Multilingal voting sign: a thing of the past?
There is yet another executive order forthcoming from President Donald Trump, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal and Politico, this time proclaiming English as the official national language of the United States. It is not that there has been any doubt about what the dominant language of the country is of course, but it’s clear what the point of this order is: to alert those whose first language is not English that they are lesser-class US citizens. It is an invitation to discriminate against non-English speakers, with the additional outcome of instilling feelings of inferiority into families where English is not the primary language. It is likely to accelerate the decline in language learning in the US, which has already been underway for some time. The directive aligns with a growing move towards nationalism and xenophobia in the US, which unfortunately we are seeing in other countries as well.
The executive order joins others dismantling DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) efforts in government agencies. That affects US universities as well, as they have been told to shut down DEI programs or be in danger of losing funding from federal agencies. This has repercussions on academic programs and on educational opportunities for disadvantaged populations (minority groups, LGBQ+ individuals, women, less abled individuals, and more). It also has led to programs and individual faculty members being told to eliminate terms that can be interpreted as pro-DEI from Web sites and other online documents. I’m waiting to see if I will be asked to take down some of the pages of the open textbook I wrote on intercultural communication, as many chapters deal with topics such as racism, intolerance, and white privilege.
In the textbook I also promote the value of learning another language, as it has been shown to increase tolerance and understanding towards other cultures. Being bilingual also opens up new worlds of experience, emotion, and personal growth while providing insight into how language mediates our interactions with others and with our own identity. There was a fascinating interview this week on NPR with Mexican writer, Cristina Rivera Garza, whose 2007 novel La muerte me da (Death Takes Me) was recently translated into English. In the interview, the author talks about writing alternatively in Spanish and in English. She says that for emotionally laden topics (like writing about her deceased sister) she finds turning to writing in English creates a “buffer” that allows her to write with an emotional detachment that she doesn’t have available when writing in Spanish. In that way, she says, having access to a second language “may provide you with opportunities and freedoms that the language that you grew up with could not afford”.
It’s a shame to see government policies that will lead to fewer opportunities for developing bilingualism, and through it the expanded personal experiences that kind of double self creates. Maintaining a diversity of languages in our society, as well as a diversity of lifestyles, beliefs, and behaviors, enriches all of our lives.
