Re: Foreign Languages- A Waste of Time.
- From: "Edward Grefenstette" <egrefen@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 18 Jun 2006 05:53:16 -0700
expatriateauthority@xxxxxxxxx wrote:
I have noticed that over the past 20-30 years or so more and more
people speak English, and prefer to speak it to foreigners. Also, what
is becoming more and more common is that you have native English
speakers who live in non-English speaking countries for decades and who
are doing just fine by using only English. They have friends, do their
shopping, attend to legal and bank formalities and even get lovers and
later, husbands and wives, without learning but a few token words in
the language of the country. They do so with smug pride and conviction
that it is the right thing to do. I can see them everywhere with
confident looks and a proudly raised chin. "I am an American! I speak
English!" Upon being asked " Do you speak Spanish? the reply is
"Not a word!", followed by another confident raising of the jaw in
proud self-reveling.
"Yes, sir", say the natives and accommodate the speaker for yet
another decade. They are used to that. A mono-lingual
American/Brit/Canadian/ Australian is simply like that. There is
nothing you can do to change him/her. He thinks the whole world should
speak English.
And the whole world just might start doing just that. If you cannot
make the mountain come to Mohammad, Mohammad will just have to go to
the mountain.
I am an avid foreign language learner, and I seem to be a dying breed
since I do not see many like me among the expat crowd in many
countries. When in an Arab country, I was the only one studying Arabic
and when in Japan, I was only one of the two poor and lonely blokes
studying Japanese. All the others were partying and having the time of
their lives.
Somehow, while before, people would get mad that foreigners,
particularly "Anglos" would come to their country and not learn the
language, by now they have gotten used to it and have begun adjusting
themselves to the English- speakers, even though, ideally, it is the
English speakers who should be adjusting to the cultures of host
countries. However, the host countries have understood that the Anglo
pride is incorrigible and now, the illusion that the entire world
should speak English that is shared by many native English speakers has
stopped being an illusion. English speakers who have been yelling
abroad at the natives who did not understand them, have actually had a
very powerful effect. People have not rebelled, but began speaking
English more and more. So the illusion has become a reality. The world
today is becoming more and more of an English-speaking place and
foreign languages have become less and less useful for international
travelers.
It used to be that if you took up business in 1980ies, you would take
French or Spanish along with that. Now, most businessmen speak English,
so when you have a negotiation or business correspondence, it is mostly
conducted in English. So, why rack your brains over a difficult
language since people on the other end will just switch to English
anyway?
Somehow, the natives have finally accepted the idea that: "a
Brit/American/Canadian, etc. will never learn my language, but they are
the ones with money and technology, so we should be learning their
language instead".
Many are questioning the feasibility of spending years learning Arabic,
Portuguese, German, etc. if the educated locals will just speak English
to you, anyway. Why bother?
I spent years learning Japanese and it is quite fluent by now. I would
still be puzzled by seeing Westerners speaking English to the Japanese
in a haughty way expecting them to understand and the Japanese doubling
over backwards to please them.
In other countries, if you speak local languages, people start treating
you condescendingly, but once you start speaking English in an
authoritarian fashion, people stand at attention treating you like
"The Boss".
So, sometimes I wonder if I have been wasting my time with all these
languages as I have seen those who do not do it have a much better time
in foreign countries that I.
In fact, those who do not learn the languages of host nations have many
advantages:
1) People treat them as guests; forever. That means: with deferment and
respect.
2) They surround themselves by friends who speak only English. That
means- cosmopolitan people who appreciate intercultural friendship and
communication, who are broad-minded and international and relatively
free from bigotry.
3) They do not understand what bad things are being said to them or
about them, hence, they are protected from being insulted because they
will not understand the insult, anyway. They are seen as cute and
helpless by some and attract desire to help and general endearment.
4) Seen as "powerful" Westerners, they also attract romantic
admirers who will see them as something mysterious and worthy of
discovery. I have seen it so many times- in Asia, in particular.
American and British guys with Japanese and Thai girls, and the girls
are speaking in faltering English while falling all over the guys who
sound strong and confident and "in control" by speaking thunderous
English. There is an aura of mystique and exoticism that is
irresistible and it drives those women wild. The girls play the host
and introduce the guy to their country- for tens of years- while
learning English in the process. A very effective way to get a lover if
I have ever seen one.
5) As an English-only speaker, you will not have people get angry at
you since they will not be able to express their anger, and will just
keep quiet. And if they do, you will not understand what they are
saying, anyway. Your English-only status will effectively put a cushion
between you and other people, a respectful distance of sorts. When in
Thailand, I saw a couple- a Thai girl who could not speak English and a
British man who did not speak Thai. And they seemed blissfully happy.
They could not quarrel and were forever discovering each other.
6) You may revel in the illusion that you are a neo-colonialist who is
superior to everyone and many people on the outside will feed and share
your illusion as it in fact is becoming a reality
With the advent of the Internet, English has become even more
widespread and will be growing in popularity more and more. Foreign
language studies will be relegated to scholastic hobbies especially in
native English-speaking countries. I think people should not be wasting
their time learning other languages outside of a few words to make the
natives laugh. They will enjoy life more, have more friends and get
more respect from the locals who will be treating them as Gods
Dear unnamed author,
I'm a hard time deciding whether or not the above was written
toungue-in-cheek or not, because for all its attempt to reflect innate
cultural openness and sophistication, I see nothing but blank-minded
naiveté and unjustified statements. Learning other languages is more
than just an exercise in utility, as as you have mentioned, english is
a fairly widespread lingua franca (although not as widespread as you
would like, once you leave the cosmopolitan linguistic safety of large
metropoles abroad), but also a good way of training the mind, acquiring
deeper understanding of your own languages vocabulary (when learning
latin-based languages or german, in the case of a native english
speaker) and even, if we are to believe Chomskian ideals, gain greater
understanding of the human mind through the analysis of underlying
patterns in different languages.
Furthermore, not bothering to learn the local languages is not
necessarily (and actually rarely) accompanied by the various perks you
describe in your message. The very of idea of this is plainly ignorant.
Plus, don't forget that what is the established lingua franca can
change very fast, over the course of a few decades. Don't forget that
english replaced french as the linguage franca only 60 or so years ago.
Who knows what it will be in a few decades? The way things are looking,
now would be a good time to brush up on your cantonese...
Sincerely Yours,
Edward Grefenstette.
.
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