On the Trials and Tribulations of Language

In high school forty some years ago, I elected to take French for my foreign language requirement. What a waste that was. Why did I need to learn French when I was living in northern California. I had no plans to live in either eastern Canada or France. What ever got into me, I don’t know. I shouldn’t be too hard on myself since there were plenty of adults who should have steered me clear of a language which has virtually no practicality in the world. Only a Frenchman would think otherwise. And to tell the truth, I don’t give two hoots about what the French think. To compound the problem, I immediately took a couple of French classes upon entering the university. That’s where I got my first experience with the arrogance of the French elite.

To be totally honest, there was a short period of time where I put my French skills to work reading some French scientific articles in support of some research I was conducting. That was it. Never again have I had a need for the language.

Today I find myself living in Southern California and struggling to communicate with the myriad of Hispanic speakers who have rudimentary knowledge of English at best. I could have taken Spanish, why didn’t I? Well, probably because nobody in northern California at that time thought that the U.S. would be flooded with Spanish speakers. Think how much better things could be for me now.

Yes, I know that the language of this country is English. And, I know that every immigrant group that has historically landed on our shores has mastered English in time and prospered accordingly. But, we are in the throes of such a massive influx of non-English speakers that the mainstream citizens are becoming increasingly irritated that they cannot communicate with so many people in the service industries. I suspect that much of the current resistance to immigration is as a result of language frustration more than it is of a dislike for foreigners.

OK, so I need to learn some Spanish. That’s not such a big deal, and it would be nice to be able to communicate better with so many nice people. Now that I’m resolved to do that, I find out that in Ventura County, CA, that there are tremendous language problems with Hispanic migrants who do not speak and can not converse in either Spanish or English. Turns out that there is a large population of Mexicans from the southern most “…Mexican states such as Oaxaca, Chiapas, Puebla and Guerrero who speak Mixteco and other languages indigenous to their homes...” That’s just great. Now what am I to learn? OK, maybe it’s better if they learn English, every other immigrant group did so.

There is no doubt that the U. S. is going to continue to need the services of migrant workers. Mexico is the greatest and easiest source of needed manpower. Unlike Europe, we are blessed with a migrant worker force with the same Judeo-Christian values as ours. Europe was not so fortunate. They imported Muslims and look what is visited upon the Europeans now.

Let’s hope that Pres. Bush’s forthcoming immigrant legislation will not only secure the borders, but will provide for an orderly movement of peoples between the U. S. and Mexico. Let’s make it a requirement that to live in this country for any extended period of time that you must pass an English test. Unfortunately, every solution comes with a problem. If we require migrants to speak English, shouldn’t we make a similar requirement for our citizens who only speak ebonics? (Read the article on ebonics here.) We could do that. But if they failed to learn English, where would we send them since no potential receptor country speaks ebonics?