Language and Power

Margaret Fleming

We stopped to eat in Sonoyta the other day, and while John went next door to
get some money changed, I ordered lunch for us. I was ridiculously pleased
that I could understand and answer the server's comments, her direction to
choose three of the items on the combination plate, and her question as to
what we wanted to drink. I felt I was becoming fluent in Spanish at last.
But my complacency suffered a setback when I remembered a recent visit
from an old friend. David was a student from Indonesia who lived with us for
four years while he was going to the University thirty years ago. While he was
here he met another foreign student, this one from Iceland. They got married,
and he moved to Iceland where he's lived ever since. So he had to make two
abrupt transitions in language and culture. Although he had studied English in
Indonesia, he had a lot of trouble with it at first. Then, just when he was
getting reasonably comfortable with it and with American culture, he had to
learn an entirely new language and culture--Icelandic.
David now has three grown sons, and they all, in addition to their own
language, speak English, Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian. One of them is a
graduate student in Germany, one studied in France, and one spent a year in
Indonesia learning that language and culture. To me this was truly impressive,
but it isn't at all unusual for Europeans. It made me realize how limited most
Americans are in their ability to speak other languages and probably in their
ability to understand other cultures as well.
There are two reasons that most Americans are monolingual. One is that our
country is large and we don't live in close proximity to countries that speak
other languages. We don't have the same necessity that Europeans do to
know several different ones. And, of course, we are a melting pot country,
where the push has always been for immigrants to learn English so they
could fit in rather than to keep their native languages as a matter of ethnic
pride. As a result, many second and third generation immigrants lost these
ancestral tongues altogether. Furthermore, foreign languages have never
been stressed very much in U.S. schools. Most students take 2 years of a
language in high school, which is past the optimum age for language
learning, so very little of what they learn stays with them. In contrast, students
in many foreign countries begin learning English as soon as they start school.

The second reason most Americans don't learn foreign languages is that, like
it or not, English is the preeminent language of the world, the language that is
now used for international business, for diplomacy, and on the Internet.
It hasn't always been that way. Greek was the language of the entire
Mediterranean area in New Testament times. Latin was the language of
educated people during the middle Ages in Europe. In the 19th century
French was the language of the international community, and it has left its
mark in the designation for such a language, a lingua franca. Other
languages have enjoyed similar status in specific areas of learning or in
geographic regions. German was once the language of science; French of
haute couture, Italian of music. Portuguese was widely used during the 19th
century for trade all over the Far East. Spanish, of course, is the language of
all Latin America except Brazil, and Dutch is spoken from Indonesia to South
Africa. Many African countries, whose ethnic minorities often speak rival
languages, have had to resort to adopting English or French as a national
language because they couldn't agree on a native tongue. Although Chinese
is spoken by more people than any other language in the world, this does not
make it a lingua franca, since all the people who speak it live in China.
A lingua franca reflects the economic and political power base of its particular
time. In our time that base speaks English, so English is the current lingua
franca of the world.
One unfortunate result of this situation is that English speakers often develop
a kind of linguistic arrogance, feeling that because they speak the language
of power, they are more intelligent or more eloquent than those who don't
speak it, even though the others may speak two or three different languages.
We see this arrogance in the ugly American abroad who thinks that everyone
should be able to understand him if he only shouts a little louder in English.
We see it in "English only" legislation in the U.S. We see it in the punishment
and ridicule of children for speaking their own languages on the playground
instead of English.
English is not inherently better than any other language. In fact, as a world
language, it has grave deficiencies: its spelling is inconsistent, many of its
grammatical forms are irregular; its pronunciation is illogical. Spanish is more
regular in its grammatical structure; Italian is more mellifluous; Japanese has
closer sound-symbol correspondence. An ideal world language would be
entirely regular, but artificial languages such as Ido and Esperanto have
never been able to gain wide acceptance. Perhaps it's because no country
has any vested interest in promoting an artificial language, and so natural
languages always prevail.
John asked the El Futuro Sales Manager, Luis, how many Mexicans he knew
who spoke English. Luis estimated that in Puerto Peasco about 50% spoke
some English. Then John asked him how many Americans he knew in Puerto
Peasco who spoke Spanish. He counted 3 or 4 and couldn't think of any
more. This is another example of linguistic arrogance. Or maybe it's just the
failure of the U .S. educational system, which hasn't prepared us well to
communicate with speakers of other languages.
Language is power. That's probably why I felt so pleased with myself when I
could order a meal in Spanish. How much more powerful I would feel if I
could carry on a conversation about history or world events or philosophy. As
an educator and a student, my advice would be as follows. Parents, make
sure your children learn at least two languages. If you are bilingual, give them
opportunities to practice both languages. Don't let them lose the one that is
spoken by their parents or grandparents. If you are monolingual, try learning
a second language. It might not be as easy as it would if you were a child, but
it can be done. Listen to the radio and TV in your target language, read
newspapers, and practice speaking it every chance you get. It's easy to
remain silent for fear of making a fool of yourself, as I know all too well, but
most people won't judge you harshly. On the contrary, they are usually eager
to help as you struggle to remember a particular word or to formulate a
difficult grammatical construction. And at some point that exhilarating moment
will come when you suddenly realize "I can understand" or "I can
communicate." It's one smaller step toward world community.