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<h1 class="" itemprop="headline">Learn a Language for a Neighbor?</h1>
<div class="" itemprop="description">Across
borders, language learning follows two main patterns. Neither leaves
room for learning a language for the sake of building a community.</div>
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<div class="">
<dl><dd itemprop="author" class=""><a href="http://www.psmag.com/author/yuliya-komska" rel="author">Yuliya Komska</a></dd><dd class="">Mar 25, 2015</dd></dl>
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<div class=""><a href="http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture" class="">Books & Culture</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/how-news-outlets-cover-climate-change">How The News Covers Climate Change, and Why It Matters</a>
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<div class=""><a href="http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology" class="">Nature & Technology</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/payday-loans-in-alabama">Can Alabama Crack Down on Predatory Lending?</a>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/did-you-see-the-gorilla">Everyday Blindness: When We All Can't See</a>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/i-can-see-by-your-outfit-that-you-are-a-cowboy">I Can See by Your Outfit That You Are a Cowboy</a>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/politics-and-law/chicago-stop-and-frisk-numbers">Why the ACLU's New Numbers on Stops in Chicago Aren't Enough</a>
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<img src="http://a4.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTY5NjA0MTEzNDA2NDMw.jpg" alt="With Fewer Electronics, This Is How a City Sleeps">
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<div class=""><a href="http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology" class="">Nature & Technology</a></div>
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</h2>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/raising-cattle-wont-wreck-the-environment-if-we-do-it-right">Herd Mentality</a>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/psychology-of-long-missions-in-space">
<img src="http://a5.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTcyMTEwNzYzNjk0NTU4.jpg" alt="What Spending a Year in Space Does to Your Mind">
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<h2 class="">
<a href="http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/psychology-of-long-missions-in-space">What Spending a Year in Space Does to Your Mind</a>
</h2>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/bystander-effect-also-found-among-five-year-olds">
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/bystander-effect-also-found-among-five-year-olds">Bystander Effect Also Found Among Five-Year-Olds</a>
</h2>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/demographic-decline-in-atlantic-canada-its-the-economy-stupid">
<img src="http://a5.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTcyNTE3MTc0OTQ2NDM1.jpg" alt="Demographic Decline in Atlantic Canada: It's the Economy, Stupid">
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<div class=""><a href="http://www.psmag.com/business-economics" class="">Business & Economics</a></div>
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<h2 class="">
<a href="http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/demographic-decline-in-atlantic-canada-its-the-economy-stupid">Demographic Decline in Atlantic Canada: It's the Economy, Stupid</a>
</h2>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/the-corporate-interests-that-are-controlling-us-trade-policy">
<img src="http://a2.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTMwMjU2MDM4OTcxNDAy.jpg" alt="The Corporate Interests That Are Controlling U.S. Trade Policy">
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<div class=""><a href="http://www.psmag.com/business-economics" class="">Business & Economics</a></div>
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<h2 class="">
<a href="http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/the-corporate-interests-that-are-controlling-us-trade-policy">The Corporate Interests That Are Controlling U.S. Trade Policy</a>
</h2>
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<div class=""><a href="http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology" class="">Nature & Technology</a></div>
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<h2 class="">
<a href="http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology/progress-and-controversy-arrive-with-new-rules-for-fracking-on-public-lands">Progress and Controversy Arrive With New Rules for Fracking on Public Lands</a>
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/since-we-last-spoke-counseling-biblical-counselors">
<img src="http://a5.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4NjMyMzc2NDM0NjYwNjI2.jpg" alt="Since We Last Spoke: Counseling Biblical Counselors">
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/politics-and-law/image-of-confederate-flag-is-far-from-harmless">
