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A Simple Educational Resource for Foreign Languages in Michigan
By admin | August 26, 2008
A few years back, I came across a particular website that I found most interesting. It is the U.S. English Foundation, and it is an interest group based in Washington, D.C. This group has really one main purpose-to unify this entire nation under one language-English. It is true; the group believes that declaring English to be the official and only language of this country would do everyone good. It is their belief that since there are so many other languages spoken in the U.S., the most beneficial thing for everyone would be to work toward a one-language country.
I could write dozens of articles explaining why this is a bad idea, but I won’t. It is sufficient that I am using the data from this website to show why it is impossible to have an English only society and why it is foolish to even try. Yes, there are over two hundred other languages spoken by U.S. citizens everyday. Yes, the ability to communicate is far easier when two people can speak the same language. However, it is foolish to think that the majority would be in favor of forcing people to learn English in every state in the union. First it is not realistic; it wouldn’t happen in the southwest, Florida and certainly not New York. Secondly, foreign language has always been a fact of this country.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, German and French were common foreign languages in the colonies. Third, why pick English? You can communicate perfectly fine in some parts of the U.S. without the command of English. In the 19th and 20th centuries (especially the 20th) it was French that was the universal language. Now in the U.S. it is far easier to get by if one has a command of the English language.Then again, there are those that sign with their hands who seem to live a fine life here in the U.S. But I digress; just because one interest group is pushing for English only programs and education does not mean it will actually happen. But I must now turn to information on foreign languages as it applies to the Great Lakes State. So that is what the remainder of this article will discuss. Spanish is of course the second most commonly spoken language in Michigan behind English. It has 247,000 persons speaking it at home, which comes out to about 2.67% of the 9.27 million speakers. So, of these 9.27 million Michigan citizens that are at least five, where do they stand on the English only debate?
I have absolutely no idea and I wouldn’t know where to begin to find out! Moving on… Arabic is third with 75,410 citizens speaking it at home. This comes out to about .81% of all speakers of a language in Michigan. Most of those that speak Arabic are concentrated in the Dearborn area for those that didn’t already know. As an interesting aside, the state will certify Spanish and Arabic language interpreters for the courts, and it is these two languages that have the most state interpreters.
I am told that there is a sizeable population of Finnish people in the western part of the Upper Peninsula near Michigan Tech. I am told that the ability to speak Finnish there comes in handy indeed; one of these years I’ll get up there. There is so much more to be discussed on this topic, but that is best saved for another time. I just thought it was interesting to throw out that topic and discuss its merit and worth.
Topics: Education Info |
August 27th, 2008 at 9:00 am
You sum up neatly the linguistic situation in your part of the world, but as you certainly know, language teaching is about communication outside the home area. The problem remains of which language to study.
I would like to make the case for wider use of Esperanto, both for its own merits and for its poterntial as an introduction to the study of other languages.