By not being able understand any other language, English speakers tend to become xenophobic, and automatically ignore anything that is not said or written in English. They get frustrated if surrounded by people speaking other languages. This seldom occurs among those who speak mutually understandable languages. They are naturally predisposed at least to try to catch the meaning of what the others are saying. They are naturally endowed by a challenging curiosity learned as children when guessing the meaning of words they heard in songs and stories or when in contact with people of similar languages.
The above would not matter much, but for the fact that English is the official and natural language of powerful countries — ours on top of the list. The whole world listens carefully to whatever we have to say.
Our linguistic xenophobia may also derive from one overused word: “foreign.” The American Heritage Dictionary gives the word foreign several meanings. It is the third the one that I find most prone to cause
misunderstandings:
1) adj. located away from one’s native country.
2) Of, characteristic of, or from a country other than one’s own.
3) Alien.
Alien is described as:
“1) Owing political allegiance to another country or government, foreign (?)...
3) Being inconsistent or opposed; repugnant; adverse.” Before we go on, we must consider the verb alienate, too. “To cause (someone previously friendly or affectionate) to become unfriendly.”
We may say that our international policy has been doing a pretty good job at reaffirming this (3). Is that why we call it “foreign” policy?
What does foreign mean in that phrase? Does it mean that our policies are of, or from a country other than our own? Alien?
With all my respects for the excellence of the American Heritage Dictionary, usage has imposed another meaning to “foreign” not found in its pages:
everything that is not expressed in English. That is why Shakespeare is not foreign, England is seldom referred to as a foreign country, Sophocles’ works are not foreign, Descartes is not foreign and even Don Quixote is not foreign, because they are read in English.
Should we follow the dictionary’s definition, then English is foreign and so is almost everything else in America (both the United States and the Hemisphere). Only the autochthonous pre-English or pre-Spanish cultures and their languages are American (whether the United States or the Hemisphere), everything was brought in from Europe, Asia or Africa (or the moon — remember the rocks?).
On the other hand, wouldn’t it better to say that everybody and everything now being born, produced, originated or invented on this side of the world is American. TV, airplanes, telephones, etc., are more American than apple pies, which, by the way, are not.
The term “foreign language” is not only redundant, but it also contains touches of xenophobia. Why not simply say, for instance, “I would like to learn another language,” instead of a “I would like to learn a foreign language.” The latter immediately places you miles away from the culture you would like to approach. It also predisposes anyone toward the language in question, making him feel it much more difficult. Foreign implies rejection — as in the phrase “a foreign body.” It’s easy to see, how such an implication may change an otherwise nice guy into an educated bigot.
We are not alone in this confusion. English-speakers elsewhere do it, too. I was aghast to hear English- speaking Canadians refer to the French language of Québec as a foreign language. “How can you say that?” I asked them. “French is not only as native to Canada today as English is, but also, it was there first.”
South Floridians or Westerners also refer to Spanish as a “foreign language,” ignoring the fact that Spanish was the first European language ever heard in those regions. In fact, Spanish was the first European language heard in the United States.
The linguistic shock of my life occurred during a visit to Augsburg where I witnessed an incident some European friends had told me was frequent and I didn’t believe them. I was in the lobby of the hotel, when an American woman, in a very sour tone of voice told the bellboy, who had dared address her in German, “Don’t talk to me in a foreign language. Can’t you speak English?”
Anyhow, the reality is that if we are to call every other language in the world foreign, we are not only saying something that is wrong, but we are also saying it in a way that alienate other peoples from us.
And this brings us to another facet toward what foreign means. We dub foreign films with an accent. The rest of the world does not. I remember how well Toshiro Mihune (sometimes transliterated Mifune) spoke German in a film I saw in Düsseldorf.
Dubbing films with an accent hinders the understanding of the dialogue and it is extremely distracting. Why do they do it? Usage — a convention: in a movie or play speaking with an accent is to be interpreted as if that person were speaking another language (?). No wonder lots of people end up thinking that Italians in Italy speak English with an accent. However, if the film has a classic (Latin or Greek) theme its characters speak with a superb British enunciation. Applies also to classic plays.
Language is not the only factor. There are many others.