Thread: Making strides toward a bilingual America

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Making strides toward a bilingual America


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by Al Stainback, Daily Dispatch Youth Writer
Well, it certainly has been a long time, and it is definitely a pleasure to once again resume my role writing, in an editorial nature.

In the last four years, I think many of our readers, including those abroad (yes, you wouldn't believe how mad people in Bangkok, Thailand, can get) have misinterpreted my main “objective” as one trying to cause conflict. This is quite to the contrary. I write to make you think. If I make you think, I have met my objective.

And now, today's topic: bilingualism.

For some odd reason bilingualism has become a very divisive issue in American politics, education systems and even the economy. For the life of me, I can't figure out why.

Language has always been one of my passions, be it English or a foreign tongue.

But, for the purposes of this editorial, I'm going to concentrate on Spanish.

And I do this because I've taken my share of Spanish and it is pertinent to Vance County and states with agriculture being a main base in the economy.

I always find it interesting to go out and ask people their opinions on the language “issue,” and I always get the classic response of “English is the only language that I know” and “I don't need to learn another stupid language. The whole world needs to know English.”

My favorite response so far has been “I speak American,” and this phrase blows my mind, to the point I can't think - I just stare.

Let us examine Vance County.

According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2004 there were 1,957 Hispanics living in Vance, and that number has certainly risen. That means Hispanics made up approximately 5 percent of the population two years ago.

Now, according to the same data, in 2004 Vance County boasted a population of 42, 954 and out of that 2,324 spoke a language other than English at home, which was 5.8 percent in Vance.

This brings up two interesting questions: How many of those are children? And, how many know English?

As many of us know, many Hispanic children are taught English through ESL (English as a Second Language) programs.

Students who don't know English are at a disadvantage in our schools because generally only other Hispanic students and ESL instructors can talk with them. Unfortunately, many Hispanic children fall through the cracks because of this lack in the system.

Many people are going to go crazy and most will disagree with me, but it's getting to the point that if you want to work in public service (i.e. teacher, police officer, or some other civil servant) you need to have a working knowledge of the Spanish language to communicate vital information.

In the case of those working within the school system, I'm not proposing that teachers need to teach a separate class in Spanish, but simply to have a working knowledge of the language to provide assistance, and to speak to those Hispanic children's parents who most likely don't know English as well. And for those of you not aware of the state's constitution, in North Carolina secondary education is a RIGHT not a PRIVILEGE.

It's beneficial for local businesses to advertise and be able to assist and help Hispanic customers because Hispanics are part of the economy.

But Spanish isn't the only language out there that we need to know. We need to know a variety of languages from French to Chinese.

I'm going to make a statement that the majority (being students) reading this are going to disagree with, but I am going to say it anyway.

I think students should meet language requirements, regardless of career paths in high school. I think everyone should take two semesters of a foreign language of their choice, but of course that will never happen.

And I think a foreign language should be taught to children in primary school as well, and not just numbers and how to pronounce the alphabet, but really teach the grammatical nature of the respective language.

According to a Washington Post article in June 2004, “Bilingual speakers are better able to deal with distractions than those who speak only a single language, and that may help offset age-related declines in mental performance, researchers say.”

It added: “In studies conducted in Canada, India and Hong Kong, psychologists determined that individuals who spoke two languages with equal proficiency and used both equally did better than monolingual volunteers on tests that measured how quickly they could perform while distracted.”

One of the components to build memory is to have an increased vocabulary. Think of the benefits that could be produced by having a superior grasp on two languages and two sets of vocabulary. The mental power it can build is quite inspiring and, quite honestly, enviable.

But, before this will ever happen, people need to learn the English language itself. In order to jump into another language, I think it's vital to have a firm grasp in your native language.

Right now the national government is in huge need of people fluent in other languages for intelligence collection and dissemination, and in today's world, especially Asian and Middle Eastern languages (because of obvious threats).

According to the Harvard Gazette, in May 2004, Harvard University President Lawrence Summers opened a conference on bilingualism conferring that it's to everyone's advantage to learn as much as we can in a lifetime, especially language.

