In his article Viva Bilingualism, James Fallows analyzes such issue as bilingualism in the United States, in particular, the author argues that two or even more languages can successfully co-exist in America and it will not pose any threat to the dominance of English. In addition to that, he believes that there are some myths or stereotypes about bilingualism, which should definitely be broken. His overarching thesis is that multilingual community can effectively function and the members of such community will have no difficulties, while interacting and communicating with one another. Overall, it seems that his argument is well-grounded because recent research findings in linguistics have proved that under certain circumstances, a person can master two languages and he or she will be able to use them efficiently. Moreover, there are many regions, in which people speak several languages and there is no tension or animosity among them. Nonetheless, at some moments, Fallows tries to be very non-committal and prefers not to express his opinion about rather stressing problems. Apart from that, some statements, which the journalist makes, are not quite evidence-based.
James Fallows says that many countries are promoting bilingualism and such policy does not have any detrimental effects on the society. The author draws such example as Japan, where many people are willing to learn English; however, it does not mean that Japanese has come out of use. Besides, the journalist mentions Scandinavian countries, like Sweden or Norway, where people may speak several languages, apart from their own, and it does not cause any problem or difficulty. These cases illustrate the authors point. The thing is that now many politicians in the United States believe that bilingualism will eventually result in separatism or make the population of the country ghettoized. The author points out that this belief is based on common misconception, because separatism is cause mostly by governmental and administrative controversies. James Fallows says that the United States will never have its own Quebec. Nevertheless, we need to say that the author overlooks the dynamics of emigration process in the United States, for instance, according to recent estimations, there are approximately 50 million immigrants in the United States, they can be either legal or illegal, and the majority of them come from Spanish-speaking countries. In the near future, this number will definitely increase. So, Is it not possible that the dominance of English may suffer a severe blow? Certainly, it will not happen soon, but in thirty or forty years, the situation may dramatically change. James Fallows compares the United States to Japan, but these countries are similar in terms of cultural and linguistic tradition. The land of the Rising Sun has always been more occlusive than America, and Japanese is spoken by ninety five percent of the population, whereas in the US there is no such unanimity.
Furthermore, he says that in such countries as Canada, Belgium or Sri Lanka, the problems, which arise in connection with bilingualism, are primarily motivated by tense relations between the ethnic groups. The situation is drastically different in America. Immigrants are trying to adapt themselves to the new conditions and the best way to do it is to learn English. James Fallows demonstrates that that there is no need to be afraid of Spanish, French or other languages. He says that that English is “not a fragile blossom, about to be blown apart by the blasts from the Spanish-speaking world” (Fallows, p 261). Again, we need to stress the idea, that in the long run, English may turn into a “fragile blossom” because, even now a great number of immigrants do not see the reason, why they should learn this language. If the government gives official status to other languages, we may not speak about any English supremacy.
It seems the journalist carefully avoids the problem of linguistic ghetto. Naturally, he says that many people, who have come to America from other regions, are willing to learn English, yet we cannot forget that there are many Spanish-speaking communities, or even ghettos to be more exact, and we cannot say that they have effectively integrated into the mainstream of American life (Hayakawa, 4). He mostly discusses bilingualism in connection with the dominance of English. No one can deny the fact that it is very unlikely to be substituted by some other language (at least in the near future). It stands to reason that English is the most spoken language in the world but it has to be admitted that in modern America the division between some ethnic groups is still strongly marked, and there are many people who prefer to live in separate areas and have practically no contact with English-speaking world. Subsequently, it prevents them from becoming full members of American society, which seems even hostile to them.
Perhaps, the question of bilingualism should be discussed from a slightly different standpoint. It goes without saying that James Fallows makes some very reasonable statements but he pays too much attention to the English language and its role in modern American society and in the world. Promoting bilingualism will make America, itself friendlier to the immigrants, because very often, they are ill-treated just because they do not speak good English. By allowing them to speak their mother tongue in federal institutions or learn it schools, the government of the United States will definitely make the country more attractive to the immigrants.
Therefore, it is quite possible for us to arrive at the conclusion that James Fallows has outlined the advantages of bilingualism in modern American society, namely, he has stated that there is no possible threat to the dominance of the English language not only in the country but in the world as well. Yet, it appears that the author has preferred not to discuss the problem of linguistic and social ghetto and how these notions are connected with each other.
Bibliography
James Fallows. Viva Bilingualism. The New Republic, 1986.
Samuel Hayakawa. “Bilingualism in America: English should be the only language”. USA Today, 1995.