Now that I've spent a good chunk of time abroad in the past year, I've come to realize the importance of language. As in, being able to communicate in ones you don't speak. I don't speak Czech. I don't speak German, Austrian or Hungarian either, but it didn't keep me from getting around those countries on my first trip abroad. Often the menus, and the dishes, were written in several languages, including English, to accommodate the tourists. Which made it possible for me to at least know what I was ordering, then smile and point.
Not in America. It's English or starve here. We don't even accommodate our own second language: Spanish. I mean, if you come to America, you better learn the language, right? I'm pretty sure I've said that before and meant it, but after traveling abroad and having trouble asking for simple things like a bathroom or a tissue to blow my nose, I see why being a multilingual nation could greatly help our failing economy.
So why don't we have more multilingual signage, menus and packaging? We sure have enough citizens of different stripes.
I'm aware of the outrage (some) people feel about illegal immigrants. So let's leave them aside for a minute. But what about the tourists?!
Tourists spend money, and we need it. So why not make it easier for them to get around? Spend 10 minutes outside the United States, and you will see what a relief it is to see the word "Schnitzel" written in your own native tongue.
Why don't we as Americans want to be a part of making that accessible to as many people as possible? From as many places as possible? America isn't just for those of us who happen to live here: It represents so much to so many. It's the American Dream.
And living it -- even if you're only here for a week or two -- would be far easier if we were more willing to translate.
When the train schedule is posted in your language, it feels like a warm hug in a foreign land. Like you're welcome there. Now I'd like to return the favor. I would like to extend that sort of lingual hug (oh, quit it, bottom-dwellers) to as many people from as many different countries as possible.
Do you agree? Should America continue to be English-only, or should we try to broaden our vocabulary to embrace the world?
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Friday 22 January
By Lee
I totally agree. When I was in Japan a couple of years ago I saw that the signs in the train stations and pretty much everywhere (at least in the big cities) also had English, and sometimes Chinese and Korean on them. It would've been hell if they were only in Kanji!
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Friday 22 January
By aseder
I disagree. If you go to certain parts of our country, there are a lot of things in different languages. I'm from Miami and now have trouble ordering simple menu items from a restaurant in English. These people take over these areas and refuse to learn any other language than their own. In turn, us English speaks can't get work because we're not bilingual and are treated like lesser beings because we live in a predominantly ethnic area and don't speak their language. I think we should encourage everyone to learn another language in schools like other countries do with English, but I think we should have a national language and it should be English. My father came to this country and worked very hard to learn English so he could have a decent life, now we're supposed to cater to every immigrant so they don't have to work as hard?!?! That's crap and you're an ignorant fool to think otherwise.
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Friday 22 January
By Michelle
Oh please. What are you talking about? We have spanish everywhere in the USA ..wherever you call, on menus,in instructions,on tv, on the radio....get your facts straight before you start spoutin out crap. My husband is military and we are living in germany and have traveled all over while in Europe and we hardly see anything around here in english..except for the UK of course.
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Friday 22 January
By prufrock
You're totally right, CJ... I have said the same thing myself, a lot. Americans are self-insulated from the rest of the world, in too many ways.
A few phrases make a big difference, not only to the visitor, but to the speaker, opening up channels for further exploration of other languages. I especially hate it when Americans are deliberate in their inability to even pronounce simple words that aren't "American."
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Friday 22 January
By Heather
Well said, CJ! I also think Ricky Bobby summed up America's arrogance so nicely when he said, We're Americans because your in America. Greatest country on the planet". There are so many wonderful things about our country but our lack of a second language (and a third and fourth) is one thing that has bothered me. It is obvious what knuckheads we are when you travel abroad. I do everything I can to NEVER say, "Do you speak english?" when I'm in Europe. Do you ever hear a foreigner come here and ask, "Do you speak German?". In almost every other country in the world, elementary schools teach a second language. We have passively tried here (with language immersion classrooms), but it's never a priority so it's one of the first things to go when we have our annual education budget cuts. Anyway, I liked your article. It got me all fired up.