The Gazette added: “The paradoxical approaches to bilingualism set up by Summers and Lagemann in their opening remarks reverberated throughout the day's talks. Modern Languages Association President Mary Pratt gave an insightful overview of the ‘Ecology of Language,' noting that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and ensuing wars have brought a new urgency to language acquisition. ‘Nowhere is concern about languages more intense right now than in government agencies,' she said. ‘English-only America is facing the fact that English isn't enough.'Š Yet those government agencies have learned that the level of language competency they require- it's not enough to be able to chat with Grandma, speakers must also be able to discuss a policy article in The Washington Post, she said- make it almost impossible to gain security clearance.”

I cannot begin to do justice to the benefits of domestic and foreign bilingualism in this meager opinion piece. Bilingualism is something that people really need to embrace, yet they shun it.

I have so many languages that I want to learn that it will truly take a lifetime. At the present, I am rebuilding my Spanish and I will readily admit that learning another language isn't the easiest thing I could be doing with my time, but I feel that it will have far-ranging benefits.

But for the time being, society as a whole will continue its blind efforts and fumble through dealing with many foreign nationals that don't know English.

In that above statement I'm not suggesting that foreign nationals need not learn English, because they need to learn it to function and live adequately in American society. I'm suggesting that by learning other languages and cultures America can protect itself, and we can use that to help foreigners learn English and integrate smoothly into society.

Many people protect the idea of deporting illegal aliens. Now, I completely agree with this sentiment because the aliens entered the country illegally, but the system is overloaded and deportation is becoming inadequate and hard to do because catching illegal immigrants takes a large amount of time, effort, and man power.

Thus, that leaves the United States with a problem of what to do? How do we integrate these peoples into society so that they are contributing?

These are tough questions that I don't have an answer to. But, I think learning other languages is a gateway and great starting point to understanding other peoples, their cultures, way of life, and how to solve the problem of an overloaded and broken system.

We know we have a problem. The answer, though not simple, is to solve the problem. Language acquisition is the beginning of a solution. Why not take advantage of that?

And “why not” is an unanswerable question.

But for now, aprenda idioma y apréndalo bien.

Al Stainback is a Southern Vance HS alumnus attending Campbell University. E-mail him at astainback@hendersondispatch.com.

But for the time being, society as a whole will continue its blind efforts and fumble through dealing with many foreign nationals that don't know English.

Here's a thought Al, Southern Vance HS alumus, currently attending Campbell University, Buies Creek, NC.......................

society as a whole should not and will not fumble through blindly dealing with the many foreign nationals. THEY SHOULD -DUH- LEARN ENGLISH.

Why is it every previous generation of immigrants who came to America did this thing... called ASSIMILATE? But yet Hispanics can't? No, it's not that they can't, it's they won't and why should they, when every PC, illegal alien loving moron bends over backwards to accomodate them, in Spanish.

My family came here from Japan (LEGALLY) when I was a child. My mother learned English, my father already knew English, and they instilled in me the need to speak only English as we chose to live our lives in America. It's not a culture or heritage thing, it's a reality thing, if you wish to live in America, you can't succeed if you can't even speak the language. My family never demand I be taught Japanese in school, we never demanded official documents be translated into Japanese, we never cried because there was no PRESS 9 for Japanese. WHY? Because we chose to make America our home, as hard as it was for my mom to learn English, and even though she had a strong accent, she learned to speak, read and write in English, to make sure when I entered kindergarten, not only did I speak English, I could already read and write it as well.

Next door to me in my apartment complex a Mexican couple moved in, and every year they have a baby, six years have gone by since they moved here, and none of them has ever spoken a word of English. So the oldest child entered school last year never knowing a word of English. You're telling me that in six years, they couldn't learn English and try to teach it to their children? Gee, I bet that's a great way to provide for your family, let alone your community, raise a litter of kids, near doomed to fail and drop out and join the gang banging element, oh what a joy for the community and the future of our nation.

I am so sick of these HISPANDERING, whiny, gimme, gimme idiots who demand everything be given to them, in their language. If you choose to live here, learn friggin' English, or don't come crying later that you are now disadvantaged because your parents never bothered to learn the language.

The majority of Americans already are bilingual, it's just that they are not all bilingual in SPANISH! Why does it have to be SPANISH?! Damn Communist dictators.