No Need To Be Xenophobic - It’s Not Our Way

You can tell a lot about the exploration of the United States from a map, even if you know nothing about the nation’s history.

For instance, there’s a New York, a New Jersey and a New Hampshire.

That means there must have been a York and Jersey and Hampshire, and some settlers came from those places.

In fact, north of New York we come to a place called New England, certainly an indicator of early colonialists’ origins.

Inland, something odd happens. We can see a heavy French influence. We have Louisville, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Terre Haute, Pierre, Coeur d’Alene, Grosse Pointe, Fond du Lac, and Des Moines. Many French explorers swarmed over this country, mapping and naming as they went. The copies of British locations nearly cease.

May one guess that the British colonialists found what they were seeking and stopped looking? And that the French had their own motives for investigating as much of the unknown land as they could?

On the West Coast we see a proliferation of Spanish names, including San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento. Given the relative scarcity of Spanish names in the middle of the land, you can rightly infer that Spanish explorers arrived at the West Coast by sea, instead of trekking across the country.

Texas and Arizona, where much of the territory once belonged to Mexico, names also reflect Spanish influence.

Looking at states’ names, we find a similar principle at work. Indigenous peoples provided many - Kentucky (level prairie), Wisconsin (place of the beaver), Connecticut (long tidal river), Oklahoma (red people) Massachusetts (about the big hill), and Utah (upper or higher) to name some.

Spanish provides several more: Montana (mountainous), Florida (flowery), Colorado (red), Nevada (snow-covered).

French gives us Vermont (green mountain) and Louisiana (King Louis’ land). The Brits give us Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia, North and South Carolina, and the three other ‘new’ states mentioned earlier.

So names spread across the United States, proclaiming its discovery and development by a multitude of cultures, both native and colonial. And languages have flourished all over the land, in addition to those of our native peoples, as immigrants created their own enclaves and merged into the mainstream culture over the generations.

Even in the areas most heavily populated by foreign speakers, everyone knows that if you want a serious career in a job with a future, you have to use the primary tongue. While it’s true that when you lose the language, you in large measure lose the culture and the country, it is not at all likely that English will be displaced, because English usage dominates the world.

English is, for better or worse, the principal international business language now, in much the way French was in the 18th and 19th centuries.

An Italian airline pilot landing in Brazil uses English when speaking with the tower. So does a Japanese pilot landing in Nigeria.

Computers worldwide use English as the common language. And while you can find the world’s main languages in heavy use on the Web, it’s English that is the common link.

In countries where education is taken seriously, and students are expected to learn foreign languages, English is the overwhelming choice for a second language.

English isn’t going anywhere. And it surely isn’t going anywhere in the Pacific Northwest.

While it is logical to keep the business of government in one language, that process should in no way justify the xenophobia it frequently does.

We should provide more and better classes for newcomers. Knowing English will open up better jobs, careers and educational opportunities. Encouraging newcomers to learn English as quickly as possible is a sound idea. We should keep schools and classes to do just that funded.

English itself is a mixture, being derived from Latin, German and a delightful 10 percent or so from many of the world’s other tongues. Its richness and flexibility are owed to its many varied sources. And, since the English we speak is not exactly the English Shakespeare spoke, it is clear that change and growth are the norm.

We should remember not to be small-minded or mean-spirited, expecting immigrants to shun their own heritage while they absorb ours. After all, the incredible enrichment of English vocabulary by all of those words and phrases borrowed from other languages adds to the wealth and beauty of our own.

Remember that our nation’s motto, E Pluribus Unum, is Latin for “Out of several, one.” Let it be so with our culture and our language.

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The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fred Glienna Contributing writer