The King's Speech

No I am not writing another rave review about the film which is leading the pack with 12 Oscar nominations – although I – like so many others – loved what I consider a great psychological-historical drama.

But it is worth noting that King George VI made his speech to his nation – and the rest of the World War 2 players - in English. Not French. Not German – although it was certainly meant for Hitler and the German nation as much as his own. Not Spanish, not Italian, not Dutch. English.

So what’s the point?

The United Kingdom – like the United States – does not have an official language. But unofficially – for all important speeches, documents, legal papers etc – the language is English. Despite the ethnic variety of the British population these days --- 96% - according to Wikipedia – claim to speak English well or very well.

Americans as we all know came – and still come -- from everywhere. All kinds of ethnic groups, all kinds of languages. But the language of the British King at the time of the US Revolution was English. And American English – as a distinct dialect separate from British English – has become the lingua franca of the developed world.

Except here. In the US.

All through our history, people came to America speaking their native languages. And as fast as they could –they learned English. Oh perhaps not the King’s English. But enough to get around and read the Daily News – New York’s mostly picture tabloid. Not that there weren’t stores and newspapers and churches for immigrants where they could enjoy a little bit of “home”. But the idea wasn’t to preserve “home” – after all they had come to America for a better life. And so they and their children rapidly integrated into the melting pot.

That doesn’t seem to be happening the same way today. We have large pockets of immigrants who never learn English, never melt into the pot.

And what reminded me of that was an article in an industry magazine called TV Technology which listed some of what the FCC laid on Comcast before its 4-1 approval of the NBCUniversal acquisition. The requirement that stood out was “more Spanish language programming”.

NBC already owns a Spanish language network – Telemundo – with its own network of broadcast stations. In fact there is so much Spanish language media in the US that an immigrant who lives and works in – say – New York City’s Washington Heights can get by comfortably without learning a word of English.

It may not be P-C to say this but no nation can survive without a shared language and a body of shared customs and knowledge. I spend a lot of time in the Czech Republic and have been trying to learn the language for years. It’s a difficult language and I know just enough to get around. But you can bet that if I moved there permanently – instead of just for a few summer months – I would be in school until I could read, write and speak at least everyday Czech. In fact if I wanted to become a permanent resident – and get the equivalent of our “green card” to work there – I’d HAVE to learn the language well enough to pass a written test. I think it’s a great idea. It IS, after all, The CZECH Republic. Not the English Republic.

We don’t need MORE Spanish language media. Or Chinese or Russian or Korean media. We need more emphasis on learning English. And the easiest way to do that is from TV, music, film and the like. It’s how many people in other countries learn English. It’s one way I try to learn Czech – watching children’s TV shows or reading the news crawl on the 24 hour Czech language news channel – dictionary and grammar book at hand.

If you are never forced out of your comfort zone, you never learn and grow. And a country where virtually every automated 800 number is answered “press 1 for Spanish” is not forcing a large and growing segment of our population to move forward.

What has become a de facto two language policy doesn’t do anyone any favors. It’s not the way to nation-build. And it’s not the way to grab onto the American dream. Which is – after all – why every immigrant came here in the first place.