I approached the checkpoint with confidence.

Tuesday, April 17, 2001

I approached the checkpoint with confidence. I knew what I was doing. &uot;nuqDaq yuch Dapol&uot; I heard the guard say. Surely I must have heard wrong.

&uot;BIjeghbe’ chugh vaj BIHegh&uot; he said again, looking up at me. I stared back. Was he talking to me? &uot;Bitte?&uot; I said, trying to be polite.

Once more he tried, with a sort of resigned expression on his face: &uot;qaSuj’a’?&uot; This time I could tell it was a question, but what was he asking? I started to panic. Sweat ran down my back. If I couldn’t answer, what would happen? Would they send me home? Would they take me away to be interrogated?

&uot;Do you have your passport?&uot; the guard asked again, in perfect English.

&uot;Yes,&uot; I replied, with shame. And handed it over.

&uot;Enjoy your stay,&uot; he said after a quick look. And I was through the door and into Germany, my home for the next year.

I still cringe when I remember how overconfident I was as I started my year in Europe. I knew how to speak German, I thought. I had gotten As in all my grammar and conversation classes. My minor in college was German. What could possibly get in the way of success? It didn’t take much, as it turned out.

Just a simple question in German asked by a border guard. Luckily for me, he could speak fluent English. And lucky for we Americans that so many foreigners speak our language, because we tend to avoid learning how to speak theirs. I’m impressed that President Bush took the time to learn how to speak Spanish. It might not be great Spanish, but it’s good enough. I’m equally impressed that the Principal at the Albert Lea High School is fluent in Spanish.

Now what about the rest of our leaders? How many languages besides English can Governor Ventura speak? How many can our senators and representatives? How many languages besides English can our secretaries of state, defense and commerce speak, read or write? It’s a big world out there, and most of the inhabitants of that world do not speak, read or write English. And even though English is an important international language, a lot of people can get by just fine without learning it.

Living and traveling abroad I discovered we Americans don’t have a particularly impressive reputation, especially when it comes to our willingness to speak the languages of countries we visit. Why are we so reluctant to take seriously the teaching and learning of languages other than English? Why is it that a person can be considered well-educated in our country even if they never bothered to learn to speak another language? Are we really that self-centered? English is a fine language, but it is only one among many on this planet. President Coolidge is reported to have said that &uot;the business of America is business&uot; and that perspective is still going strong. How can we successfully carry that &uot;pro-business philosophy&uot; to the world if we have to wait while they learn how to speak English? Even the blind lust for profit would be easier to sate if the profiteer knew how to trick the victims with the victim’s own words.

I know that most good schools in our country already offer instruction in foreign languages, the top three being Spanish, French and German. But most school children in the world start learning a foreign language in elementary school. For some reason we’ve decided that in America, if we have to learn foreign lingo, we’ll wait until high school or college. We wait until the brain has turned off the ability to learn language and then we start drilling our kids in the grammar and vocabulary of Spanish, German or French. It’s no wonder they think it is such a drag.

We may not need to suddenly add new subjects to our curriculum, but we might want to change when kids start learning. And we need something else, too.

Learning a new language needs more than just a teacher, a classroom and students. Successful foreign language programs in our schools need a society that sees value in the languages and cultures that lie beyond its borders.

David Behling is a rural Albert Lea resident. His column appears Tuesdays.