly. If you live in a country you should abide by their customs and laws.
Kate - I need to brush up on my Spanish.
Tweety - If I were running the show, I’d have them deported. 15 years and you can’t speak the language? Leave.
Neal - Yeah, that’s lame. I’ve always believed “when in Rome.” I’d even try their foods, as long as it’s not human, dog, or dolphin. I’ve eaten some pretty bizarre stuff before.
Klaatu - Well, it’s not exactly the same. At least the French speakers spoke French before Canada was a nation.
Here we have a very vocal minority who want us to accommodate their language and refuse to learn ours. It’s one thing if they were here prior to 1776, but they weren’t.