Stephen van Vlack
Sookmyung Women`s University
Division of English Language and Literature
English for International Communication
Spring 2007
Crystal (2003) Chapter 5.1, pp. 123-140 - Answers
1. Why might some countries/cultures/individuals in the outer core be resistant to English?
With recent changes in Korean society regarding English young Koreans might also be able to tap into some of the antipathy that outer core countries feel towards English, but of course the situation is different. Koreans might today feel pressured by English because English is used as a way of distinguishing people. To be perceived well in society English is seen as a commodity. This is different than the role of English in the outer core countries, at least in the past. Koreans can choose English and they have with a vengeance. Koreans themselves have placed English in a place of importance in academic and commercial spheres. At the same time, however, it is also startlingly easy to avoid English and people have the choice to do so in Korea. In the outer core there is no escape from English. In schools isn`t just an annoying subject, it is the only language that people are taught to learn in. For most people in the world, not only are they not taught to read and write in their own language at school, but there are no print resources to support the literary development of their own language. In many outer core countries the only books they can get are in English. Of the 800+ languages in Papua New Guinea educational materials/reading materials are only available in two languages English and (to a more limited extent) Tok Pisin. Until recently if you went to court in the Philippines the entire proceedings were held in English. Lawyers and judges could only speak English and the testimony of non-English speakers was translated into English for the court, all this in a country with virtually no native English speakers. In Belize (formerly British Honduras), for example, the official language is English which means all official governmental activities are conducted in English, but no one actually speaks English as a first language. Only 33% of the population speak Belize Kriol English, which is based on English. So if anyone wants any official help from the government they are going to have to write up appeals and make formal inquiries in standard English. This may be a huge problem for many people since th only 70% of the population is literate. We can see that when English is unavoidable people can begin to hate it. Especially for older people who lived through the colonial period and its direct aftermath English might be seen as a evil force used to demoralise and dehumanize them.
2. With the US as the main purveyor of globalization and the most populous English-speaking country in the world currently it would seem strange that the US is now in the midst of a battle over the role of English in American society. Why do you think the US is trying to assert the predominanance of English through legislation? Take a good guess.
This reaction, the official English movement and anti-immigration measures by the US, and it really is a reaction, is quite possibly just as much about external (global) conditions than purely internal (local) conditions. It is also possible to see how these two seemingly separate forces are also connected.
The first side of this situation/reaction is the internal or local side. We need to think about the role that English plays in the US. Even more than Korean in Korea or Japanese in Japan (China is a different and wholly more complicated case) the US needs English as a unifying device. If the Korean people were to loose Korean as the Irish have pretty much done in Ireland (the same holds true for the Welsh and the Scottish) then they still have other things linking them together. They still have a shared culture, ethnicity, and history to bind them together. So, some countries in the inner core which have (virtually) lost their indigenous languages still see themselves as being distinct. Yes, losing a language is a most crushing blow (and we certainly lose a lot when this happens) but it is not the death of a nation of people that share other important features. In the US the population shares few common features. There is no collective history or even experience. As experience is so often racially hued. It is English which really bonds the US together. Yes, there may be such a thing as US history (short as it may be) but the ancestors of most of the current citizens of the US did not experience the vast majority of these historical events. They were elsewhere in the world at the time. There is no common ethnicity and American culture is really an extension of that of the mother country, the UK, or really the mother continent, Europe, without being terribly distinct or particularly unique (it certainly does not fit into what we might conceive of as the indigenous set of cultures). Thus, it really is language which hold this fragile union together, a union forged on stolen land out of the remains of what were hundreds of different nations. The US as a fixed ideal has a tenuous hold on reality indeed.
It is from this fragile state that we can begin to understand the current reaction to linguistic and immigration issues in the US. A nation must be built and a unity must be created where there was none. Any change in the prevailing forces poses a change to this fragile state. So it has always been. As strange as it may seem to us, the US is a xenophobic state. Things, peoples that seem too different are viewed with suspicion. Most groups that have come into the country have been initially viewed with distain, disgust and even with violence. This pertains not only to racially distinct groups like the Chinese and Japanese of old or the Hispanics of today, but even groups from Europe like the Irish, the Italians and Scandinavians. It was the Irish that did much of the settling of the far west and in large part because they were not able to get jobs in the more established eastern seaboard due to discrimination. So, the xenophobic reaction to immigration we are seeing today is nothing new. So the question we ask is why now?
