Speak Whatever Language You Want If You Are in America, or Elsewhere

I recently had the displeasure of finding this site:  http://www.notracistbut.com/  -  this tumblr is dedicated to showing public Facebook posts which start off saying “I’m not racist but” followed by something extremely racist.

This site is great in that it serves as a constant reminder of the kinds of backwards and racist thoughts that are still prevalent in much of the population (that age-old argument that we now have “equal” rights, or we now have a African-American president, so we cannot be racist is silly).

However, this site is not so great because it serves to infuriate me on a daily basis.

This post in particular caught my eye today: http://www.notracistbut.com/post/8799368871/bahahahahaha

Besides the obvious irony here that this person is actually at fault of not using proper English (your and you’re are not the same word), the claim itself is really foolish.  

ISSUE #1: NOT SPEAKING ENGLISH IS SOMEHOW BAD

Why do people assume that English has some kind of higher legitimacy than other languages? Granted it is most commonly used and blah blah blah, but it is really up to people to speak whatever they want, and if you can’t understand them that’s really your own problem.  I’m not talking about a business where a Japanese customer insists on speaking to a clerk in Japanese when the latter does not understand it - but let people converse with other people how they choose (i.e. Arabic speakers speaking in Arabic with other Arabic speakers). 

Why is this such an issue to everyone?  They feel more comfortable.  They are expressing their ethnic identity.  They are conversing with others and finding some kind of common ground, and most of them are either learning English or know it FLUENTLY – don’t assume that because someone is speaking in another language they don’t know English just as well or even better than you do. Moreover, every language has its own intricacies and things to offer.  We celebrate works written in English, but do we ever stop to think how many great pieces we are missing, hidden away in the languages many of us cannot speak? 

Before anybody gets angry I’m not saying that people should not learn English, but I am saying do not assume that i) they are not currently learning it or ii) do not already know it.  Moreover iii) It takes time to adapt to a new place and a new language.  There is nothing more annoying to me than when people laugh at accents or at somebody's inability to immediately master the English language.  If you suddenly found yourself in China (assuming you are not from there) and couldn't speak Chinese would you want everyone to laugh at you, to make fun of you, and tell you to go back home?

ISSUE #2: BE AMERICAN

Now on to the second issue: this whole “be American” thing; does speaking a language other than English make us less American? 

What is American?

The only thing that I can deduce from these claims that speaking English is “the American way” is that we are too ignorant for our own good.  This country earns its profits from the labour of all kinds of people; all types of people contribute to the economy.  All types of people reside here.   Not only that, but Native Americans are the true “Americans” for having come here first (if we are going to use that logic); so maybe we should have all learned their languages instead of English.  Or maybe the citizens of Jamestown should have left because they could only speak their “foreigner” language of English and maybe they should have gone “back to their own country”.  When we start using this kind of logic in these examples everybody will scoff at them and dismiss them as nonsense – but when we use this kind of logic to target minority groups and really, moreso anyone who is not European we often take such claims more seriously.

Let’s be honest: the majority of people are really aiming these types of comments at anyone who is not European; speaking French or German is not nearly as “offensive” to these people as speaking Spanish or Hindi is, again because of this ethnocentric view that anything European is progressive, forward, modern, professional, and any other language is backwards, traditional, unprofessional, "fobbish" (don't even get me started on that word). 

And that my friends is the great hypocrisy of people that make these kinds of comments. 

But I leave you with this thought:

I myself speak 2 other languages in conjunction with English and am also learning my fourth.  So when people imply that those who don’t speak English are somehow less, lower, or unintelligent, you tell me who is smarter or at least making more use of their brain: the person who can speak one language or the person who can speak 1 (and in some cases, more) and is perfecting another one (like English) and will soon master it, someone who can come to a brand new land and learn to adapt themselves very quickly, or someone who thinks they are somehow better than everyone because they were born there and never faced much difficulty with having to integrate with what surrounds them?

Us being in these countries is not some great favour to us, we do not have to be "thankful" to the people that reside here.  Instead, just like any other human being, we deserve to live in a place that is safe, free from war, that offers more than poverty and low-wage, low-skill jobs.  We do not create the circumstances of our home countries, nor do we choose where we are born.  So if we are here, then we have the right just like anybody else, to speak or indulge in our own cultures.  Yes, we should learn English if you want to fully be able to take advantage and integrate with the society you find yourself in.  But to embrace our own culture is not something that is wrong - only to be looked down upon for doing so is.

-Malcolm

*For more reading on the concept explored in the last part of this post, I invite you all to read this: 
http://southasia.oneworld.net/weekend/migration-and-unfreedom