Spring Break
English, Spanish are required languages
Patrick Osio Jr.
Issue date: 4/22/04 Section: Opinion
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| HispanicVista.com Knight Ridder Tribune I've yet to meet anyone who speaks more than one language that has said, "I'm sorry I speak more than one language." But I have met and heard from those who only speak one language who are resentful of others speaking another. In fact, monolingual people fall into categories: Those who wish they spoke another language, those who don't care and those who object to others who speak more than one language. In the United States we have quite a group who claim English is the only language we need to speak, and don't want to hear foreign languages in America. And unfortunately this group garners the most media attention with nationalistic patriotic-sounding rhetoric such as "our sovereignty is at stake, our culture is being lost.'' When looking at a map showing the Western Hemisphere, anti-multi-language usage subscribers see only the United States - for them the other 35 countries are simply there - addendums to a map of the United States. They miss the point that in this part of Earth in which we live there are four major languages. By order of importance they are: English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. By order of usage they are: Spanish, English, Portuguese and French. The most common second language spoken in the United States is Spanish, and in Latin America, English is the second most common. Spanish is the official language in more countries in the Western Hemisphere. Moving out of our hemisphere into the world at large, Mandarin is the most used language, followed by English, Hindustani and Spanish; Portuguese is eighth, French is not part of the top languages used. The most important languages for international business are: English, German, Italian, Japanese and Spanish. The languages considered the most important in the fields of science and technology are: English, German, Russian, Japanese and Spanish. It shouldn't go unnoticed that in our own Western Hemisphere and the world at large English and Spanish play the most prominent roles. But if this is not enough evidence, then we should consider the sheer numbers presently occupying our hemisphere and the U.N.-projected population by 2020. The U.S. population is projected at 356,530,000 and Canada's at 35,716,000 for a total in the two dominant English-speaking countries of 392,246,000. Mexico's, Central and South America's and Caribbean's population is projected at 693 million. The Western Hemisphere's projected 2020 total population is 1,085,606,000. The U.S. population will be 32 percent of the hemisphere's population. Obviously, while these facts and figures dramatically illustrate the need for Americans to learn Spanish as a second language, the same facts and figures illustrate the need for the Spanish-speaking countries to teach their population English as their second language. There still remains the fear of losing our American culture, but what is our American culture? Is it not a hodgepodge of numerous cultures already? Isn't one of the unique aspects of American culture its cultural diversity? Aren't we already a cultural "melting-pot''? And being a part of the Western Hemisphere with its tremendous number of cultures, isn't it only natural that in addition to the cultures brought from Europe those from our "new'' world would also integrate? Possibly we haven't taken note of how much of our neighbor's culture and its historical significance has been absorbed by our country. The word "cowboy'' is the translation of "vaquero'' also known in Mexico as Charro. The ranch (rancho) is of Mexican origin, as were the horses, cows, branding irons, riding equipment - western saddle, boots, chaps, buckskin jackets, tight horseman's trousers, broad leather belts with silver buckles. Herding skills and use of ``la reata'' (lariate) were also of Mexican origin, as was wearing a side arm in a holster. Spanish words like lariate, buckaroo (couldn't say vaquero), rodeo (Mexican origin), mesteno (mustang), lasso and many more are now common in English conversation. I use this example to demonstrate how Mexico's vaquero culture was not only absorbed but also turned into a unique part of American culture and folklore made world famous by Hollywood and countless books. There are numerous other examples that are now so ingrained into our own culture that its origin is forgotten. Thus we need not fear other cultures; to the contrary, we should celebrate them as they add to the uniqueness of our country and in the end, we will Americanize them so that even those whose culture it was will adopt our version. Anyone for Spanish I? |