Well, one reason would be the level of immigration. Certainly the volume of immigration into the US has been on the rise since the 1940s after a significant lull in the post WWI period. The ethnicity of the people going to the US also was different. The majority since the 1960s and 70s have come from Latin America and Asia (still many come from Europe, but they are no longer the majority). Interestingly there has never been a large number of immigrants to the Us from Africa. So now not only is the number of immigrants rising, but these immigrants are racially distinct from the majority who are the decedents of earlier European immigrants. So, the immigrants are more noticeable.
These internal changes are occurring at the same time as external changes in the world. The entire world is becoming more similar under the force of globalization. Globalization is not just about jeans and toasters but also language. As a direct result of globalization people all over the world are choosing to learn English. Interestingly, this is a direct threat to the US because it is English which the major tangible thing which holds the country together. As more people in the world learn and use English the US loses its distinction, separateness from the rest of the world. (It will be very interesting to see what will happen when India or China actually takes to title of largest English-speaking country away from the US.) It is therefore extremely important that all Americans in this present global situation not only speak English but speak it better than other people in the world like India.
It is ironic that the US is the country which wears the face of globalization. It is the US which has pushed so hard for globalization, but globalization is just as great a threat to the US as it is to smaller weaker states albeit in a slightly different way.
3. What are the main arguments for or against official English in the US?
There are basically two opposing sides in the official English argument in the US. The people in favor of official English want English to be officially sanctioned as the language of the entire US. They believe that doing so will encourage new immigrants to learn the language. It is a widely held belief by proponents of official English that the current population of immigrants is so large that they do not see the necessity of learning English. Immigrants are, in this view, happy to just keep using their native languages and the current situation in which the government supplies services in different languages only serves to support the non-learning of English.
The anti-official English group sees no need for legislation ensuring that English be learned and feel that in doing so people who do not speak English will be punished for doing so. They support linguistic diversity and the idea that people need time, help and support to learn English. In this view, immigrants should be encouraged to keep their own languages as they also learn English and should not be penalized for wanting to do so. Laws ensuring the use of and protecting the rights of linguistic minorities will obviously be done way with if a blanket law making English the official language of the US passes. Additionally, this is a sticky issue for Native American support groups.
It should be mentioned that both groups both essentially believe that English is and should be the language of the US and that immigrants should learn English, in fact they will have to if they want access to things like jobs and education. What the two groups disagree on is the necessity of legislation. It should also be acknowledged that the attempt to legislate the use of English does indeed smack of racism which we discussed above in relation to the why now? question. Bear in mind that these same immigrants which some people are trying desperately to keep out are not only allowed to join the US military but are actually encouraged to do so and there are currently 37,401 non-US citizens fighting in the US army on active duty with more than 45,000 in total in the army.
4. What are some of the different variables in the issue of official English?
The main issue at stake is the national unity of the US, but there are certain variables that will be affected by legislation officially declaring English the national language of the US. There is a simple law in physics which states that each force exudes an equal and opposite force and so it is here. A law supporting/enforcing the use of English is also, possibly by default, also prohibiting the use of other languages in certain ways. Basically English will have to be used in all government run (public) sectors like public schools, government offices, some elements of health care. These are the important variables that will be directly affected by official English legislation. So, immigrants will not have a soft landing wherein they are given time to acclimate culturally and linguistically by being able to use their native language. They will have to use English from the first go if they are get some necessary things. This will make life harder for immigrants, but then again, we have seen how this issue is so tightly bound with the issue of immigration, so it might very well be one of the hidden agendas of the legislation to make life a little harder for immigrants so they will stop coming. It is akin to constructing a linguistic wall not just across the border but around all government-based services.