<img src="http://a5.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTcwNTgzNjM0Mzk3MTk0.jpg" alt="The Image of a Confederate Flag Is Far From Harmless">
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/politics-and-law/making-voting-harder-is-a-time-honored-american-tradition">
<img src="http://a5.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTI3MzYxMjMxMDAwODUw.jpg" alt="Making Voting Harder Is a Time-Honored American Tradition">
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<span class=""><div class="">
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology/botany-forensics-parallels">
<img src="http://a4.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTY4NjY3MjczNjYzNzYy.jpg" alt="The Strange Parallel Histories of Plant Science and Death Science">
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/is-medicines-gender-bias-killing-young-women">
<img src="http://a1.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4ODA3NzkzMDk5NTc2NTk0.jpg" alt="Is Medicine’s Gender Bias Killing Young Women?">
</a>
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<span class=""><div class="">
<div class="" style="background-image:url("http://a3.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTI5ODQ2OTQzMzI0NjM4.jpg")">
<a href="http://www.psmag.com/books-and-culture/stories-about-athletes-with-flawed-character-are-endless-but-what-about-those-who-exceed-our-expectations">
<img src="http://a3.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTI5ODQ2OTQzMzI0NjM4.jpg" alt="The Leader of the Pack">
</a>
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</div>
</span>
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</div>
<span class=""><div class="">
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<a href="http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology/omfg-college-kids-luv-2-text">
<img src="http://a5.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTAyOTk4NTY1ODk4MjUw.jpg" alt="College Kids Will Literally Text Through Anything">
</a>
</div>
</div><div class="">
</div>
</span>
<div class="">
</div>
<span class=""><div class="">
<div class="" style="background-image:url("http://a1.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4NTQxMTc5NTE1MDI5NTE0.jpg")">
<a href="http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/how-does-it-feel-to-be-the-biological-parent-of-your-sisters-child-or-the-aunt-of-the-children-you-birthed">
<img src="http://a1.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4NTQxMTc5NTE1MDI5NTE0.jpg" alt="Aunt Mommy">
</a>
</div>
</div><div class="">
</div>
</span>
<span class="">
<div class="">
<div class="" style="background-image:url("http://a4.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTU2MTAwNDY3ODE0Mzcw.jpg")">
<a href="http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology/packing-peanuts-make-pretty-nice-battery-parts">
<img src="http://a4.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTU2MTAwNDY3ODE0Mzcw.jpg" alt="Packing Peanuts Make Pretty Nice Battery Parts">
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class=""><a href="http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology" class="">Nature & Technology</a></div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<h2 class="">
<br>
</h2>
<div class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</span>
<span class="">
<div class="">
<div class="" style="background-image:url("http://a4.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTA1NTY3NzYxNjM1ODA2.jpg")">
<a href="http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/income-inequality-inspires-interest-in-luxury-items">
<img src="http://a4.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4OTA1NTY3NzYxNjM1ODA2.jpg" alt="Income Inequality Inspires Interest in Luxury Items">
</a>
</div>
</div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
<h2 class="">
<a href="http://www.psmag.com/business-economics/income-inequality-inspires-interest-in-luxury-items">I</a></h2></div></div></span><span class="">
<div class="">
<div class="" style="background-image:url("http://a4.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4NzYyODUwNTYxODU4MDE0.jpg")">
<a href="http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology/unkind-architecture-designing-against-the-homeless">
<img src="http://a4.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fill,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,g_face,h_150,q_80,w_200/MTI4NzYyODUwNTYxODU4MDE0.jpg" alt="Unkind Architecture: Designing Against the Homeless">
</a>
</div>
</div>
</span><span class=""><div class="">
<div class="">
<h2 class="">
<br>
</h2>
<div class="">
</div>
</div>
</div>
</span>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class=""><div class="">
<img src="http://a1.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fit,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI4ODgwNzM3MjEzNDkxODQz.jpg" alt="(Photo: nata-lunata/Shutterstock)" itemprop="image" height="667" width="1000">
(Photo: nata-lunata/Shutterstock)
<span class=""></span>
</div><p class="">Muharrem, a young deaf man, lives in Istanbul.
