See also other languages'
versions:
Quebeckers
call it crawling, the tendency to always give in to
English. Is the decision of several German speaking
Swiss canton governments to teach English as the first
foreign language a case of that sort of resignation
of dignity?
Let
us first note that the fascination, which the English
language causes, creates tunnel vision. Hypnotised
by the distant light, one no longer sees the whole
surroundings. So the president of Nissan,
following an agreement with Renault, said
both companies' staff had to study English so that
the workers of both firms would have a common
language (1). The French speak English as badly as the Japanese he explained. However, English is just like computer software.
The
fascination with English has blinded him. What
is computer software worth, if it takes six
years to get to know it? Just about everyone
regards the fact that English has taken over
as a given. It’s as if is a fact means
is good. If this idea had controlled
history, slavery would still exist, and there
would be no women in the Federal Council (i.e.
Swiss national government).
It
would be more democratic to consider the question:
What suits everyone's interests in the field
of language communication? Well, comparing the
various means available to overcome language barriers,
one discovers a more effective software than
English: Esperanto, and it can be shown to be so,
by any criteria: equality, fluency, precision, phonetic
ease, short time to learn, etc. (2) In fact I was more fluent in Esperanto after six months of
learning it than in English after six years, during
which I had to cram my brain with nonsense, from
the four sounds of ough in tough, though,
through and cough, to false derivatives
such as hard - hardly (I have just corrected
the text of a young person, who wanted to say I
worked hard but wrote I hardly worked).
My
contacts everywhere in the world confirm that Esperanto
is better adapted for international communication
than English is. Yes, certainly, there are many
who mockingly reject it, but they have never observed
a meeting in Esperanto, seen children using it in
play, skimmed a magazine in the language, nor have
they interviewed persons who put into practise both
the language of Shakespeare and the language of
Zamenhof. I suppose those people disparage restaurants
where they have never been, and cars which they
have never driven. Esperanto is misunderstood
(3) by many people. How many people know that it is, after English,
one of the languages most used on the internet?
That it is the language of a considerable body of
literature? (4) That Radio Beijing and Radio Warsaw broadcast in it several
times a week? (5) That it is one of the languages of the International Academy
of Sciences? (6) That seven Nobel prize winners have been Esperanto speakers?
That every day, somewhere in the world, Esperanto
is the language of a meeting, cultural gathering,
or congress? (7) That there are Esperanto speakers in many cities in many countries,
even in Soweto, even in Lomé, even in Ulan
Bator? That it stimulates an interest in other cultures?
That many young people use the network of free accommodation
organised by Esperanto associations?
(8)
Clearly
there are vast fields of social life which the media
totally ignore. Does it make sense for French and
German speaking people to communicate in broken
English after studying it for six years, trying
to pronounce sounds which exist neither in French
nor in German (th, etc), while they could
easily converse in Esperanto after a few months?
If, everywhere, it were made known that of all the
means to rid us of Babel, Esperanto is the one which
gives the best results for the smallest investment
of time, brainpower and money? (9) Language diversity would become what it really basically is:
an asset, not an impediment. Man is masochistic.
Maybe, in order to recover our sanity, we need a
lawyer to launch a US-style court case, in the name
of all those people who have had to struggle with
English, against those governments which made them
do so, while there was a means available which is
more democratic, more cost effective, more psychologically
and culturally satisfying, about which they neglected
to inform their citizens. In a time when so many
jobs are being sacrificed for so called rationalisation,
the billions of dollars, francs, marks, yen etc
earmarked for the teaching of English, and the thousands
of hours which millions of young people all over
the world spend on it, with pitiful results, are
the exact opposite to rational action. To say nothing
of the catastrophic cultural influence, which happens
everywhere with the spread of broken English.
This article originally published in French by the Tribune
de Geneve, 3 Jan 2003. Translated into Esperanto
by the author (Esperanto feb 2003, p
31), and thence into English by Donald Rogers,
in consultation with the author.
____________
1. Yomiuri Shimbun,
2002.04.17.
2. Claude Piron, Communication linguistique - Etude comparitive
faite sur la terrain, Language Problems and Language Planning, spring 2002, vol 26, no 1, pp 24-50;
English version).
3. General
information
4. Literature (click on Documents).
5. Radio
programs in Esperanto
6. International Academy of Sciences
7. Esperanto events
8. Accommodation
9. Esperanto easier to learn: Claude
Piron, "Le défi des langues", Paris: L'Harmattan, 2nd edition, 1998, chapter 11
