I have earned two degrees studying other cultures, traveled to many different countries all over the world, worked in a culturally diverse school, and studied three languages in my life. Despite these experiences, I am helplessly monolingual. I deeply value linguistic diversity and the importance of bilingualism and multiculturalism, but I have been unable, or unwilling, to achieve proficiency in any second language myself. This is no one’s fault but my own, but I do think it is worthwhile to look at the cause of my monolingual dilemma, especially since I know I am not along in this predicament. Americans are notorious around the world for being incredibly linguistically inept, despite high levels of education. Why? The following list is not meant to be an excuse for my language deficit, but a look at possible causes for the glut of monoglots in the United States.
English as dominant
global language
Why learn a foreign language when most of the world is
rushing to learn English? I have been to
some pretty remote places in the world, but there is almost always someone who
can speak enough English to communicate.
There are more people learning English as a second language than speak
it as a native language. English language
schools are booming around the world, fueled by the need for a common tongue in
our rapidly globalizing world. English is the language of commerce, education,
medicine, and technology, not to mention the lingua-franca of the
internet.
As an effort conservationist (someone too lazy to expend
unnecessary effort), I have always found it difficult to find motivation to
learn a foreign language when I know that many people who speak that language
can also communicate in English. For
example, when I did a summer-long Spanish immersion trip to Costa Rica, nearly everyone
I encountered spoke better English than I did Spanish. Also, they were eager to practice their
English with an American and preferred to speak in that language. This made it difficult to experience true “immersion”
which requires that one be forced to use the language being studied. Had I been in a less-developed country than
Costa Rica, I probably would have had a different experience, but any large
city in Latin America has plenty of English speakers.
Ineffective language
education
US schools get language education all wrong. It may make sense from a management
perspective to wait until high school to introduce a foreign language so that
students are able to make an informed decision regarding which language to
study, but it flies in the face of biology.
Language acquisition is a neurological process that is governed by our
brain chemistry. Essentially, we are
hard-wired to learn language when we are young, and the portion of our brain responsible
for acquiring languages solidifies as we age.
The “critical period” for language acquisition is from birth to age
five, with some flexibility until puberty.
Unfortunately, we usually don’t start learning a second language until
after puberty, which makes for an inefficient and laborious process of
memorization and hours of practice. For
most people it is nearly impossible to become a native speaker, which means
speaking without a noticeable accent, if you don’t begin studying a language
until adulthood. Attaining fluency as
an adult is possible, but it takes years of study and practice. This contrasts
with how children can acquire multiple languages simultaneously without any
formal instruction. Which way would you rather learn – flashcards and grammar
drills, or playing with friends?
Language skills not
valued
One of the reasons why foreign language instruction is not a
focus of primary education in the US is that it is not valued by society. Speaking a second language is “neat”, but
most parents would prefer their student spend extra time on reading, writing,
math, and science rather than learning a foreign language. I think this is part of the larger attitude
of isolationism that has been present in the US for centuries, which largely
due to our geography and cultural homogeny. In most places in the world, there are neighboring
areas or countries that speak a foreign language. In order to travel, trade, and interact, it
was necessary to speak the language of your neighbors. Think
of Europe or India – a landmass the size of the US that contains dozens of
diverse languages, often intermixed in the same towns. In contrast, the US has wide oceans on each
side and only one (or two if you count Quebec) neighbors who speak a foreign language. Since we are the regional, not to mention
global, superpower, it is expected that our neighbors function in the dominant
language of the continent – English.
Thankfully, the US is slowly become more bilingual due to the influx of
immigrants from Latin America, but this is being meant with strong reaction
from more conservative populations.
Preventing
Monoglot-ism
The US is one of the most monolingual societies in the
world. Despite the increasing prevalence of Spanish, I doubt that will change. I hope to be part of the solution, but it may
be too late for me. I do hope to someday
get to a conversational level in Spanish, but that is not on the horizon in the
near future. Instead, I am going to
focus on giving Abel the gift of a foreign language. I don’t want to pressure him to study a
language simply because it is something I wish I had done when I was younger. I know to be careful in trying to “over-correct”
the perceived deficits in my childhood with my own children, but I want to
attempt to expose Abel to language in a more natural and effective way. Since Jess is fluent in Mandarin, we hope to continually
expose him to and encourage his use of Mandarin. No worksheets or study sessions yet – just lots
of listening and play with the language.
Eventually, we hope to find a nanny or playmate who is
native speakers. If we continually expose him to the language and give him
ample opportunity to use it, in theory he can become a native speaker. At least continued exposure will make
studying the language much easier as he grows up. Of course he could decide at any age that he
doesn’t want to learn Chinese, and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t push a
little. I can’t imagine him as an adult
cursing us for not having helped him learn the most widely spoken language in the
world when he was a young child. If he does, at least he can curse me in multiple languages.
