This article discusses how 17 people died in a terrible windstorm in Western Washington. The interesting thing is that 85% of the individuals that died didn't speak English as their primary language. The article then discusses different actions that can be taken to reduce or eliminate this language gulf. They are printing pamphlets in multiple languages, such as Spanish, Russian, Korean, and Vietnamese.
What I find interesting is that the article is always talking about bringing the information to these people in their foreign language, but really I think we need to have everyone learn a common language. English would be an optimal choice, and I've talked about this in multiple posts, so I'll just further develop my reasoning.
I think there should be many, many more programs in place to help these individuals learn English. I believe that one program that could be set up is allowing individuals to gain citizenship and live in the country and be taught English for free, in exchange for becoming an ESL teacher in a school. If teaching at school isn't your thing, then what about learning English at the same time as learning your "trade", say a hospital's medical aide. You can then help aid with patients that come in that don't speak fluent English. If they take this route, their schooling is paid for. While it seems like a lot of money for these programs, imagine the money that can be saved from saving one individual's life because the language barrier was crossed.
There are many other ways this plan can be implemented, but immersion and nearly coercion into learning the English language, per se, seems to me as the right course of action. Not only would we get passed the language gulf, we could overcome many of the problems that occur from cultural miscommunication. It's a hope, right?
Original Article: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/snohomishcountynews/2003969991_emergency24n.html
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2 comments:
Do you think the whole world should learn English as a common language or just people living in the United States? If so, why English of all languages? Why not another one?
Interesting post, I am glad you are developing a position on this issue that you can support with concrete ideas and potential policies. I would like to echo autumn's questions, though, and ask where we are to draw the line on a common language? What might we lose in the global economy by encouraging english language learning exclusively?
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