[We’re discussing a couple of sayings this week. One is from a Facebook group:
“I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO PRESS 1 TO HEAR A MESSAGE IN ENGLISH… WE ARE IN AMERICA, LEARN THE LANGUAGE.”
The other is something I wrote in response:
“Everyone who complains about immigrants not knowing English should have to use Bibles printed in Greek, Aramaic and Hebrew.”]

“Learn the language!” That’s the loving response that so many Americans* offer to those that want to come to this country. Never mind that most Americans can’t write their own language correctly, nor speak it in a grammatically correct way. Before you get too mad, let me point out that I include myself in that. I learned a lot while trying to teach English in Argentina, because the colloquial English I learned isn’t exactly “by the book” English. It would be interesting to see how the average American would score on the TOEFL test. Most would fail a simple test over the difference between their, there and they’re. [“Your so rite,” you say] It’s time that Americans refudiated such language errors. (To quote one of the exemplary speakers of the xenophobic movement)

Add to that the fact that many countries require 12 years of foreign language in their public schools, while American schools rarely require more than 2 or 3 (if that much). The old joke runs like this:

Q. What do you call someone who knows three languages?
A. Trilingual
Q. What do you call someone who knows two languages?
A. Bilingual
Q. What do you call someone who only knows one language?
A. American

No, I never heard that joke overseas. That’s one we tell on ourselves. Americans travel the world demanding that everyone speak to us in English, then sit at home shouting “LEARN THE LANGUAGE!” to those who would come here. We’ve sent ambassadors to other countries who did not speak the language of the host country.

The second largest economy in the world will soon be China. Do you want to guess what the proportion of English-speaking Chinese businessmen is to Chinese-speaking American businessmen is? Probably about like it’s been with the Japanese.

Now let’s lay aside the cultural issues. What about us as Christians? Is it our place to demand that others do what benefits us? Some urge immigrants to learn English out of concern for their welfare. But that’s not the attitude expressed in these groups that we’re talking about this week. Let me say it clearly. Christians have no business joining with those that express such unloving attitudes. If we think people should learn English, it’s our job to reach and help them do so, as many loving Christians are doing.

It’s not our task to whine about having to press a button during a phone call.

*And yes, I’m using the term “American” in the ethnocentric way, despite the fact that I know many countries besides the U.S. can lay claim to the term “American.”