During our discussion of My Fair lady today in class the conversation took a real quick turn to people in America speaking other languages. We were not able to delve deeply into this issue and I thought it’s a good one to discuss, so I just had to vocalize my opinion. I am of the opinion that everyone in this country should learn this language.
If I should travel to a foreign country I would not expect them to learn my language, but for me to learn theirs. Is that such a hard thing to do? I understand many people come from all over to live here and to have the “American Dream” so should that not entail learning the language?
My best friend (whom ill call G) has a grandmother who is completely helpless because she does not know our language, she moved here in the early 60’s from Italy and never bothered to learn English. I don’t find this very safe if she should need an emergency. Her entire life she has lived with her family who had been schooled here and all speak English. I do know my friend has tried to teach her English so she could get around. She refuses saying it’s “her country now and thinks we should all know Italian”. She is living with my friend but is becoming a burden on the family but they are having a problem finding a home that can accommodate her language needs. They are in Southern New Jersey and have found some homes, but most are in NY state or NY city. That just opens a whole new can of worms with her and New Yorkers.
America is a melting pot of many nations, religions, and ideals. Can’t we have one thing in common?
2 comments:
I wanted to respond to the “English only” debate because I feel it ties into many of the major issues behind both “My Fair Lady” and “Pygmalion.” I feel, without question, that people within a specific country should speak the dominant languages of that country. This is, I feel, applicable to both those born in the country as well as those who assimilate to that country. When I spent the year in Germany, there were times when I was horrified of my German and there were times when I couldn’t properly express myself in German but I always tried. After all, it was ridiculous of me to expect them to speak my language (though many of them of course did.)
My thoughts on the issues of English in America (or England as far as the plays are concerned) were affected by an interview I conducted with Victor Villanueva, a leading theorist in the field of rhetoric. He said two interesting things that I thought were worth conveying. The first, which is more of a tidbit of fun, is that (in the issues of whether or not we should be a multilingual country, as many fear/dread we are becoming) the “Founding Fathers refused to declare this nation as officially English (they were worried about German)” (Villanueva’s words).
Of more relevance, Villanueva argues that the issues of English-only stem from power-issues and a desire to establish hegemony. In this, I believe he is correct. English, the ability to speak it and to speak it properly, has become the currency of the “haves.” English is still (although perhaps not for much longer) THE language, replacing Latin as the way to speak in the world of the “haves.” Those who don’t speak it (or don’t speak it well) are considered somehow inferior, lazy, or unwilling . . . in other words, “have-nots.” (Of course this is, in many ways, ironic as most peoples outside of English-speaking languages know many more languages than do those who live in English-speaking lands.)
This brings me to a question we’ve danced around in class but perhaps never really tackled. We’ve established the idea that Higgins remains fairly static, but what about Eliza? Does she really change? She was opinioned from the beginning; she was determined to see her own needs fulfilled, which involved walking into a stranger’s home. How different is it then that when she sees her needs outside of her friend/love’s home, she’s willing to leave? I’m not sure, then, that Eliza really changes either. I think it is just our perception (and perhaps Eliza’s perception) that alters. We are incapable of seeing cockney-Eliza as anything but a “have-not.” And I believe that we, as well as Eliza herself, are only able to see her as a “have”, as a person of substance and worth, when she assumes the language society (and to some degree the larger world) deemed fit. She doesn’t change, we just see her differently because, with her new language skills, we feel we have to view her differently.
Perhaps then, this is what makes the play fit the genre of realism. Circumstances change but the people don’t. New skills are acquired but the same prejudices and cultural structures prevail. We don’t have the infamous Ibsen door-slam but we do have a finality hammered into to place nail by proverbial nail as, at the end of the play, Eliza corrects herself in her speech again and again. She says she’ll speak however she wishes but the language she uses is that of the “haves.” Does it matter then if she stays with Higgins or leaves? She’s already acknowledged that the hegemony Higgins’ subscribes to, the criteria of the “haves” and “have-nots” as dictated through language, is valid.
I think the debate about language and hegemony that is raised in Pygmalion and My Fair Lady will be clarified some when we discuss the next play, which is Death and the King's Horseman. I think you raise an important concern about the well-being of your friend's grandma, Will, but Katie points out some of the questions I would ask about assuming that a "Universal" language can ever be neutral. We'll talk some about how establishing English as the only language of any country reinforces ideas that one way of speaking is inherently better than another, and consequently that one set of beliefs is superior to another.
The question of whether or not Eliza is truly "better off" at the end is an important one. Katie's point is one I hadn't considered: that perhaps Eliza has a core identity that doesn't change at all despite the change in surface circumstances. Some would argue that this isn't possible: that one's inner self is always transformed when the outside changes. But it would be good to go through the play and analyze closely to what degree Eliza does or does not change in terms of motivation and action.
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