Inertia Kills

Having now lived in a non-English speaking country for more than a year, language is something I think about daily. I’ve become used to not understanding most of the conversations around me and my inability to read the great majority of printed media. If I am able to recognize a word or phrase, I often make up an entire scenario within my head to fill in the missing 98% of the parts I was not able to understand. Once in a very great while, like groping for two uncoupled socks in the dark and coming up with a match, I’m accurate with my guesses. More than likely though, I come away with two unmatching socks and without a clue as to what was being said.

Even if it's not spot-on, we get the idea

However, this “unmatched sock” situation is only true for conversations where I remain an outside, 3rd party. The moment I engage myself into the conversation, a quick transfer to English- or at very least an attempt- is likely to follow.

Or imagine this scenario, sure to be familiar to anyone who’s traveled even a little bit outside the native English-speaking world. Let’s say you’re walking through a market in AnywhereLand where they speak AnywhereLandian. AnywhereLand could be a major, westernized society, or it could be an isolated, non-westernized society… it doesn’t matter. But you’re there and you’re walking through the market. You pick up a small craft and, in pleasant AnywhereLandian, the shopkeeper asks you a question. You can guess that he’s asked if he can help you, but his AnywhereLandian just sounds like gobbledegook to you. Still, you infer the meaning and reply in English with, “No thank you. I’m just looking.” Instantly, the shopkeeper switches to English, which, despite the accent, is perfectly understandable, and offers you more information about the craft you’re holding in your hands. You ask if it was made locally, and the response is adequate, yet you can sense the shopkeeper’s frustration at his limited English vocabulary. His next sentence is an apology for not being able to think of the words and you feel a sense of his shame at his inability to speak more fluently in English. You assure the man that his English, no matter how broken, is wonderful- and certainly much better than your AnywhereLandian. As for you, you’re in his country and you’ve only learned how to say “cheers” and “thank you” in AnywhereLandian. Yet he’s the one apologizing to you for not speaking better English.

In the past few decades, English has emerged as an international connecting language. For example, last night, I was at a party hosted by a Norwegian man, and in attendance were people from England, Germany, USA, Canada, Chile, Argentina, and of course, a lot from Latvia… I’m sure to be missing some nationalities as well. These sorts of international gatherings are commonplace in my world, and they’re able to happen because of the ubiquitousness of the English language. In fact, I’ve even been engaged in a conversation after meeting someone for the first time and been complimented on my English. I, of course, then reveal that I’m from the US and that my English should be very good… I’ve been practicing my whole life.

As a teacher at an international school, I’m able to see the English language as a key to success for so many top students. If a student wants to be as successful as he or she can be, this means becoming very proficient with English. Especially in a small country like Latvia, where (according to wikipedia) there are only 1.4 million Latvian speakers, an ability to be conversational in English is pivotal to creating opportunities for one’s own success.

And so, we have English emerging and firmly establishing itself as the international language for cross-cultural communications, be they professional, social, educational, or otherwise. For certain, with the growing universality of the internet, this trend will continue to be even more widespread.

This sounds great, right? One big happy world where we can all communicate openly no matter what our language of origin. And imagine my luck; of the thousands upon thousands of languages that are spoken in the world, I happen to have been brought up speaking THE “chosen language” as my native tongue. Without a doubt, this has been an enormous boon to my global pursuits. Yet, I can’t help but be a little unsettled by this as well.

Only 50 cents is enough to feel the magic atmosphere

There’s a joke that goes as follows:

Q. What do you call someone who speaks two languages?
A. Bilingual

Q. What do you call someone who speaks three languages?
A. Trilingual

Q. What do you call someone who speaks one language?
A. American

And for the majority of Americans this is true. While I might be able to stumble through a conversation in Spanish with the grace of a baby hippo on ice skates, that’s the closest I get to being even bilingual. I might know some words or phrases in other languages, but, to paraphrase Aristotle, one phrase does not a language make. I know this is true for most Americans as well. Maybe we studied a language in high school, but for most people, that’s as far as it goes. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, but they are just that- exceptions. Within my international social gatherings, it’s normal for a person to be conversational in three, four, or even more languages. Two is bare minimum- native tongue and English. And then there’s me. Just English.

There are, of course, reasons for this. Primarily, Americans typically only speak one language simply because we don’t need to speak anything else. Think of it this way. The continental US is roughly the size of Europe. If each state (or even region) of the US spoke its own language, like countries and regions in Europe, then certainly, you’d have a lot more multi-lingual Americans. And of course, I realize that the diversity of the US allows for communities to exist where you can walk the streets without hearing or reading a word of English, but by and large, we “speak American.”

I know, this should be a good thing. I’m fortunate that I can go nearly anywhere in the world and find people who speak my language. But still, I can’t help but feel like this as much a curse as it is a blessing. If I had grown up speaking another language, I’d have almost certainly have learned English, and hopefully would have a strong mastery over the language as most of my international friends regularly demonstrate. I feel lazy and sometimes incompetent with my ability to speak only one language.

The natural response to this is, “Dude, just learn a new language. Your own laziness is the only thing keeping you from doing it. If you want to speak more languages, then work for it, study it, practice it, and you will.” I admit, this is true. But it’s not quite as simple. If I choose to study a language, it is because I want to do it, not because I need to do it. And that “want versus need” distinction is huge when talking about incentive to learn. I see this with my international students. If they want to be most successful after high school, they need to learn to be very proficient with English. For me, the list of reasons to learn additional languages is extensive, but none of them are a necessity to my success in the world. I have been motivated to learn more languages, and have ventured into studying both Latvian and Russian to various degrees, but this pursuit is more like a mental exercise or a hobby than anything else. It feels like a hobby because the truth is, I don’t need to speak anything other than English.

Ultimately, I know that there are more advantages to disadvantages to being a native English speaker. I’m able go almost anywhere in the world, find someone under the age of 35, and have a good shot at being understood when I speak my native language. This is a wonderful thing. But I can’t help but wonder what sorts of linguistic and cultural opportunities are lost by my inability to more effectively communicate in more than one language.

So let’s now return to the market in AnywhereLand.

If you identify more with the shopkeeper who switches from AnywhereLandian to English, and then apologizes for not being more fluent, realize that the English speaker is not ignorant to your efforts. The English speaker understands that no matter how broken your English might be, the fact that you’ve made an effort to learn something is likely more than can be said of what the English speaker has learned in any language other than his own.

If you identify more with the native English speaker, consider how fortunate you are that the world speaks your language, but also consider what is sacrificed in this lingual process too. Consider, if you will, what is “lost in translation.”

As I walk the streets of Riga, I’m always fascinated gazing up into the watchful eyes of the stony faces peering down on me. Riga’s art nouveau architectures is among the finest in the world, and these faces are a hallmark of the style. On a recent summer evening, I took a short walk about town to photograph some of these faces (some of these are positioned at the tops of tall buildings, so some photos are a bit fuzzy in full size).