Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!hogpc!rwp From: rwp@hogpc.UUCP (R.PAUL) Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: RE: English-only Speakers as Unclutured Slobs Message-ID: <349@hogpc.UUCP> Date: Wed, 29-Feb-84 13:19:55 EST Article-I.D.: hogpc.349 Posted: Wed Feb 29 13:19:55 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 2-Mar-84 07:41:04 EST Lines: 70 [] Andy Tannenbaum says: > The ability to perform a specific task comes, most often from > practice, which comes from a need to perform that task. ... > People talk about the fact that SO MANY people who speak native languages > other than English also learn English, and use that as an argument > that we should learn other languages. This argument holds no water. > People learn English because they find it useful, or necessary. Not > out of a sense of goodwill, not out of a pursuit for culture. This is in reaction to the earlier berating of a net.flame contributor for stating that he was proud of knowing no other language than English. While I would agree with Andy that knowing only English does not make one an "uncultured slob", I do see reasons other than actual need for learning a second language. In addition, I believe that his reasons for the non-English-speaking person's learning English is true only indirectly in many cases. After learning Spanish, German, and Russian, I can still see little or no direct need for having done so (although I actually did use Spanish in real life on a very few occasions). However, I did not learn those languages because I thought I was likely to use them very often. I learned Spanish while in high school because many colleges consider having learned a second language important in their acceptance criteria. While learning Spanish I discovered that, in addition to learning a new language, as a student of a foreign language, I could also learn more about my native language and increase my knowledge and understanding of a culture different from my own. As a result, I developed a longing to learn more new languages, and I studied German and Russian while at college earning a degree in computer science. One might say that my study of foreign languages was rather fruitless since I do not see myself using Spanish, German, or Russian on the job; but I would argue that, while I may have gained little or no direct benefit from my linguistic studies, the indirect benefits have been plentiful. For example, learning a new computer language has become a relatively simple task, describing the results of technical work to upper management or to marketing people becomes much easier, and understanding the environmental influences which may cause people to argue with what I as a technical person might consider fact is likewise simplified. The basic skills required in any of these cases are highly related to the skills developed in learning a foreign language. Furthermore, I contend that these skills must be developed in a discipline different from that in which they will be applied if they are to be truly transferable to new situations. I also contend that the skills developed in learning a foreign language can be transferred to most any discipline. This brings me to the reason why many non-English-speaking people learn English. Of course, the direct cause is often that their school systems require it, but this requirement has grown out of observations similar to those I have made above. That is, the learning of several foreign languages (and I know that some European schools require students to learn two or three) is an aid in developing basic skills which are important to doing the most effective job in most any profession. I do not mean to say that only those who have learned foreign languages can effectively use these skills. That would obviously be false. What I do say is that learning foreign languages is a highly effective method of developing these skills and perhaps the best method for doing so. Those who would profess pride in speaking only one language may not be uncultured slobs, but I have difficulty in finding valid reasons for their pride. If one such reason is that those individuals have managed to perfect the basic skills developed by learning a foreign language without having learned a foreign language, then I see a reason for pride; but show me a person who professes to have perfected any skill, and I will show you a pompous fool. Rick Paul AT&T Information Systems Laboratories Lincroft, New Jersey ihnp4!hogpc!rwp