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Friday 29 January
By lola
i live in new york, and EVERY DAY people come up to me and ask if i speak spanish or simply start speaking to me in spanish---- these people are NOT tourists--- i go to major chain stores in my area and cashiers speak to me in spanish--- in Target, the aisle signs are all in spanish, with english translation in smaller type below--- in one store, i was supposed to get fifteen cents in change and the cashier did not understand that she needed to give me a nickel; she didn't know what a nickel was--- this is a disgrace; english should be declared our official language, and all residents should be required to learn it
Friday 22 January
By Melissa
Good Point!
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Friday 22 January
By nikki
Oh please!... Last time I went to walmart the "enter" and "exit" signs were ONLY in spanish... there wasnt even english! every time you call any sort of call center, any instructions you receive etc 99% of the time are in spanish... I think if the immigrants who came her would actually LEARN english ... we'd be more apt to making things easier for visitors..... but until then we're just catering to the idiots who want to come to america and still live the way they used to back in mexico. To call spanish OUR second language is absurd. It's not.. You should HAVE to know english to be a citizen. I have had people come up to me on multiple occasions asking "habla espanol" and they're not tourists but citizens.. now THAT is a problem.
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Friday 22 January
By Caitlin
Hmmm... This screams "xenophobe!" to me. Living in the Southwest, there are scads of Spanish speakers who are citizens around this area and that doesn't affect me at all (much the way a Spanish-labeled 'Enter' or 'Exit' sign doesn't affect YOU at all). With the majority of America (and Americans) speaking English, you must think about the stress that places on people who may not have the time or resources to learn English properly. Have you ever tried to learn another language? It's not as though it's the easiest thing to do, and on top of that, English is one of the most complex languages to learn. The whole attitude of "conform or get out" really gets under my skin.
PS: America has no official language, and until we declare one, it's impossible for us to demand that potential citizens who invest their time and hard-earned money in classes and exams learn English before they're allowed to do so.
Friday 22 January
By FK
Right on, CJ! We are a multi-cultural country of immigrants and a travel destination for people all over the world. It only makes sense! I think hospitality is something to take pride in. Also, it would help us English-speakers so much in learning other languages if they were more integrated into our everyday culture.
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Friday 22 January
By THEkrps
My travel experience is somewhat limited. I've traveled in sections of (French-speaking) Canada and Germany. Canada is perhaps not the best country to compare, because something like 90% of the population lives within 100 miles of the US border. But, everywhere I've been, the English markings are to accommodate locals and tourists. While I agree that tourist places, such as restaurant menus, museums, (select) street signs are in English, those are there mainly to accommodate the tourists. Not necessarily the Americans, but the entire English-speaking population of the world. Which lets face it, there are more English-speaking people in the world than almost any other language.
The same was true in Germany, but the accommodations were more noticeable in the larger tourist traps. For instance, we went to Heidelberg Castle, and there, we were able to take a tour with an English-speaking tour guide. However, when we went to a more obscure castle, there were no English-speaking tours available. Some of them did have typed booklets for English-speaking tourists. Since we were with family, we also visited many out-of-the-way restaurants/venues which were not as accommodating for non native language speakers.
Were these accommodations made available for tourists of every language? I doubt it, but then I did not ask--I did not need another language.
I have never lived in any other country, only visited, so, I can't comment to the accommodations made in other areas--long term effects to the general population outside the tourist areas.
I agree with aseder, I think the US should encourage and have much better language programs, beginning at younger ages in the US, in all of our schools.
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Friday 22 January
By m
You've got some skinhead comments here C.J.!
I know that's too german for you guys, but you might as well start wearing some swastikas, good job!
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Friday 22 January
By Beauty and the Feast
OH my god, i SO agree...I just came back from a trip around Europe, Morocco, and India, and almost everywhere I heard at least ONE joke about Americans and our paltry foreign language skills -- needless to say, i came back and bought my first installment of rosetta...trying to learn a few languages since I think it's SO important now moreso than ever before. We really need to step it up in our schools, and not just have students take an extra foreign language class as a novelty.
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Friday 22 January
By Michelle
I love how America has to bow down to every other country otherwise we are considered prejudiced...but yet every other country expects Americans to follow their rules and procedures. I love how that double standard works.
