Learning Lingos? ? Back Towards The Locus

The critic, novelist and general wordsmith Marina Warner writes on languages at the inevitable?

In contemporary Britain, new forms of exclusion are often introduced or suggested on grounds of fluency. In June 2010, home secretary Theresa May said: ?I believe being able to speak English should be a prerequisite for anyone who wants to settle here. The new English requirement for spouses will help promote integration, remove cultural barriers and protect public services.?

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I feel very strongly that the ideal shouldn?t be mastery of another language, because that?s an unachievable goal and holding it up as the aim just makes students feel hopeless.

I agree, of course, that no one should expect perfect or even desperately sophisticated English from migrants. We don?t expect it from the English. Yet I do think studying the language of country you?ve travelled to ? if you?ve plans to settle there, at least ? is crucial and that its importance is ill-served by Warner?s rather blithe conclusion that while it?s indeed convenient ?smatterings will do?. I?m not so sure. First of all, from nurses to bus drivers to the poor, beleagured telemarketers lots of jobs demand that we express ourselves clearly to others and while I?ve no wish to denigrate the efforts of the millions of multinationals who?ve worked hard to adopt the lingo when somebody hasn?t it can lead to mutual frustration. (An associate claims that a migrant drove him to the wrong bus stop after misunderstanding his request. Back at the station he marched to the complaints department and poured out his tale of woe. It wasn?t too productive, he says, as the poor soul behind the desk could barely speak English himself.) It?s also ? yes ? a major factor in one?s integration; or, to phrase it in more human terms, the making of friends and acceptance of a new home. Contemporary and traditional artistic, intellectual and social trends become fathomable, and one can exchange perspectives on them, those of one?s birthplace or one?s individual fancy. One needn?t be Martin Amis to achieve that, no, but a good understanding of the language helps.

Warner isn?t just being PC. She?s genuinely passionate about multilingualism. And rightly so!

There are gains from not knowing a language as one?s mother tongue ? as Samuel Beckett realised when he set aside English and chose to write in French. Unfamiliarity helps. In my current MA class, one of the most gifted?writers is Mexican. In Abu Dhabi,?where I taught undergraduates, mother tongues included Spanish, Korean, Arabic and Kutchi, a language I had not heard of before. The Kutchi and Arabic speakers wrote ? in English ? some of the most sensitive work produced by the class. Mistakes are easily fixed, usually. Perfection of linguistic fluency isn?t of prime importance for expressive power.

Creative writers love to dig about in stuff to find the blessings, curses and generally interesting properties that have lurked unnoticed within ?em. This can offer new perspectives on phenomena yet I can?t help but feel, at the risk of sounding philistinic, that enthusiasm for the novelty of our ideas can blind us to the fact that their relevance may be limited. So, yeah, it?s true that unfamiliarity with a language can lead to people to express themselves through it in new, innovative, splendid ways. But the minds gifted enough to achieve this, and the contexts in which it?s encouraged and worthwhile, are few. In most workplace scenarios a narrow or peculiar understanding of the common tongue would be a hindrance, and in most social situations it?d be an obstacle. For example, if a nurse comes up with an intriguing turn of phrase it won?t be welcome if she?s still unable to inform Dr Watt Ever that a patient needs immediate resuscitation, and if someone?s in a pub trying to make friends their ingenious take on English grammar is likely to be irrelevant if they still fail to express their favourite beverage, band, football team or film. Sometimes we?ve got to be tedious about these things.

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Source: http://bensix.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/learning-lingos/

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