One language isn't enough for any country
By DOMENICO MACERI
Special to The Japan Times
SANTA MARIA, California -- Almost 99 percent of Luxembourg's citizens can
speak a second language, according to a European Union survey. At the other end
of the spectrum are the British, only 30 percent of whom know a second
language. In the case of Americans the figure is only 12 percent.
Why are English speakers and particularly Americans tongue-tied?
The contrast in popularity between Luxembourgish and English offers answers.
The first one is spoken only in Luxembourg, a small country in Europe with
about 500,000 inhabitants. Although it's considered the national language of
the country, Luxembourgish is in fact primarily an oral language of somewhat
limited use. French and German are used as the administrative languages. French
is used for the names of streets, shops, hotel registries and menus while most
newspapers are printed in German.
Although Luxembourgish is a sign of national pride, it's French and German
which allow the country's citizens to function in Europe and the rest of the
world. Educated people typically study at French- and sometimes German-
speaking universities. Thus it's typical for a Luxembourgish to know several
languages since the local language allows few opportunities in the global
economy.
The case of English is totally different. More than 350 million speak it as
their mother tongue and it is estimated that another 400 million people speak
it as their second or third language.
English is the de facto world's lingua franca because of the economic,
military, technological, and cultural power of English-speaking countries,
particularly the United States, but also Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and
New Zealand.
English is also the dominant or one the working languages in Bangladesh, India,
Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, etc.
In all, 47 countries around the world have English as the dominant or one of
the national languages.
The advantages of knowing English in the world are obvious. Shakespeare's
tongue has become indispensable in many areas. All airline pilots must know
English. International trade is usually conducted in English. A Japanese and an
Arab businessman are quite likely to converse in English. The U.N. arms
inspectors in Iraq had English as their common language.
Much of the scientific and medical research is carried out in English-speaking
countries. Thus foreign doctors who cannot read English may endanger their
patients' lives. Waiting for the translation of the latest research into the
local language could prove lethal, especially in these days of AIDS.
And if research is carried out in non-English-speaking countries it is normally
published in English.
The explosion of the Internet in the last several years also points to the
importance of English. Estimates are that 70 percent of Internet content is in
English. Yet, only about 44 percent of Internet users are native English
speakers.
In essence, one can have a very productive life by knowing only English. It's
easy to live in English.
Yet, it's also dangerous. Although English is the most powerful language,
knowledge of other languages is vital in political and economic endeavors.
Knowing other languages represents the key to understand different cultures and
other belief systems. Knowledge of Arabic and other languages spoken by the
followers of Islam enables you to understand the religion of more than a
billion people.
Knowledge of other languages enables you to grasp the motivation of people who
may want to do you harm and provide the tools to prevent problems.
Soon after 9/11, for example, it was revealed that the U.S. had collected huge
amounts of data which no one had examined because of linguistic limitations.
It's possible and indeed likely that some of the data included information
which would have been useful in fighting terrorism.
For English speakers the need to learn languages may not be as great as that of
someone whose native language is Luxembourgish, but bilingualism or
multilingualism is still vital regardless of how important English has become.
Domenico Maceri teaches foreign languages at Allan Hancock College in Santa
Maria, CA.
The Japan Times: Oct. 16, 2005
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