This is something I've been thinking about before I even got here. I emailed Arnold to ask him about the language situation here -- would I be able to buy a train ticket and speak English? Will the bus drivers know what I'm saying? His response -- Of course, everyone here speaks English...and Dutch...and French...and some German. I thought this was amazing. And sure enough, I have not encountered anyone who doesn't speak English. In fact, yesterday when I was meeting with Johan, he was able to seamlessly switch back and forth and back and forth between Dutch and English when talking to me and another colleague. Wow! And the same with the other grad students here -- they can do it so effortlessly.
It got me to thinking about the US. If you ever watch CNN, you've probably seen Lou Dobbs crying about illegal immigrants this, illegal immigrants that. And some people really believe that we should make English the "official" language of the US -- if people from Mexico are going to come to "our" country, they should damn well follow "our rules", do it "our way", and speak "our language." This is interesting on several levels. Who says "our" way is best? I don't think you see people in France demanding EVERYONE who lives there to speak French, or everyone in Germany to speak German. Many, many of these people know several languages. Is it out of necessity, being so close to other countries? Perhaps. But the fact is, these people can go many places and fit right in. This also gives them other opportunities -- they can get jobs in other countries, give talks at international conferences, etc., whereas only speaking English is somewhat limiting for us.
So why don't we value other languages? [Don't get me started on not valuing other cultures...] Do we not expect our children to leave the US someday -- maybe for a class trip, an internship, and, heaven forbid, a JOB? It's really interesting to see how very ethnocentric and allocentric we really are compared to other countries. In Japan, Greece, and now the Netherlands, most people tend to be quite accommodating. They really want to try to understand what you're saying, to help you out. But in the US, it seems like we shun individuals who can't communicate well. I've seen it happen in various classes with international students. Even in Japan, where the population is over 99% Japanese and there aren't really any reasons to, most students are taught and can speak English.
I guess I just wish our education system worked a bit differently. There are some students at ISU that have never been out of Iowa, let alone the country. And they have NO idea what's out there...they only know what they see, and that tends to be "America is the best." And they only really see white people.
I wonder if Americans would be a bit more tolerant of "outsiders" if they knew more than one language. When you learn a language, you tend to learn about the culture and customs, too. It seems like it would broaden minds, both figuratively and literally.
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Sometimes I wonder about some of the historical aspects of intolerance of other languages. You know how we consider our strong levels of independence, self-sufficiency, etc because it took people on the extreme end of those traits to decide to come to a new country (note: I'm only considering those who chose to come to what we now know as the U.S. of their own free will--of course this was not the case for many). Could there be some kind of similar argument about language? Obviously this wouldn't explain everything, but I think it's an interesting perspective to consider.
ReplyDeleteI think that my ancestors, from several European countries, learned English out of respect and gratitude. They had chances here for such a better life .................. ;)
ReplyDeleteIf I moved to another country I would expect to attempt to learn their language. In my experience, once you've learned another language it is easier to learn others.
I'm glad we speak the same language in our 50 states, as opposed to numerous dialects throughout several regions. I think we speak with our food.
Actually, the situation is more complicated in the Netherlands than you think. There is a big push to get everyone to speak Dutch, immigrants in particular. For example, I had to pass a language test to get my permit to stay here -- note that this is just a residence permit, not a Dutch passport. In fact, at one point a Dutch politician (Rita Verdonk) proposed a national code of conduct discouraging the use of languages other than Dutch. I think in some ways the NL is less tolerant of its residents speaking languages other than Dutch than the US.
ReplyDeleteOh, and don't get me started on which people are and are not considered to be "Dutch."