His life is an endless obstacle course. Routine chores—buying bread,
getting a cab, making phone calls—quickly turn into hurdles. Until
Samsung Turkey gives him a hand. Or rather, many hands.</p><p class="">An <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrvaSqN76h4">advertisement</a>
created by a Leo Burnett branch and gone viral since its unofficial
YouTube release on March 3 zooms in on a group of Istanbulites learning
sign language to participate in a carefully orchestrated surprise. “All
for Muharrem to have one day, with no barriers,” the tagline reads.</p><p class="">Filmed
with “lots of cams” from just about every angle imaginable is a day in
the man’s life. It’s the day when he leaves home to discover that
everyone around him suddenly speaks sign language—from a street
passer-by to a cab driver. The video shows Muharrem’s initial bafflement
turn to the tears of someone touched and astonished. Many among the
video’s nine million viewers (and counting) wept, too: “I had tears
watching this.... Human kindness and Love spread all over the world like
this will allow barriers to be broken, absolutely,” one commenter
wrote. “Hearts melt,” <a target="_blank" href="http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/03/10/392099291/neighbors-surprise-man-by-using-sign-language-hearts-melt">NPR</a> added. And even journalists, usually skeptical about corporate tearjerkers, were “<a target="_blank" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/virals/11460831/Dozens-of-strangers-learns-sign-language-to-give-deaf-man-the-surprise-of-his-life.html">prepared to park ... cynicism to one side</a>.”</p><div class=""></div><div class=""><div class="">
<div class=""><br></div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
</div><div class="">
</div>
</div>
</div></div><p class="">All of this certainly merits a good cry.
Not just because Muharrem appears so genuinely moved. Or because his
authentic-looking helpers may have been hired actors long fluent in sign
language, in which case, nobody would have learned a new way to
communicate. Or because this may have been the protagonist’s one and
only day without barriers—what if, after the stint is over, the
community falls apart? Or because Muharrem himself may have been but a
character and his tears but the mark of a strong performance. Or because
a corporation has chosen to speculate on human emotions to peddle its
goods, with some success. No, most tear-worthy is the myopic reception
itself.</p><p class="">It has two main strands. One is to
commiserate with the deaf. As a YouTube viewer puts it, “if it’s the
production of an ad that brings out humanity in a community and raises
awareness for those who often face difficulty on account of
‘disabilities’, then that’s fantastic.” The other is to bash
corporations: “Nice video. Too bad it’s Samsung and their TVs record
your conversations and sell off the information to other companies.
Wonder what kind of information they will be selling from what they
record from the hearing impaired now with this.”</p><h3 class="">My
parents’ immigrant friends would routinely get bouts of diarrhea before
appointments with German doctors or bureaucrats. Some still break out
in sweat, stutter, and get high blood pressure 15 years after the move.</h3><p class="">Both
strands miss the fundamental question that underpins the video, be it
reality or fiction (the distinction, in this case, may not matter):
Would you learn a language—any language—for a neighbor? If not, all
you’ve got is armchair empathy or anger.</p><p class="">Because,
unless you are a hermit, you probably have a neighbor whose native
tongue is not one of your country’s official. Maybe you already speak it
or are trying to; if so, I’m moving closer. But if not, perhaps your
neighbor is so proficient at your language that you take his or her
fluency for granted. To cite an <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/sign_language_would_count_as_foreign_language_in_n.html">article</a>
comment: “I know plenty of friends who speak Spanish, and quite a few
Indian languages. They communicate just fine in English.” Then you
relax, sit back, and enjoy the show on the receiving end. Sometimes, you
gently poke fun at the accent (“Ah, those rolled r’s—strrrong like
bull”) or an odd idiom (“<em>A stick with two ends</em>—never heard that
one”), or simply ask, “Say it again?” several times in the course of a
conversation. Your neighbor is good, but there is always room for
improvement.</p><p class="">Or, perhaps, the issue is the exact
opposite, and the person next door is a recent (or poor or aging or
fill-in-the-blank) immigrant reliant on his or her child or a social
worker to get by. In this case, you cry over Muharrem’s day without
barriers but outsource dismantling real-life barriers to others. They
should knock on your door when they’re ready to break the spell of their
splendid isolation.</p><p class="">Examples know no borders. Mine belong with my earliest memories.</p><div class="">
<img src="http://a3.files.psmag.com/image/upload/c_fit,cs_srgb,dpr_1.0,q_80,w_620/MTI3NjAyMzI3MzEyOTYyODM0.jpg" alt="" itemprop="image" height="11" width="57">
<span class=""></span>
</div><p class="">Growing up in a military neighborhood of Lviv,
Ukraine, I saw hundreds of highly mobile Russian-speaking families go
