No, says the Denver Post. While I’ve heard a lot of doom-sayers out there who contend that we are slowly being converted into an Spanish-speaking nation, and while, even though I speak Spanish, I too find the “press 1 for English…” thing too aggravating for words (I think I’m mostly bothered by anything that makes me have to listen to voice recordings any longer than I have to), the evidence is overwhelming that Spanish speakers are assimilating every bit as fast as every other generation of immigrants. As the Post points out, “fully two-thirds - 64.8 percent - of second-generation young people indicated that they prefer to speak English only” (and, quite frankly, one has to wonder about the circumstances of that other 35.2%). As I’ve pointed out before, there are two X-factors that drive the current perception of non-assimilation. The first is the dragged out nature of this immigration wave, which continuously brings new immigrants in. The casual observer simply notes that he/she is always surrounded by people who seem unable/unwilling to speak English, but day-to-day and year-to-year these are different people. In certain sectors of the economy — especially the service sector — it may seem that you are forever ordering your Whopper from someone who can barely pronounce the word, but in a nutshell, what happens is that as new immigrants solidify their language skills, they can move into higher (less visible) jobs, and they are immediately replaced with someone newer to the country and language. The other X-factor, which could well have an actual effect on overall assimilation is that a lot of the current wave of immigration is coming from a neighboring country, encouraging immigrants to keep closer ties with home. Even amongst those who cross oceans to get here, improved telecommunications and cheaper air travel have the same effect. While this author has yet to see any definitive studies on whether or not these phenomena have had any negative effect on the assimilation of 1st generation immigrants, it has been fairly well debunked that there is any effect on their kids. As the article says, “when it comes to language, ‘The assimilative power of American society is overwhelming,’ wrote Ruben G. Rumbaut and Alejandro Portales, professors of sociology at the University of California-Irvine, and Princeton, respectively.” This does not mean we won’t see changes — especially in the educational domain. Witness the effects that are already being noted in places not exactly renowned for being hotbeds of immigration like…. Ohio????

So why do we suddenly see Spanish everywhere — on TV, on billboards, in restaurants; and why the annoying phone “press 1 for English?” These phenomena merely jump out at us because they are new. Such technologies and mass advertising didn’t exist during the last immigration wave. Still, it bears noting that scholars will point out that, at the beginning of the 20th century, NYC was flooded with Italian-language adverts and newspapers. Some areas of the midwest had defacto German-language villages and towns until the first world war. Other language communities have always existed in the U.S., and always will. We should not be surprised if businesses try to make money advertising their services to them…

The second part of the article — about the perils of the U.S. being a “linguistic graveyard” at the dawn of the 21st century are well-deserving of a separate article. We’ll hit on that tomorrow.

The perfect counterbalance editorial persnickety tirade to the last post…

“Quality Reasons to Learn Spanish“ 

We’ve done more exhaustive lists here, but I won’t belabor the point…

If you decide to take the plunge, follow the link to this Spanish-learning site…

According to some, our national aversion to foreign language learning contributes to our insular, self-absorbed image. Besides the explanations of this phenomenon that I’ve made before, and keeping in mind that nothing on Earth would make me quite as happy as seeing my fellow countrymen embrace foreign language learning more whole-heartedly (it would, at the very least, guarantee my future employment ), I’d like to offer the following defense….

In most countries, FL learning is merely a matter of survival — in order to be economically competitive, they have to break out of their own national group and trade with others. The example in the article about people in the Netherlands, for example, is a rather faux-comparison. While Dutch is, in global terms, still a surprisingly robust language in terms of # of native speakers, still, their nation would cease to exist (i.e., probably get swallowed by Germany or some other greater power) if they could not actively engage with the world. There’s a joke in Holland — Q: “Why are there no Dutch road songs?” A: “Because by the time you hit the chorus, you’re in Germany or Belgium.” The country is small, and if you travel far at all in any direction, you’re going find yourself in a different linguistic environment. America, by contrast, is large and economically powerful. For most Americans, going to a different country requires quite a lot of plane travel. The economic importance of English means that trade can be conducted in our own language. This causes a shift in what is considered to be “basic education.”

