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Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Does anyone speak English anymore?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lilburn resident Ann M. Dabrowski wonders where the English language has disappeared to in her home county of Gwinnett.
“I arrived early for a holiday event at my daughter’s Gwinnett County elementary school,” she writes. “We parents waited patiently outside the cafeteria doors for the event to begin, until an administrator appeared and made an announcement in Spanish. The other parents, obviously Spanish speakers, left the bench and followed the woman to another cafeteria entrance. “Sitting alone on the bench, I came to realize that I had become a stranger in a strange land.”
She urges all Americans to “make a concerted effort to be become bilingual. In today’s global economy, it only makes sense to expand our horizons by learning a second language, studying geography and learning the languages and cultures of other peoples. However, embracing diversity at the expense -literally and figuratively—of changing our language—our currency of communication—is a fundamental shift in what it means to be American.”
Most immigrants, she says, “are hard working, family-oriented folk who want a better life for their children. Who can blame them for seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? It does seem, though, that many of today’s Latino immigrants are just not motivated to learn the English language. “And why should they? Businesses, banks, hospitals, schools and courts are aiding and abetting this culture shift by hiring bilingual employees to serve Spanish-speaking customers, and printing advertisements, billboards, and pamphlets in Spanish.”
Are we enabling immigrants to get by without learning English? And does that matter?
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