Spanish Language Courses
Spanish Language Courses Endorsed by the President
Remember when political debates revolved around issues other than the economy and unemployment? Two years ago—it feels more like ten—Barack Obama spoke up for the importance of Spanish language courses. “Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English—they’ll learn English—you need to make sure your child can speak Spanish,” declared the future president in a Powder Springs, GA campaign speech. “You should be thinking about how . . . your child [can] become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language.” Although other concerns have since garnered more attention, the president’s point remains valid. A Spanish language course offers children skills they will need to navigate an increasingly interdependent world.
“To Have Another Language Is to Possess a Second Soul”
The president has plenty of people backing him up. Philosophers, writers, humanitarians, and world leaders have acknowledged the importance of bilingualism for centuries. Charlemagne may not have taken a Spanish language course, but as a ruler of France, Italy, and what would become Germany, he knew a thing or two
about foreign languages. “To have another language is to possess a second soul,” he asserted. To learn Spanish or German or Latin (as Charlemagne did) fosters both intellectual and spiritual growth.
Head and Heart
If the notion of a spiritual element to language learning sounds like an antiquated myth, consider the words of a more recent world leader. Nelson Mandela observed that “if you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.” As a social activist and leader who helped reshape the political landscape of a racially divided country, he would know. Mandela’s words highlight a subtle but significant truth about communication. By talking to a foreigner in his or her native language, you’re doing more than just talking. You’re making a gesture of respect. You’re showing others that you value their identity and culture. Learning a new language is no overnight stunt, as anyone who has ever tried knows. Whether by means of a trip to South Africa for the purpose of learning Afrikaans or a Spanish language course at school, your efforts shine through the foreign words every time you speak them.
A Spanish Language Course Is a Second Passport
Respect goes a long way—all around the world, in fact. Ralph Waldo Emerson, despite spending much of his life in his native Massachusetts, felt that learning new languages was imperative to traveling abroad. “No man should travel,” maintained Emerson, “until he has learned the language of the country he visits. Otherwise he voluntarily makes himself a great baby—so helpless and so ridiculous.” English may have grown more globally prevalent since Emerson’s time, but his maxim still applies. Fluency in a foreign tongue guarantees effective communication when visiting the country in question, while an assumption of omnipresent English is risky, especially outside the urban centers of Western Europe. If visiting Egypt or Russia or Spain, think of your Arabic or Russian or Spanish language course training as a second passport.
Language Learning Today
Back to the here and now. Although bilingualism per se may receive limited media coverage nowadays, the topic still inhabits the dominant news stories. Think about it. Immigration. Education. The economy. The war in Afghanistan. These issues all hinge on communication and intercultural understanding.
Consider the controversy over Arizona’s recent immigration laws in light of Obama’s support for Spanish and Spanish language courses. The new measures, which FOXnews calls the toughest in the nation, are “an attempt to crack down on illegal immigration” and include such provisions as requiring “police to question people about their immigration status if officers suspect they are in the U.S. illegally.” Following a legal challenge by the Obama administration, a federal judge suspended many of these laws’ most controversial strictures.
Now look at the battle lines. “The Mexican government, joined by seven other Latin American nations, supported one of the lawsuits against the [immigration] law,” reported the New York Times. Conversely, the attorneys general of Michigan, Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia sided with Arizona. The divide is racial, cultural, geographic, and yes, linguistic.
The Impact of a Spanish Language Course
Spanish language courses in and of themselves cannot harness a social phenomenon as complex as illegal immigration. What they can do is instill an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect. They can give people, especially young people, an informed perspective from which to view the swiftly turning world. As Obama recognized, the time for American isolationism has passed, if it ever really existed. Command of more than one language is important to success in today’s diverse communities, whether local or global.
Learning Another Language Teaches Us English, Too
The call to learn Chinese or take a Spanish language course may strike some stalwart English speakers as irrelevant or even unpatriotic. Direct them to the following nugget of wisdom, courtesy of the renowned German scientist and poet Goethe. “A man who does not know a foreign language,” he observed, “is ignorant of his own.” We learn our native languages by speaking, not studying. To fully grasp the mechanics of English—from phonemes to grammar—learning a foreign language is practically essential. Even better, it’s fun.
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