There are five main languages; English, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese. There is also German and Arabic, which have a few million users. If you are lucky enough to be born in a nation which speaks English the most important thing you must do is become fluent. Not in some slangy way or one of those subsets of English, but in proper English.
If you do that you assure yourself a job. A good job, and a chance to travel. For you can fill positions in America, England, Australia, and other places which require English.
Over the centuries, there were many places in this world which did speak English. Students were required to speak English, proper English, and many, just by being fluent, have been able to gain higher education and jobs with major firms.
The film, ‘My Fair Lady’ is more than just a cockney girl learning to speak like a lady, it is a cockney girl, passing into a higher level of society, escaping the ‘branding on the tongue.’
During slavery, it was imperative that slaves learn NOT to speak proper English. This ‘branded’ them as slaves, for when one is pale enough of skin to ‘pass’ being unable to speak properly kept them in ‘their place’ just as the various English dialects kept the classes in place.
Haiti is the best example of what happens to a country when it abandons one of the major languages, in this case, French, and out of a twisted sense of nationalism speaks something called Creole which no one else in the world is interested in learning.
Those who were ‘on the ground’ shortly after the Earthquake in 2010 needed interpreters. There weren’t many. Often it was some guy who spoke a little English or French, so a lot of people were not given proper care because no one had clue what they were really saying.
Few Haitians can find jobs, that is because overseas companies want people who speak fluently some language they know; whether English or French.
Jamaica, diving head first into the toilet, has decided to adopt something called ‘patwa’ which is very amusing to hear, except if you are looking for someone to perform more than day labourer or maid.
Over a decade ago Jamaica almost solved an unemployment problem as there were forty thousand jobs available. These were in call centres. It was cheaper for an American company to pay Jamaicans per week what they would have to pay an American per day.
Unfortunately, there were not forty thousand Jamaicans who could speak English and were available for work in a call centre. Those who could speak proper English were at University or filling the professions. Those who could not were disqualified and the jobs went to Trinidad and Barbados and other places in the Caribbean where there were people who could speak proper English.
Now one would think, Jamaica being so close to Haiti the lesson would have been learned. Jamaica was advancing through out the 60s and 70s when English was the only language, and patwa was a slangy street talk.
Of course, being stupid and corrupt and not wanting to have to fight for a place at University with someone from the lower class, the upper class insured that the poor would be taught that patwa fi wi langwij.
This has led to the need for the few overseas companies that come here, to hire translators as they can not understand what the Jamaican, who thinks he is speaking English says. Further, it has reached the stage where many Jamaicans will watch television with English subtitles, because they can read the words but not understand them when they are spoken.
Now it is obvious that the best path out of poverty is if Jamaicans returned to the speaking of English. But this will never happen. It will never happen because once a population is made to believe some other language is ‘better’ or ‘their culture’ they cling to it and promulgate it so that each generation moves farther from the standard.
In fifty years it is expected that less than 10% of the Jamaican population will be fluent in English. We should join Haiti as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.
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Well, yeah...
I have always considered myself fortunate to live in a country where English is the official language. However, I have always counted learning other languages as a plus. Watched a Korean drama and one of the men who worked with the merchant was Japanese and did not speak the language. In one scene the merchant comes in and finds the servant girl teaching the man how to speak Korean. He asks: “What's going on?” The Japanese guy responds to the effect: “I got tired of being a dummy and not knowing what was going on.” :) It doesn't take a genius to know that a person who can speak more than one language has an advantage over a person who only speaks one language.
If Jamaicans could speak English, read it and write it, then fine. Go out in the street and babble in Patwa. Rap in it, roll in it. But when all you can speak is a pidgin like Patwa, well just look at the situaiton. How many Jamaicans can participate in a site like this?
If they can't even write on a site like this, what are their job prospects?
You just said a mouth full! Most of the people I've met from Jamaica – who came to America - spoke English and were literate, so I had no idea it was such a big problem. The picture you paint is bleak! Can they even get access to a computer with the Internet? If so, there are many sites where they can teach themselves. If not, can they even get a book to read? Surely when they read they won't see the words they speak! A determined person who wants to be educated will find a way. But if the person doesn't see the need, then you can't convince them no matter how much you preach to them. I have a friend who said one of his parents couldn't read or write and the other one could barely read and write. One of his parents didn't see the need for education. But one of his parents made sure he went to school and learned!! Thank God he had one parent in his corner!
People who left school in the 1970s had to speak, read, write, proper English. That was it. No way around it. Whether you were in bowels of Trelawney or on King Street in Town, everyone had to pass English, and it was G.C.E. English.
The 'problem' was that there were kids from the ghetto who went to school and did well. There were people who never went to High School but took the exams on their own and did well and qualified for University.
The Upper Class would find their children did not get in because the helper's son did.
To prevent this, there was a drive, supported by the people, to push 'patwa'. Right now, if you were in Jamaica you would hear a noise of babble in which you wouldn't understand a word.
"Mididaseh a whayuado? Imseh whayouseh? Miseh whayuado?"
Now this is the run together of patwa... Mi did a seh...(I said) wha you a do? (what did you do?) Im seh (he said) wha you seh? (what did you say?) Mi seh wha yu a do?" I said what did you do?
As you can see, not only are the words mangled, but the words are run together so that miaseh sounds like a word when it is three words. It would be like typing wherewereyou?
This 'branding on the tongue' disqualifies people in the lower classes.
Yes. I understand you clearly now. Seems like a well laid out plan to keep a certain group of people down. You may say something and nobody listens. But somebody else who is influential or respected may say the same thing and then all of a sudden it become “the right thing to do”. Do you catch my drift? Are there no “people with influence” in Jamaica who can wake up the masses and make them see the value of communicating in a language that's understand by most people in various parts of the world?
I do think that people need to level themselves in terms of using specific languages.
English is a universal language that needs to be on the top list. The other languages will follow.
I am also grateful that my country was colonized by Americans. The American soldiers introduced the language after defeating the Japanese invaders.
The real truth, some of my fellowmen can't speak English fluently.But then, they can understand and able to communicate even in a jargon manner. They compensate such weaknesses and showed explicit skills in writing. If my fellowmen can do both, then they are gifted.
I, myself can speak English fluently and took advantage in learning the other languages such
as Russian, Basic Chinese, Tajik and Filipino. It takes a lot of time to learn foreign languages.Passion and interest are the perfect combinations to achieve one's goal. :-)
English is the 'Universal Language' as French once was. By being able to speak good, if not perfect English, you widen your ability to gain employment, your ability to gain information. Jamaica has gone backwards in a totally false and invented 'nationalism'
English is most important language all over the world due to four reasons:
English was originally the language of England, but through the historical efforts of the British Empire it has become the primary or secondary language of many former British colonies such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and India. Currently, English is the primary language of not only countries actively touched by British imperialism, but also many business and cultural spheres dominated by those countries. It is the language of Hollywood and the language of international banking and business. As such, it is a useful and even necessary language to know.
4 reasons why learning English is so important. 1. English may not be the most spoken language in the world, but it is the official language in a large number of countries. It is estimated that the number of people in the world that use in English to communicate on a regular basis is 2 billion!Sep 30, 2013
You have made the point perfectly.