to great lengths to exempt their kids from learning Ukrainian, the
language of their neighbors. They inevitably succeeded, which did
nothing to improve Russia-Ukraine relations.</p><p class="">But
Muharrem’s story is not one for sarcasm. Unlikely as it may seem, the
success of the Samsung commercial can start new conversations about
language policy and language learning in more than a few countries. This
is because the video flips the dominant views of both. And precisely
these views have kept myriads of people from learning a language of and
for a neighbor—be it sign language or something else entirely.</p><p class="">The
video’s first paradigm flip concerns language policy, i.e. the way
societies—even those lacking a formal set of such prescriptions, like
the United States—shape the relationship between a language community
and an individual outside of it. More often than not, this relationship
comes down to integration—the linguistic kind before any other. As a
rule, the pressure to integrate is on the individual. Society may offer
help, sometimes more and sometimes less.</p><p class="">In a
country like Germany, where an articulated language policy exists for
home and abroad, help awaits at every corner. German is the language of
all official communication, even if it is not constitutionally
recognized as <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bundestag.de/dokumente/textarchiv/2011/36382677_kw45_pa_petitionen/206798">national</a>. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.bamf.de/DE/Infothek/TraegerIntegrationskurse/Organisatorisches/TeilnahmeKosten/Auslaender/auslaender-node.html;jsessionid=32BEF54A732237FCF9AE7724E7216A97.1_cid368">Integration classes</a> are
a must for migrants who know none—my parents were assigned one within
two weeks of arriving in the country in the 1990s. Currently, an hour
costs 2.94 Euros, half of which the government subsidizes; tuition is
free for those with social welfare eligibility. This seems like a great
deal, especially since migrants themselves describe successful <a target="_blank" href="http://www.berlin-institut.org/online-handbuchdemografie/bevoelkerungspolitik/deutschland/deutschlands-integrationspolitik.html">integration as a sum of</a> a school diploma and the ability to speak, write, and have a circle of German acquaintances, all of which pivot on language.</p><div class=""><div class="">
<div class=""><br></div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
</div><div class="">
</div>
</div>
</div></div><p class="">But Germans themselves are not typically
required to learn any of the migrants’ tongues—not even in jobs tied to
social services. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.stuttgart.de/item/show/305802/1/dept/4567?masterid=19845&detailid=9873">Credentials</a>
of welfare office volunteers who enlist to help refugee children with
school homework include “openness to other cultures” but mention no
special language competencies. Sizeable minority languages like Arabic
and Turkish are valued <a target="_blank" href="http://www.goethe.de/lhr/prj/daz/mag/spr/de13748387.htm">in theory but not in practice</a>.
Russian, my parents’ native tongue, is viewed as a holdover from Cold
War-era East Germany. Instead, English (not exactly a migrant language,
unless one counts the many thousands of big-city hipster expats) tops
the popularity rankings (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.sz-online.de/nachrichten/die-beliebtesten-fremdsprachen-der-deutschen-2735970.html">82 percent in 2013</a>). It breeds, discerning critics warn, “<a target="_blank" href="http://www.goethe.de/ges/phi/prj/ffs/the/spr/en4980085.htm">reductive bilingualism</a>” instead of multilingualism.</p><h3 class="">ASL,
according to the latest Modern Language Association report, has the
fastest-growing enrollments. “I think it’d be a lot more useful than the
French I took,” a reader of an NJ.com article writes.</h3><p class="">Translated
into the idiom of the Samsung ad, the logic of the German example (just
one among many) implies that Muharrem should switch from gestures to
spoken words. Of course, vis-à-vis a deaf person, the suggestion is
plain sadistic—both impossible and hopelessly isolating. But the same
proposition is not much less cruel vis-à-vis hearing people who face a
new society.</p><p class="">Their stress can be physically
paralyzing: My parents’ immigrant friends would routinely get bouts of
diarrhea before appointments with German doctors or bureaucrats. Some
still break out in sweat, stutter, and get high blood pressure 15 years
after the move. In this context, any uni-directional integrationist
language policy looks isolating. This is not to say that migrants
shouldn’t learn the hosts’ language(s) but rather that it takes two to
tango—cue Samsung. Basically, an integrated community, whatever its
size, should function like a <a target="_blank" href="http://www.voanews.com/content/inclusive-education-school-deaf-hearing-class-cefise-language-children/2677223.html">decent integrated school</a>.</p><p class="">This
brings me to the video’s second paradigm flip, connected to the simple
question: Why learn languages? The past year’s Anglophone headlines have
spewed a host of reasons with a neo-liberal, individualist slant.
