This post is an extension of what we started discussing during Tuesday’s class: is learning the native language absolutely necessary for survival in a foreign land?
While perusing the Google Alert links, I couldn’t help notice the connection between three of the links:
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0300business/0100news/tm_headline=lack-of-spending-on-learning-languages-8216-costs-billions-8217&method=full&objectid=19878990&siteid=50082-name_page.html
(Lack of Spending on Learning Languages ‘cost billions’)
http://news.scotsman.com/edinburgh.cfm?id=1568292007
(Scots Jump Language Barrier)
http://media.www.cardinalcourieronline.com/media/storage/paper1247/news/2007/10/03/Viewpoint/Expand.Horizons.With.Foreign.Language-3010040.shtml
(Expand Horizons with Foreign Languages)
All three of these sites seemed to share one thing in common: they strongly advocate taking up foreign languages. However, there also seems to be somewhat of a warning imbedded in the first two, one that warns against the dangers of complacency in knowing only English. One specific point the first article brought up, that “companies are over-estimating the economic advantages of speaking English… language complacency has a significant negative effect on British exports. Other nations’ propensity to learn English is not enough to compensate for our own under-investment in language skills,” prompted me to ponder the same case but in a United States setting. Just what percentage of the US population spoke another language? Brief research showed that in 2000, only 20% of Americans over the age of five reported speaking a different language AT HOME.* This seems to mimic the problem Professor Foreman-Peck pointed out in the article: with this relatively low statistic in one of “the most diverse countries in the world,” serious implications could be made about the (over?) dependency US citizens have on English. Interestingly enough (but slightly off on a tangent), the Census also seems to point out that “the West and South combined had about three times the number of Spanish speakers as the Northeast and Midwest combined.” One can make a certain inference about this significant discrepancy in number of Spanish speakers. The physical proximity to the Spanish’s country of origin (Mexico) seems to correlate directly with how comfortable people are with learning/practicing the language. There seems to be many questions that can be raised from this point. Do we only practice languages for pragmatic reasons? Is there a psychological root behind finding a comfort zone for an existing language before picking it up? Is it possible to want to learn languages for the SOLE reason of cultural diversity (must there be a pre-existing environment)? And again, I end my post on some sort of a cliffhanger that I hope will be addressed during lecture.
* http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/census_2000/001406.html
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3 comments:
This is certainly a very interesting and timely topic. It would be nice if you could go a little more in detail about these articles and sites and perhaps flesh out your own thoughts on the matter... Why is learning English a double-edged sword in business? What is a better option?
I feel that many immigrants don't feel motivaed enough to learn the primary language spoken in that country unless they feel forced to in order to survive in their environment. However, do you think that people should give more importance to this issue?
I think to an extent, people should attempt to learn the dominant language of a particular region, if not for pratical reasons, then for cultural immersion. However, like you said, if that motivation isn't there, there almost seems like there's no need to pick up the new language. Why subject yourself to hours on end of language class if you can get along just fine without it? I personally know someone who has that mentality, but I think, from a more macrocosmic point of view, if the exchange and melding of cultures is desired in a society, then some sort of common language ground is indeed necessary.
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