Narrow Focus On The Great Debate
It occurred to me that something bad is happening with language we Americans use. Like technology, it seems to me that changes are made at an ever increasing rate, and a debate is whether these changes are for the good or not. Communication and information transfer is one of the primary drivers in the techno world, and as more and more people have devices that assist in making communication easier, the opposite seems to be happening. From the mature members of our society to the very young, more and more folks have cell phones for example, that can allow talking, text messaging, and image transfers. I have seen in more than one place where a family can all be equipped with these communication devices that result in each one being locked in on that device, not able to be "there" for the immediate world around them. If a parent calls one of his/her children, that parent had better call all the children, because the notion of spreading the message via mouth is rare to happen. Every where I go I see people holding their device partially absent in their physical environment.
But that is not what I wanted to talk about, I just got off track, which isn't unusual. In a conversation with my dearest friend and partner the other night, she coined the words "Great Debate" in the context of language. There are many options in many places where one can read, hear or speak in either English or Spanish. There are many people who appreciate this, like myself, but there are many who don't. There are people who think this should be an English only country, period, end of debate.
One of the greatest experiences I've had in the past five years is to research archived documents as part of my work. Documents dating back as far as the 1840's to around 1905. Back when our lands were being settled for the first time by American settlers and blocks of property were being granted to courageous pioneers, certain documentation was required for justification of each grant. I have only researched these old documents in Texas. I had always expected that the common man and woman of those days to be for the most part uneducated and illiterate because books and schools were not that easy to come by. Indeed it wasn't a legal requirement in unsettled lands like it is now.
I was and continue to be amazed at the eloquent use of language the settlers had. My paradigm had always been that the 20th century generations were advancing language just as technology was being advanced. To my dismay, quite the opposite is happening.
I think the great thinkers of ancient times had it figured out that having more than one language makes for a smarter, a more progressive society. I think that if you can learn two or more languages, you perhaps have a better chance of improving your skills in your mother tongue. I think that if you insist on learning only one language you tend to bastardise that predominant language. I think you, and you are society, not you personally, should pay more attention to more than one language. Sure, we have second languages in our schools, but that is a superficial curriculum, not supported by our culture at large.
So You, society, what do you think?
But that is not what I wanted to talk about, I just got off track, which isn't unusual. In a conversation with my dearest friend and partner the other night, she coined the words "Great Debate" in the context of language. There are many options in many places where one can read, hear or speak in either English or Spanish. There are many people who appreciate this, like myself, but there are many who don't. There are people who think this should be an English only country, period, end of debate.
One of the greatest experiences I've had in the past five years is to research archived documents as part of my work. Documents dating back as far as the 1840's to around 1905. Back when our lands were being settled for the first time by American settlers and blocks of property were being granted to courageous pioneers, certain documentation was required for justification of each grant. I have only researched these old documents in Texas. I had always expected that the common man and woman of those days to be for the most part uneducated and illiterate because books and schools were not that easy to come by. Indeed it wasn't a legal requirement in unsettled lands like it is now.
I was and continue to be amazed at the eloquent use of language the settlers had. My paradigm had always been that the 20th century generations were advancing language just as technology was being advanced. To my dismay, quite the opposite is happening.
I think the great thinkers of ancient times had it figured out that having more than one language makes for a smarter, a more progressive society. I think that if you can learn two or more languages, you perhaps have a better chance of improving your skills in your mother tongue. I think that if you insist on learning only one language you tend to bastardise that predominant language. I think you, and you are society, not you personally, should pay more attention to more than one language. Sure, we have second languages in our schools, but that is a superficial curriculum, not supported by our culture at large.
So You, society, what do you think?
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