Speaking Spanish, Learning Language

It's been several days now since the Associated Press reported the "No English" ticket scam by police officers in Dallas, Texas. While I haven't been able to shake the horror the story elicited when it first broke, I'm not surprised that it happened. What does shock me, though, is how long it took before people took notice. The international press seemed to be on the case before the national press was. (See the Telegraph article that appeared one day before the New American Media response did).

As a former ESL teacher who worked with adult refugees and immigrants, I can tell you first hand how hard these people work to not only learn English, but also manage the chaos of their own and their families' lives. Moreover, the ridiculous attitude of many "Americans" that they have no obligation to learn another language and/or culture because they are "true Americans" disturbs me to the core. Especially in a state like Texas, where such a significant portion of the population has Spanish as its native language.

The story of Ms. Mondragon, who lived in a city in which 44% of its people are Hispanic, should serve as a call for more foreign-language (in this case, Spanish) education in our schools and training programs. She speaks and understands more English than most "Americans" can demonstrate in any other language, yet for many people the problem will be with her and people like her. The problem, they will argue, is that they need to learn English before they come to the U.S. It is not at all clear how much they should learn, though, or how they should learn it.

Clearly the educational system in the U.S. needs to place a higher priority on language competency, not just in standard English, but also in dialects of English and in foreign languages. But can you imagine what would happen if we had to teach/learn not just English-Only, but primarily Shakespeare's English at that? Seriously! Half-way around the world, in Taiwan, that is exactly what is happening. It seems that the U.S. is not alone in its linguistic conservatism in the classroom.

According to a Taipei Times article, Chinese textbooks used in Taiwan's schools must include 65% Classical Chinese effective next year. Classical Chinese, at least in its poetry, reached its zenith during the 8th century C.E. in the Tang dynasty. Think about that: it's as if we still used the same language as the poet of Beowulf! Now for me, as a cultural consumer, it would be much easier if I could master Classical Chinese and communicate over a larger area of the world. But would I want an educated traveler to miss the diversity of the U.S., not to mention the U.K., just to make it easier on him or her to be conversant in Shakespeare's English? I think not....