Re: What's MEXT in English?

From: Jed Rothwell (jedrothwell_at_earthlink.net)
Date: 08/16/04 

Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 18:31:43 GMT

Kevin Wayne Williams writes:

> Actually, India probably supports that hypothesis. When I was VP at
> Paxonet, one of the things that surprised me was the number of employees
> that spoke English to each other. The reason was simple: there are about
> 15 major languages in India, and many Indians have only English as a
> common language.

But do they still speak their own native language fluently? Are they fully
bilingual, or does English dominate? My hypothesis is that after a long
time, in a country like India, most people will forget their original native
language, except for limited use in the nursery or during ceremonial
occasions. They will not read newspapers or watch television in the old
language.

It is often remarked that the US is highly monolinguistic. Very few people
bother to learn a foreign-language fluently in school, and as I said the
children of immigrants quickly forget the old language. Many hypotheses have
been proposed to explain this, such as the notion that US culture is hostile
to foreign language learning, or the people were embarrassed by their
immigrant roots, or that North America is so big, and so economically
independent, there is no need to learn a second language for trade or
employment. I think there is some truth to these ideas, but there is one
important cause that is less frequently noted. The US would be a Tower of
Babel if it did not have a single dominant language. It would be impossible
to hold a PTA meeting where I live in Atlanta in any other language, even if
you wanted to. A dozen or more languages are spoken at our local public
school. English is the lingua franca in this polyglot nation, it always has
been, and that gives English extra strength and resilience. Even in the
1700s, it was noted in places like Pennsylvania that the Germans, Native
Americans and others were anxious to learn English to get along and get
ahead. Visitors from England noted that our intellectuals and leaders such
as George Washington spoke a formal, old-fashioned, stuffy form of English,
mainly because that is what everyone else understood. There are antiforeign,
anti-immigrant organizations now such as English First that claim English is
endangered in the US, and it should be made the official language. These
people are clueless. Immigrants are desperate to learn English now, just as
they always have been. Classes are oversubscribed, waiting lists are long.
People have said you can get along in parts of the US speaking only Spanish,
but I doubt it. They used to say that about neighborhoods in New York City:
"you need only speak Russian" or Italian or Yiddish. But these neighborhoods
and minority languages vanished in a generation because people are not
fools, and they know what you must do to get a job. If the English First
organization would wholeheartedly support ESL funding, they would have more
credibility with me, but I have not seen them do that. I see nothing about
that on their web site.

It is ironic that there are two organizations called "English First." One is
American, and it is effectively working to undermine goodwill toward English
and to make trouble. The second is Swedish, and it is doing exactly what the
English language advocates say they want done:

http://www.englishfirst.org/

http://www.englishfirst.com/

- Jed

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