Sunday

Sunday, September 28, 2003 (SF Chronicle)

Necesitamos apprender espanol
Those ignorant of language in U.S. can’t communicate

C.W. Nevius

The guy from the tree service gave me a jaunty smile, fired up his chain saw and dropped the tree trunk directly on our rain gutter. The gutter was trashed, of course, but I didn’t utter a word of anger or complaint.

First, I am often admired for my Zenlike serenity. Second, hey, it was an honest mistake and I saw no point in making a fuss. And finally, there was no point. I don’t speak Spanish.

When we took a language in school, the teachers were always telling us that we’d be surprised how often we would use our knowledge. It would come in handy sometime, they’d say.

And it did -- once. We were in a deserted restaurant in Italy, attempting to chat with the owner, who finally sent for a cook from the kitchen who could speak a smidgen of German. With my microscopic knowledge of German -- and lots of hand-waving and pantomime -- we were able to communicate.

But there has been a huge change. A couple of months ago my son came home to find a big white truck blocking the driveway. There was some street work going on, and the two guys in the cab were waiting for something. My son asked them if they could move so he could get into the garage.

“In a minute,” one of them said in Spanish, not sounding especially concerned.

“I can’t wait a minute,” said my son in his best second-year high school Spanish. “I am in a big hurry.”

He says they both looked over at him in surprise, gave him a wave and pulled up to let him through.

We are way past the point of wondering if knowing another language would be helpful in this country. I may have never heard anyone speaking conversational German when I was taking it in school, but a day doesn’t go by when all of us don’t hear some Spanish.

“Boy,” my son said the other day at a restaurant, “they are really having an argument in the back. The guy was saying, ‘You cut the pizza!’ And the other guy was saying, ‘No, you cut the pizza!’ “

We, of course, had no idea. At least a part of the everyday fabric of our lives is passing by without our knowledge. Now, for those who want to argue immigration, restrictions on illegal immigrants, and “English-only” classrooms, knock yourselves out. More and more you sound like those cranky old types who insisted on using a typewriter when everyone else made the switch to computers.

Spanish is here, and it is time to accept it. Hospitals are looking for Spanish-speaking nurses, the Verizon phone company is offering its bills in Spanish in all 29 states it serves, and bilingual speakers are getting preference in job searches.

Think that’s an outrage? Want to talk to your representative in Washington? Good idea. Just don’t call on Wednesday night. A Spanish-language class was set up for Republican -- that’s right, Republican -- lawmakers in the Capitol, and some 20 GOP lawmakers signed up for the 15-week, two-hours-every-Wednesday- night class. That’s not to mention those, like Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who fly straight to Mexico for an intensive Spanish course. The reason? About 7 percent of all voters in 2000 spoke Spanish. By 2004 it could be 9 percent.

The reaction to all of this? Well, what would you expect? We’re Americans. We’re threatened, we’re stubborn and we aren’t about to change.

Look, it is pretty simple. English is still the language of this country. It is probably pretty close to the international language. But knowing some Spanish would be a great idea. No one is surprised that people in Europe know more than one language.

“I can’t believe these people don’t speak English,” I heard an exasperated American say once in another country.

Yeah, why wouldn’t they gain a working knowledge of a language that they hear every single day in everyday life? Crazy, isn’t it?