Language learning has become the latest wellness fad. Chinese, Arabic,
or Spanish, we hear, are good for <a target="_blank" href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/more-languages-better-brain/381193/">brain development and memory</a>, math skills, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2014/10/23/why-learning-a-language-could-save-your-career/">careers</a>, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.economist.com/news/britain/21645247-woeful-approach-language-education-continues-shout-louder?zid=319&ah=17af09b0281b01505c226b1e574f5cc1">national GDPs, labor markets, and economies</a>.
When I poll my college-level language students about their motivations,
at the most they add interactions with close family members or
significant others to the list. In short, many have already been seduced
by the system that offers no room for learning a language for entirely
unselfish reasons. Isn’t it deeply ironic that it takes a corporate
commercial to hint at an alternative?</p><p class="">It seemed
to inspire a few viewers. “I asked myself how come we don’t learn [sign]
‘language’ at school. It’s time to change that,” one commented on
YouTube. And it is changing. A month ago, New Jersey Senate passed <a target="_blank" href="http://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/proposed-law-would-let-sign-language-count-as-foreign-language-in-high-school/">bill S1760</a>, meant to recognize American Sign Language as a foreign language sufficient to fulfill the state’s high school <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncssfl.org/docs/States%20with%20Foreign%20Language%20Graduation%20Requirements%20-%20%20Revised%202010.pdf">graduation requirement</a>.
The bill is now at the Assembly Higher Education Committee. If the
reaction to Muharrem’s tears is any indication, the law ought to be
eagerly anticipated. Instead, ambivalence prevails.</p><p class="">On the one hand, there is no lack of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.languagepolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/ASL-in-NJ-S1760-letter.pdf">lobbyists</a> for the change: ASL, according to the latest <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mla.org/enrollments_surveys">Modern Language Association report</a>, has the fastest-growing enrollments. “I think it’d be a lot more useful than the French I took,” a reader of <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/01/sign_language_would_count_as_foreign_language_in_n.html">an NJ.com article</a> writes. Several mothers of dyslexic children second that.</p><p class="">On
the other hand, many endorsements come with a cynical edge: “If you’re
going to force kids to learn a foreign language, this option has some
good benefits,” another commenter adds. The second chimes in: “Frankly,
more widespread use of ASL could have some benefits; the first that
comes to mind is less noise. :) I imagine there may be others.”
“Excellent idea ... as long as it is an elective, not a requirement,”
suggests the third. Several oppose: “A foreign language should not be a
requirement to begin with.” In short, discussions of ASL get bogged down
in the same quagmire of objections as those of any other language.
Because it <em>is</em> just another language. And because people don’t see a use for it beyond the neo-liberal wellness-career mantra.</p><p class="">But there is a use. Over the past 15 years, language professionals have been obsessing with the so-called “<a target="_blank" href="http://www.globalteachinglearning.com/standards/5cs.shtml">5 C's</a>,”
the cornerstones of language learning: communication, culture,
connections, comparisons, and communities. Is it an accident that <a target="_blank" href="http://www.actfl.org/publications/all/world-readiness-standards-learning-languages">communities</a> (“learners
use the language both within and beyond the classroom to interact and
collaborate in their community and the globalized world”) is the last
item on the list? “<a target="_blank" href="https://outlook.office365.com/owa/works.bepress.com/heatherwillisallen/35">The lost C</a>” has been the despairing educators’ shorthand for them. It’s time to go find it.</p><div class=""><div class="">
<div class=""><br></div>
<div class="">
<div class="">
</div><div class="">
</div>
</div>
</div></div><p class="">Then, with Muharrem’s tears in mind,
#learnalanguageforaneighbor? So that corporations like Samsung don’t
come off more human than people.</p></div>
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