May 7, 2004
Speaking English at McDonald's
Maryland Comptroller William Donald Schaefer sounded off on Tuesday about McDonald's cashiers who cannot speak English.
Out in Averageville, U.S.A. (most precincts of the region not part of Mediaville), everyone recognizes this as an absurd disregard for what once used to be the pride of the U.S. economy, customer service. See some typical reactions at this Baltimore Sun forum, including HOORAY FOR SCHAEFER and
No Habla English at Mcdonalds, as well as an article reporting, "Reactions to Schaefer's 'English' comment is mostly favorable."
For some reason, we have moved as a society from having the hallmark of every society since the beginning of time -- namely, a language of our own, in this case, English:
- to encouraging bilingualism,
- to tolerating pockets of inner cities where most residents don't speak English,
- to having major employers and a government that hire workers who can't speak English for jobs interacting with the public,
- and finally, for liberal apologists to see no problem whatsoever in people serving customers but lacking the customers' language.
One can eagerly anticipate the ultimate logic of direction McDonald's is taking us -- that communication plays no role in, well, communication -- including air traffic controllers or brain surgeons or editors at Miriam-Webster's dictionary who can't comprehend English.
As a world traveler, I wrote of many of my communication struggles in my first book, An Amateur's Guide to the Planet, and Amateur accidentally became an intercultural communication textbook.
As any true traveler knows, a hallmark of respect for any place you are visiting is to try to learn basic words. I have on my bookshelf phrasebooks from my travels, including for one (or more) for Italian, Greek, French, Indonesian, Chinese, Spanish, Hawaiian, Arabic, Portuguese and Swahili -- even an American English-British English phrasebook.
My friend Sylvia just asked to borrow the Italian phrasebook for her upcoming seven days in Portofino. While Sylvia makes the requisite effort of the true traveler, for a one-week trip, can it be that we have immigrants who expect to live and work and sell to English-speaking customers in this country without learning our language?
I shake my head at Michael Olesker's reflex assertion, coming from the separate kingdom of Mediaville, that any criticism of an immigrant, no matter how justified, qualifies as bigotry:
Because what [Schaefer's] new outburst does is send a signal. It signals that small, dark place in the heart of bigots that it's all right to put down one group at the expense of another. That it's all right to call one group American and one group Not Quite American. And that it's all right to deny the very heart of the national experience, if it suits your mood of the moment.
No Mr. Olesker, Schaefer's view does not fly "in the face of the American way."
The tourist who wants to shout English in beatific ignorance at foreigners is a clod. The immigrant who wants to deal with English speakers in beatific ignorance is a clod, too.
The non-English speaker at McDonald's, for some reason, has decided to ignore the requirements of commerce since the mists of history.
Immigrants show disrespect by not learning even the basic vocabulary to buy and sell a simple set of goods, something the folks with their beads and pottery and ropes and chickens and salt in every port along the Mediterranean and East Africa-to-China trade routes mastered from the beginnings of human transport.
My next book, Romance on the Road, describes gigolos worldwide, such as those in Jamaica and Thailand, who niftily learn enough English, Japanese, German or whatever it takes to make money off tourist women.
In China, there are 250 million speakers of English as their second language, many self-taught from tapes. It's not difficult. It's certainly not impossible. And the Chinese learn quite acceptable English without being surrounded, as an immigrant is, with broadcast and print media and native speakers.
Here's what a conscientious traveler does: Learn enough of the local language to show respect and appreciation of the culture. If possible, learn enough to communicate well. Even if you grew up with English or another Romance language, and are struggling to learn Arabic, Thai or Chinese, which don't even use Romanized alphabet.
Here's what a conscientious immigrant does: Learn the host country's language, period.
It can be done.
