I would love to have the ability to speak fluently in many different languages. Ideally, I would be some sort of James Bond type who could not only speak many different languages fluently but also recognise the different regional variations as well. I would live for the day when I would be sitting at a cafe/bar in some foreign exotic country, when a waiter would make a cheeky remark about me and I would answer him not only perfectly in his own language but without the tell-tale school book foreign language foot prints.
HA!
In fact who am I kidding? I would settle for being able to communicate effectively with someone in a language other than my own without insulting them too much when I get things wrong.
Without effective communication it all goes to shit. Seriously. In every aspect of your life, for example, I constantly get the word for 'husband' and 'snake' mixed up when speaking Polish. I kid you not. Mąż pronounced 'mounje' means husband and wąż pronounced 'vounje' means snake.
So, yeah, that could definitely lead to a huge misunderstanding.
I could never squash anyone's desire to learn a language or anything about different cultures or societies, I think that the more that we can learn from different countries or even different areas of our own country the better the world could be.
So when I read about an American 7th grader in Wisconsin who was suspended for teaching a friend how to say 'hello' and 'I love you' in Menominee, which is her own Native American language.
Anyway, I can understand that some insecure teachers may be a bit paranoid if they heard a pupil speaking some random sounding different language. But lets be honest, loads of people, especially the younger generations (jeez I sound so very old) do tend to have a whole variety of new words every week.
The main problem I can see with the suspension of a student at the Sacred Heart Catholic Academy in Shawano, Wisconsin is that 60% of the pupils happen to be Native American. So, would you not think that the teachers should at least know a few words?
Personally I would be encouraging kids to learn different languages rather than chastising Miranda Washinawatok for teaching a friend who is interested some easy words.
The really ironic thing is that supposedly when you call the school, you can hear an answer message in English and Spanish......
Hmm, all sounds a bit cheeky to me.
If you are interested in Menominee, here is a website to kick of your search:
http://www.bigorrin.org/menominee_kids.htm
