Current mood:  cantankerous
My wife belongs to an Internet group where there was a recent blowup
over the insane expectation Americans have about foreigners who visit
America's shores. You know the one: the foreign visitors should
somehow, as if by magic, be instantly bilingual. This "English Only"
jazz is nothing new. It is a very old hat Americans have been trying to
force everyone to wear for decades. I cannot begin to tell you how this
irks me.
Look at some of the screed my wife shared with me:
·
"When I was in McAllen, I refused to speak Spanish even though I knew
it. Not all do this but enough that in McAllen, the signs are in
Spanish first and English second. That simply isn't right."
·
"Why after 20 YEARS and a property owner no less in this (USA) country
shouldn't he speak English. Another thing many of the Mexicans in this
country DO know how to speak English and when it suits them they do.
BUT, I've seen them make believe they don't when it doesn't suit them.
Sorry that is my sore spot too. I could go on about other nationalities
(in NY) that do the same thing. Parts of Queens NY the street signs and
all other signs aren't in English and when you walk into a restaurant
that is all locals they ALL STOP TALKING and look at you. THIS IS
AMERICA FOLKS. Ya wanna be here speak the language----DON'T try and
make our country something else."
After five books and countless
articles in which I've hammered this point repeatedly, here are two
quotes that absolutely confirm my thesis of the rampant xenophobic
xenoglossophobia in America.
The forum-chat group discussion
began with a question about teaching ESL and the need to speak Spanish
or not, but it quickly devolved into this English-Only Rant. It was so
predictable.
Americans, who have an astoundingly pathetic 9%
bilingual rate compared with the rest of the world's 52%, actually
think it is "good thing" not to be bilingual. They complain and whine
when there are bilingual signs in stores. They speak of their utter and
hateful disgust at the thought that someone speaks a language other
than English. Is this not the height of xenophobic behavior?
In
a recent survey in Europe, Americans were seen as an uncultured and
vulgar lot. A whopping 85% of the Europeans surveyed had this opinion.
Having lived in another country now for a few years, and having seen
just how Americans act when they come here, I am not surprised one bit.
I would have answered this survey's question in the same vein.
Let
me be even more frank: This nonsense of "That simply isn't right" and
"THIS IS AMERICA FOLKS. Ya wanna be here speak the language----DON'T
try and make our country something else" stems truly and absolutely
from the depths of fear and hatred of all things foreign.
As I
wrote in my just-released book, YOU CAN LEARN SPANISH or Any Language
No Matter Your Age or Disposition, this American obsession (this
fascist neonationalism) with eliminating foreign languages from the
face of American soil is nothing new—it is old.
There was a time
in America, though hard to believe, when learning a foreign language
was considered the mark of a cultured and educated person. People, even
poor ones, wanted their sons and daughters to learn French. Then came
the xenophobia with the two World Wars. Soon, not only were foreign
language newspapers shut down but also speaking a foreign language in
public was outlawed.
Americans insanely saw the mark of true
patriotism was the eschewing of learning and speaking another language.
Just how remarkably simpleminded and ignorant is that reasoning?
I
wonder if the person from whom I got that quote, "That simply isn't
right" rightly sees the consequences of that statement? On just what
grounds does this person make this silly judgment of "That simply isn't
right?" And here is my favorite one: "Another thing many of the
Mexicans in this country DO know how to speak English and when it suits
them they do."
You might be interested in knowing just how
American tourists come to Mexico and shout this at the top of their
lungs at waiters and hotel employees. I see this constantly in the town
in which my wife and I live. They actually believe, as does this
unthinking person I quoted, that Mexicans have some secret, dark, and
menacing motive for not speaking English when in fact they really do.
Describing
Americans as "uncultured and vulgar" is not a stretch. It is no wonder
that Americans have such a hideous reputation in the rest of the world.
But, in the survey I mentioned, Americans were also seen as not caring
a whit what the rest of the world thinks of them. No surprise there!
You
know, the members of my wife's forum-chat group can hold to their
phobias and hate about Mexicans—and that is what this is about,
Mexicans—and they probably will. Rarely does anything enlighten the
minds of fearful and hate-driven people. So, I will end it with this:
What
gives Americans the right to harshly criticize foreigners who come to
America and have problems learning English when the vast majority of
Americans could not string two words of a foreign language together to
save their lives?
Remember the 9% bilingual rate?
How
would MONOLINGUALS have a clue about how difficult it is to master a
second language and develop a high degree of spoken fluency? Just how
would they? And, the real kicker is this:
Americans vociferously
scream this fear and hate-driven screed from the rooftops when the
reality is many Americans who move to foreign countries, Mexico for
one, refuse to learn Spanish!
They complain and whine that
Mexicans refuse to learn English (and how could they know that Mexicans
refuse anything—are Americans telepathic?), yet when Americans come to
live in Mexico, they do the very thing they claim to despise in
Mexicans.
One American living in San Miguel de Allende said this:
"I've lived in Mexico for thirty years and not only do I not speak Spanish, I never will."
Americans who live in Mexico, and have lived here for decades, boast they will never learn Spanish.
Just how big of a crock of hypocrisy is this?
**********************************
Doug Bower is celebrating his fifth year living in Guanajuato, Mexico
with his wife, Cindi. They've co-authored a book called, "SUSTAINABLE
EXPATRIATISM – How Not To Change Culture When Expatriating to a Foreign
Country"
Check their website for release date: www.mexican-living-guanajuato.com
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