Time is a finite entity, and schooling, based as it is on time spent studying, is no different. There are only so many hours in the school day, and children only have so many years to learn. These restrictions make it incumbent upon educational administrators at the local or national level to determine how that time is spent (i.e., what the kids are going to learn). Usually, subject matter taught in schools is primarily dictated by economics — i.e., what will help the kids to get a job and become contributing members of our society. In much of Europe, where language skills are critical, of course, foreign language classes rank highly in the curriculum. When Americans visit Europe, they’re often impressed by the linguistic savvy of most residents (I certainly was), however, the thing that we don’t immediately think of is that, by spending that time on FL learning in school, they definition-ally left something out of the curriculum that Americans did cover. What do you suppose that was?

Well, I’m no expert in European education curriculum development, but I can certainly contribute some anecdotal evidence. While living in both France and Spain, as well while visiting other countries, I came across many, many adults who were going to night classes (think adult ed.) to learn computer skills. At first, I thought they were learning advanced applications, or tech-job related skills, or the like (for example, my dad taught Auto-Cad at a Vo-tech in the U.S. for years). For 99% of them, this was not the case. I was shocked to realize that what they were learning were basics, such as word processing, excel, etc. These were concepts covered in my high school education (and I know for a fact that quite a few elementary schools teach that here). Mind you, the applications have changed mightily since I was that age, but the foundational skills I learned then still allow me to interface with technology today. The Europeans I met, however, had never really had the opportunity to interact with computing technology until one day when a computer showed up at their work, and they freaked out. Outside of the U.S., I’ve rarely even come across people who studied typing as a subject. When I was going through middle school, it was a required subject. Now, typing may not be as flashy as speaking three languages, but it does help to explain they substantial differences between U.S. and European educational policy.

The switch to Al-Kitaab has made me quite a bit happier!  I must say that this week in Arabic (midterm excepted) has been my favorite so far in terms of in-class activities.  We’re doing a lot of speaking activities, as well as some light grammatical explanation.  The homework expectations seem to have dropped significantly too, providing some welcome “breathing space.”  Most interestingly, the department director, along with the other 101 teacher, came in on Friday to personally run a drill, and then proceeded to “explain” her pedagogical motivations for most of what we do inside and outside of class.  Last week, we were encouraged to fill out an online survey for the class, in which I, and another colleague from my program, questioned a lot of the learning methods being employed.  The timing of the director’s explanation makes me fairly confident that her explanation was an attempt to mollify us.  I give her credit for trying…  She talked alot about backward building and audio-lingual method (which, yes, is outdated, and she was aware of that, but I agree with her that it still has great application in vocabulary memorization).  She didn’t address my concerns on explicit grammar teaching though (they don’t want to do it — afraid of “scaring” off students — but I, and many other students, need that).  Still, it’s good to know that she takes our concerns seriously.

BTW- 90% on the test on Monday!  Much better than I had feared!

We looked at the economic and cultural arguments.  We also looked at the problems that speakers of “unique” languages like English — which has no close cousins — have in L2 learning.  Now the looming and completely justifiable question that should occur as one ponders if English speakers have “special problems” learning other languages because there is no language that resembles English at all levels of discourse is why then can seemingly everyone learn English????

Glad you asked!  It’s not very complex really…  While ‘close-cousin’ languages are certainly easier on the learner, no one is going to suggest that one cannot learn a completely distinct language!   I speak Chinese and Japanese, which by no stretch of the imagination can be related to English on any level.  Americans, and citizens of other English-speaking countries, are as capable — in terms of mental faculties — of learning any other language as anyone else in the world.  So why don’t we?  And why do all the other nations on Earth seemingly have no problem learning English.  Let’s take this one at a time.. 

We (Americans) don’t tend towards learning other languages for the reasons I listed in part one of this series…  Namely, that America’s multi-ethnic population derives a sense of unity from common language, and that, being on top of the global economy, others will learn our language to be able to trade with us.  Americans can typically add geography to the list too.  If you aren’t on a border (like me, currently), or in a diverse, urban center, the necessity and dare-I-even-say opportunity for foreign language study and practice may be scant indeed.  Traditionally (by which I mean pretty-much until around 20 years ago), foreign travel was mainly left to the rich, and thus speaking-competence in foreign language study was not even stressed in most coursework (the assumption being that, if you were rich enough to need to be able to speak the language, you would be rich enough to afford a tutor or prep-school education).  Regardless, fluency in anything other than French (on the northern border) and Spanish (on the southern one) was rare — outside of immigrant communities (and then only for the first two generations).

