The Linguist On Language

1. I do not feel that my character changes with the language that I am speaking. Superficial y, many things change. After all in speaking another language I have to imitate some of the behaviour patterns of that culture. At the very least I am using another language. Then I may gesture more, or less, or differently. I may bow more or use different sign language. I may be more direct and argumentative, or more conciliatory, looking for agreement, all depending on the language I am using, and what is the norm of communication in that language. But this is superficial. My values do not change. My opinions do not change. My core character does not change.

Yet for every language that I learn I add to my personality an additional dimension, an additional level of understanding of what it means to be human. But all of that is with me, no matter what language I am speaking. It is something I acquire when I learn an additional language.

2. Our identities are defined by many things, ancestry, family upbringing, socioeconomic status, profession, history, culture, education and of course language. Despite these influences, we can, today, to a large extent decide what we want our identity to be. Insofar as the influence of language on identity, it is mostly your first language that is important in determining your identity, not the additional languages that you learn.

3. The present domination of English, and with it the influence of English-speaking culture, will affect how people of certain classes behave. How it affects them is not so predictable. I believe the 9/11 bombers spoke excellent English, for example.

Political correctness

Asians have a harder time learning English than Europeans, according to the Canadian Minster of Immigration, Monte Solberg. He recently made this statement to justify spending more money on language training for immigrants, since more immigrants to Canada come from Asia rather than Europe these days.

Predictably Solberg was attacked by the opposition parties, and the usual "political y correct" forces, for saying something that is obviously true. Chinese people have an easier time learning Japanese than Italians, Italians have an easier time learning English than Chinese. This is not true for every Italian, or every Chinese, just the average.

There are two reasons. First is the vocabulary. There is a tremendous amount of common vocabulary between Italian and English or Japanese and Chinese. But what is even more important is the motivation. In the case of Canada, the average European is more motivated to integrate and therefore tries harder to learn English than the average Asian immigrant.

Conversely I believe a Chinese person in Japan feels greater pressure to learn Japanese than a European, since he or she is often taken for a Japanese person and perhaps for economic and social reasons feel more inclined to integrate. But I could be wrong on this.

But there is nothing in the genes that makes a person better able to learn a language spoken by a national group that is genetical y closer. I know many Asian immigrants who speak English outstandingly well . I like to think that I speak both Japanese and Mandarin better than the average Asian non-native speaker. So in the end it is the attitude that matters the most.

In any case there is no justification for getting upset at the Minister other than the usual "political y correct" motivation to prevent people from stating obvious truths that are not in harmony with some orthodox ideology.

"French is a value"

I have just finished reading a book written by Graham Fraser, Canada's Commissioner of Official Languages entitled. "Sorry, I Don't Speak French". The book is described as a national bestseller in Canada (whatever that means).

The book looks at "four decades" of bilingualism in Canada and the results. I think the main themes that Fraser develops are as fol ows.

1) For a long time people who spoke French were in an inferior position in Canada, even in Quebec. The French language was in an inferior position, even in Quebec. This has changed.

Bilingualism policy is as much a result as a cause of this change in the status and political weight of French-Canadians.

2) Bilingualism is part of a vision of what Canadians should aspire to, as if to be unilingual, especial y unilingual English, is unpatriotic, uncultured and ignorant. Bilingualism is the key to the unity of Canada. Al political leaders should be bilingual, as well as any other kind of leader in Canada. Some other countries take a more territorial approach to language policy, but Canada wants to offer bilingualism across the country, at least as far as basic government services are concerned. This is to be the Canadian way.