MULTILINGUALISM Americans' fear of other languages is unfounded

[Harold F. Schiffman]

The Miami Herald, Posted on Sat, Jan. 08, 2005

MULTILINGUALISM Americans' fear of other languages is unfounded

BY MARY SANCHEZ - KANSAS CITY STAR msanchez at kcstar.com


Q: What is a trilingual?

A: A German.

Q: What is a bilingual?

A: An Italian.

Q: And what is a monolingual?

A: An American.

This is a standard European joke. The first two countries change,
depending on who is telling the joke. But the punch line never does.
Americans are well-known for their inability to speak any languages other
than English. And they are equally well-known for their discomfort around
people speaking languages that they don't understand. This monolingual
culture also distorts American's ability to understand how language is
learned. And, it adds to the ugly scenario where Americans' spout to
immigrants: ``If you are in America, speak English!''

Americans are right to insist immigrants master English. But they fail to
realize the difficulty or process of the task. How could they know; when
so few Americans have ever tried to master a foreign language and have
conveniently forgotten their ancestors spoke another tongue. Americans
should not expect immigrant families to lose their native languages
completely. Adding English, not subtracting a foreign language, should be
the goal.

Now a new study has disproved what the English-only crowd fears: the
societal effects of immigrants who seemingly refuse to give up their
native language for English. The fear is distorted. The children and
grandchildren of immigrants, despite increasing immigration rates,
continue to choose English as their dominant language, according to a
study of Census data.

Researchers at the State University of New York at Albany dissected Census
data, looking at immigrant groups through the generations. Quoted in The
New York Times, the lead researcher tried to put to rest a common fallacy.
''A number of people, whether from the left or right, are underplaying the
contemporary signs of assimilation,'' said Richard Alba, director of the
university's Mumford center said. ''They are viewing American society as
much more fractured along ethnic and cultural lines than really appears to
be the case,'' Alba continued. ``There are fault lines, but they are not
as deep as people think.''

Immigrants know their children must master English to succeed in this
country. That has always been true. Whether the immigrants were from
Germany, Ireland or Italy. By the second and third generation, English has
always dominated. Latino and Asian immigrants are no different.

The findings: 92 percent of second generation Latinos speak English well
or very well even though 85 percent speak at least some Spanish at home.
Among Asians of the second generation, 96 percent are proficient in
English and 61 percent speak an Asian mother tongue at home. Even the
largest immigrant group, Mexicans, follows classic patterns of
assimilation. In 1990, for instance, 64 percent of third-generation
Mexican-American children spoke only English at home. In 2000, the numbers
had risen to 71 percent.

Pockets in the Southwest and California seemingly lend credibility to the
idea that Spanish will somehow ''overtake'' English. But even in the
Mexican-migration heavy California, old patterns of assimilation play out,
the study found. This country has done great damage in the past under the
code of learning English as a necessity to ''become American.'' Laws in
the past put criminal penalties to teachers who dared to teach in anything
but English.

Language has been used as an excuse to segregate children on playgrounds.
And too much public policy has been influenced without the understanding
that true language fluency can take seven years of concentrated study.
Educators used to equate bilingualism with a sort of confusion for
children. Now it is well understood that the ability to speak more than
one language improves a child's cognitive skills.

Perhaps in the future, the old joke about Americans' inability to speak
more than English will cease to be true. Americans in the future will
still prefer English for commerce, entertainment, the major workings of
government. But they possibly may have the gift of other languages as
well. English is not in danger.

But, it is hoped, the American arrogance toward foreign languages is
beginning a slow, long-overdue death.

http://www.libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=80788