ingles y otras idiomas

[susanp@moscow.com]

Visionaries,

Well, I thought the fact that someone at the University of Idaho (in our own 
HOMETOWN) was told to remove the "Embrace peace and the constitution" office 
door sign might get a little attention after Phil's list of litany of national 
examples of flag and patriotism censures, but alas...  Perhaps an eyebrow would 
have been raised if it had been a flag instead, eh?

Rather, the discussion has highlighted English. The United States, as a nation, 
has no official language. English has emerged as the customary language largely 
through domination. For example, Native Americans children were commonly sent 
to boarding schools where they were forced to learn English and punished 
(sometimes physically) if they spoke their native tongue, and so forth. In the 
historical scheme of things, "assimilation," as we now know it, has been 
coercive, especially in the case of many non-white people--indigenous 
and immigrant. Sometimes it helps to have a historical perspective and ask 
ourselves WHY and HOW English became predominant? Really, it wasn't pretty.

It sounds to me like some people on the list would like to extend that even 
further. Kootenai County, for example, did enact an "official" language for the 
county and it is English. However, even Republican appointee Linda Chavez 
stepped away from advocating for "English First" or "English Only" when she 
discovered that the main funding source was anti-immigration organizations, 
some of which had loose ties to white supremacy groups.

I work in Walla Walla. This is, like it or not, a bilingual community. The 
owners of agricultural land and manufacturing here are deeply dependent on 
migrant labor. The workers who are in the highest demand are bilingual. Even 
better multi-lingual because we also happen to have a large Russian immigrant 
population. The migrant workers in this area work an unbelievable number of 
hours daily, leaving no time for the luxury of additional schooling, not to 
mention that their wages are so low that to pay for schooling is out of the 
question for many. English, as it turns out, is not "essential" for them to get 
the job done. 

However, what I enjoy here is that many of us are learning one another's 
language. It is not just uni-directional. I have room in my brain for it. And 
I, unlike the migrant workers here, can make the time for it.

Just another perspective.  By the way, what is the English word for "taco"? Can 
people order those in Kootenai County?

Hasta pronto,
Susan
Palmer

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