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Friday 22 January
By Michelle
To me, speaking different languages is so important... It's something you learn and nobody can take that away from you. Everywhere you go you will see at least people trying to accomodate tourists. Signs here and there, people working in hotels, etc. I have been to a few countries and it's like this everywhere but in the US. It's sad, because that's why it has a reputation arround the world. I'm not saying everybody is like this, but as we can see in the replies right here, there are some... Ignorance is one of the worst things in the world. People shouldn't be affraid of languages. It is so rewarding to learn.. I speak three languages fluently and I am learning a fourth one, and it's something that makes me very proud. I am not from the US, but I visit frequently. I'm always surprised when people in the States ask me how come I speak english since I'm from Quebec... Believe it or not, it's quite common, even if there isn't a need to learn both languages. People learn them because they want to....
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Friday 22 January
By Annabel
I've heard this argument a lot, and I maintain that the people who make it haven't really thought it through. I speak English as a first language, fluent German as a second, and a smattering of Polish and Greek, and have spent a lot of time living abroad, so I don't think you can say that my opinion is born out of ignorance. When you go to Europe, the main foreign language anyone knows will be English. Others will know French and sometimes Russian if they were behind the former Iron Curtain. Many more French know English than German, and many more Germans know English than Polish or Czech, even though they're right next to each other. English has become an international language, and we, in a weird mixture of arrogance and our inferiority complex to Europeans, mistakenly believe that know a lot more languages than we do. Having one language as the international language of business, though, makes it really easy for them. On the other hand, due to the distance from anyone else we don't get stuff in other languages. I guarantee I've had to work a lot harder to find materials in German and Polish than anyone over there has had to to find English materials. Plus, other than Spanish, what languages are we supposed to accomodate, exactly? Japanese? French? Chinese? German? All of the above?
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Monday 25 January
By Melissa
@SK, perfect answer!
I have Italian as a second language, acquired by living in Italy as an adult. When traveling in SE Asia with Italian friends, they would complain that the natives didn't speak English! And trust me, their English wasn't the greatest and I spent the whole time translating pidgin English into Italian for them.
I loved learning Italian, but I have no illusions about it being a fairly useless language in a global sense. Only 58 million people live in Italy and all they want to talk about is the next time they are going to the beach or what their latest operation was.
I digress. At least I understood the clip:
http://celebrities.ninemsn.com.au/blog.aspx?blogentryid=581970&showcomments=true
Friday 22 January
By SK
I've heard this argument a lot, and I maintain that the people who make it haven't really thought it through. I speak English as a first language, fluent German as a second, and a smattering of Polish and Greek, and have spent a lot of time living abroad, so I don't think you can say that my opinion is born out of ignorance. When you go to Europe, the main foreign language anyone knows will be English. Others will know French and sometimes Russian if they were behind the former Iron Curtain. Many more French know English than German, and many more Germans know English than Polish or Czech, even though they're right next to each other. English has become an international language, and we, in a weird mixture of arrogance and our inferiority complex to Europeans, mistakenly believe that know a lot more languages than we do. Having one language as the international language of business, though, makes it really easy for them. On the other hand, due to the distance from anyone else we don't get stuff in other languages. I guarantee I've had to work a lot harder to find materials in German and Polish than anyone over there has had to to find English materials. Plus, other than Spanish, what languages are we supposed to accomodate, exactly? Japanese? French? Chinese? German? All of the above?
(Germans, by the way, are awesome about this and totally get it. Unlike the French, who miss the days when they originated the term "lingua franca," Germans love it when Americans learn German, and are happy to help when you try.
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Friday 22 January
By Occono
I agree with this sentiment, though I can't really say on whether the US is multilingual enough or not...
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Friday 22 January
By haskins
I think a lot of people overlook the fact that most, if not all, countries that speak and operate in multiple languages often do so out of necessity, not out of an idealistic love for other peoples traditions and cultures. For example, if you lived in Maryland and the surrounding state all spoke different languages, chances are you'd know how to speak more then your native language. So I don't think it's fair to insinuate that American's only speak english simply because we're lazy and arrogant; we just don't have the same social and cultural pressures that other countries do.
I do advocate learning another language, but if you can't practice it outside the classroom it's not going to stick.
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