Monolingual Yankees

 

Americans, the world over, have a reputation for being notoriously bad at speaking foreign languages. And indeed, except for a tiny minority, they are.

But you got to admit they have some excuses… Why should they learn a foreign language when they know they will never have any use of it? I mean, learning a foreign language is no cake walk. When you consider the amount of time, energy and personal implication that learning another language requires, it would appear quite logical to consider it a complete waste of time to spend hundreds of hours just trying to acquire the basics of a tool you perfectly know you will never have any opportunity to use. 

Would you learn to play the piano knowing full well you will never actually play the piano in your whole life? Who will take the pain to learn more than a few words in Polish because of possibly spending a holyday in Warsaw? Why would an American learn any foreign language when he/she knows he/she will never travel abroad and probably will never have any opportunity to meet a foreigner? And especially since most foreigners they’re likely to meet in America already speak more or less their own language?

Americans never forget the lessons of J. Bentham and J.S Mill, the authors associated with the Utilitarism philosophy. Today’s world makes it totally useless for Americans to learn any foreign language. Matter of fact as they are, if there were any utility in learning foreign languages they would. Just the influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants makes it somehow useful for Americans to learn a bit of Spanish. So some do learn it but mostly for economic reasons and not simply for educational ones.

But maybe there is another way to consider foreign language: the European way. Where foreign languages are not seen as just mere tools but also as an eye-opener on the world and the peoples from different cultures. Definitively an asset that helps understand the environment in which we live and the people from all other countries in an increasingly shrinking world. In Europe, for centuries, the ability to speak and read a foreign language (plus Latin and Greek) was a criterion of good education and helped distinguish the upper classes from the masses. 

For centuries, it has been commonly understood that a decently educated person spoke at least one, if not two, foreign languages. Fluency in German, Italian, English and so on was associated with culture and sophistication. Therefore, in the eyes of the rest of the world, the non-existent ability of the majority of Americans to know any foreign language serves only to reinforce the broad image/prejudice of lack of education that is too often associated with America. 

And yet, Americans should know: When there was the hostage crisis in Iran during the last year of the Carter presidency, the fact that none of the dozens of employees at the Embassy spoke any shred of Farsi certainly contributed among Iranians to the reputation of Americans as evil imperialists totally blind to other people’s souls and cultures. 

Twenty five years later in Iraq, the situation hasn’t really improved. And by relying too much on the predominance of English as the world language, aren’t Americans reinforcing the image of a country self-centered and disrespectful of all others? Which would be quite detrimental to their very interests? (see utilitarism…).

Note: The painting is “The Tower of Babel” by Pieter Bruegel (about 1525-69)