As for everyone else seeming to learn English without undue difficulty, anyone who has ever taught ESL or EFL will quickly disabuse you of this notion.  Learning English is hard business, and despite being a required part of the curriculum in many countries, there are certainly a lot of people who completely suck at it who lack talent in language learning.  Japan is actually quite famous in regard to being full of people who have studied English for up to ten years (if college educated), and can still barely proceed in conversation past the initial “hello.”  The myth of “everyone speaks English” usually is fostered by the fact that, unless you go to another country, probably every foreign visitor that you have ever met probably did speak English because they had to.  By the time they came “into your world,” they have probably already passed a host of challenges, such as the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) test for U.S. university admittance.

Additionally, as one would expect we do see substantially different rates of learning between people whose mother-tongues differ more or less from English.  Just as English speakers can learn the basics of German quickly, but then get mired in the “higher registers” of the language (German newspapers are nearly incomprehensible), German (and Dutch, Danish, etc.) speakers have the same pattern in English-learning.  Romance language speakers struggle with basic phrasing, but then fly with newspaper and legal language, just as English-speakers do when learning French or Spanish.  Chinese speakers, whose language differs significantly from English at all levels, learn more slowly than Germans, on average, just as we would expect.  The only salient advantages that other people groups have over English speakers vis-a-vis in learning each others languages are 1) English learning is usually required for them; and 2) the resources available for English learning far outstrips that of any other language on Earth.  The language-learning publishing industry is awash with English learning materials.  You can find English medium newspapers almost anywhere on Earth.  Additionally, think of the pure amount of drivel that Hollywood pushes out each year.  The world is flooded with English media!

None of this is to say that we should only aim for the status quo!  Indeed, I’d be the first to argue that English-speaking nations need to get out there and face the world on their terms.  We certainly need to learn other languages.  This is merely meant to help explain how we got to the status quo in the first place….

Non-traditionally taught language initiatives aren’t just for the U.S., anymore… (note: multiple links…)

Midterm today.  errrrrrrrrr….  I don’t know how it went.  I know I made a few stupid biffs (at least one error was a matter of second-guessing myself), but I’m not sure how they’ll affect the grading…  Sigh…

 Other than that, not much done today…  I’m going now to start on the new text….

I’ve discussed this at length before.  Many immigrants get frustrated and defensive when they see their children and grandchildren struggling to communicate in the “old language.”  It’s not just Hispanics — I’ve heard the complaints from people of all origins (including U.S. parents bemoaning their kids losing regional accents –seriously).  This can also be a source of confusion and frustration for those kids/grandkids who become completely assimilated, as their ethnic community will often treat them as retarded and/or outcasts for not being able to speak “their” language.  While it’s a natural phenomenon to assimilate more to the place where you grow up than to outside cultural ideals foisted by your parents, language is so closely tied to our personal identities, that it is only natural to feel a little defensive over the issue.  Heritage language preservation programs are gaining traction in the U.S. – especially in Hispanic communities. 

My feelings on such are mixed.  On one hand, I do encourage the broader dissemination of language study — and if one has an ethnic/emotional tie to the language, that will aid in learning (by increasing motivation — there’s no truth to the sometimes claims that certain races learn certain languages better).  Still, on the other hand, I part ways with many of my colleagues in not believing multiculturalism to be an unqualified good.  Cultural and linguistic assimilation are essential components towards building a national identity that is based upon an ideological framework, as opposed to a racial/ethnic identity (which is the prevalent model in the world).  Thus, for the U.S. to exist as a united country composed of varying people groups, there have to be common factors of culture and language to unite us.  I fear (and with good reason, seeing the division that multicultural ideals have wrought elsewhere) that if heritage language programs become mandatory, or even de facto in ethnic communities, that we will be sowing the seeds of division, by making people attend more to differences in ethnicity, as opposed to the ideologies that unite us… 

Do I post a lot of these?  Sure… 

Do I agree that Chinese is important for the future?  Heck, yes! 

Do I think people need to panick, and start implementing mandatory Chinese lessons starting in preschool to ensure that Americans will stay on the “cutting edge” of the world economy?  Errr…  no…

 Update: high school elective?  sure!