To All Spanish Speaking Ghetto DwellersNewt Gingrich wants you to learn the language of prosperity
The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. ... We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto," Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more than 100......more
How Low Can You Go
4 comments:
First, I do not like Newt - now or ever. He was a popular, yet pretentious media-whore around the city in which I lived in the 80s - before his rise to national prominence. With that said, however, I do agree that is it inefficient to provide muliple language government services. Foreign countries such as India and Japan heavily promote the teaching of English as a secondary language. There is a reason - it is the language of Western Money. As well, laws, contracts and other rules and regulations are susceptable to subtle translation errors that make enforcement and comprehension more vague - even when the translater is skilled in both languages. I believe English should be the de-facto standard language of the US government.
Yet I take extreme exception to Newt's use of the phrase "language of living in a ghetto." I'm sure the people of Spain and Mexico City are enthralled to hear what ex-speaker Gingrich thinks of their society. Then again, I doubt they care one iota.
While the failed Orange County, California government may well be a glaring example of the inherent inefficiency of an excess of diversification, surely Newt's exemplary education at Atlanta's right-wing, pseudo-aristocrat brooding tank known as Emory University has failed to imbue his feeble, warped mind with the cultural appreciation, reasoning capacity or human empathy of an artichoke. Could this fat, arrogant little man be any more offensive or clueless to the human condition? I sincerely hope not...
But that is the sad state of modern politics - How Low Can You Go.
Dr. Know, I see what you're getting at but first of all, English is not "the language of Western money." In terms of per capita trade and performance, German has a lot to, uh, say about that-- if anything, *the* banking center of the Western World is in Frankfurt, Germany, and German is the lingua franca of both business and finance for a big and growing chunk of the West. Especially as the dollar bites the dust in comparison to the Euro... While French still has a very strong and entrenched status as a world diplomatic language, among other things.
Second though, and more importantly, the "multiple language government services" bit is not a mere convenience-- it is *obligatory* in big sections of the United States, for very fundamental historical reasons. After the Mexican War, as well as the Jacksonian wars in Florida, the US government had to make peace with the native Spanish speakers or else the whole region would be swallowed up in guerrilla war for decades-- Spanish, after all, was the original language of the governments and the public and private grounds in these states, and had preceded English by many centuries.
Thus as the original language of these territories-- not merely an "immigrant language" engrafted upon an initially English-speaking region-- Spanish was, for very good reasons, accorded a co-equal (if not superior in some cases) status to English. That's just about a rock-solid provision of the treaties and laws that came about esp after the Mexican War.
Thus, providing government services in non-English languages isn't merely optional in states like California, Texas and Florida-- it's fundamentally required.
When I was seeking out a job in the Arizona legal system years ago, I got annoyed at first since-- in my ignorance at the time-- I couldn't see why Spanish was so critical to the job. Nobody would hire me without strong Spanish skills, and I'm not talking about high school Spanish-- I'm talking fluent, formal, professional-level Spanish in Arizona. Eventually I was told some history and took the hint, just did the work (and watched a few Spanish telenovelas), and voila, I suddenly had a lucrative, decent job in the state.
My point being, that US schools these days are idiotic about the way they teach Spanish as a "foreign" language, especially in states like Arizona in California. Spanish isn't a "foreign" or an "immigrant" language there-- it's the original language of the seats of the economy and government. (Spanish was at the heart of places like L.A. and San Antonio, centuries before anyone said a word of English there.)
So yes, those regions really *are* obligated to provide services in Spanish. Anyone in business, for that matter, would be a fool not to. Especially back in AZ and southern Florida, you can just about peg the companies going out of business-- they're the ones offering only signs and services in English. The ones that make it, provide signs and services in Spanish as well. It's just the reality of the market.
BTW, as a practical (teaching) matter, it makes the most sense to impart Spanish as a basic language of instruction, very early on (say in kindergarten), the way they do in Switzerland, for example. It makes sense if for no other reason than that Spanish isn't "foreign" to the US any more than English is "foreign."
That way, US students would then be free to pick up another one or two useful world languages by the time they finish high school-- something like Chinese, German, Japanese or French for example. We have to do this to be competitive in the current global economy.
I agree with many of the points you make, and concur that Spanish and French were spoken on these shores before English. While I did point out that other countries provide foreign language training to young children as a probable survival trait, I neglected to address the US's lack of training in alternate languages which are best learned while young. Perhaps my belief that English is a predominant language of Western Money comes from working in the US with foreign born speakers who represent alien manufacturers. But as you point out, the failing dollar is likely to effect the number of English as a second language speakers in favor of more Eurasian models.
Being a cheapskate, however, my objection stems solely from the addition tax burden and personel skill requirements mandated by multi-lingual employees. Have you read you average corporate inter-departmental email or inquiry? We have barely managed to learn one language, much less two.
I suppose this a bitter indictment of not only our faltering system of education, but our cultural arrogance as well. And it may well be a reality in many parts of the country, but it nevertheless remains an inefficient one for the time being. What you describe as a requirement of government services is at the same time the failure of a large segment of generally immigrant, non-English speakers to follow suit. It promotes division and segregation of cultures.
Truth be told, the official language should not be English, Spanish or French, but a Native American language. Unfortunatly, there was little cohesion between tribes, and no existing national language which could adequately address the legal and scientific jargon of the invading Europeans - thus becoming a de facto standard by default.
And here we are...
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