When mother rat barks

[This articles was written in 2006 as a contribution to "Language and Linguistics" paper magazine which I started while studying for the general diploma in English at Ain Shams University.]

 

One day, a mother rat and her son were searching for food in the kitchen. They met the cat. The mother rat barked like a dog at the cat. The cat got scared and ran away. The mother rat said to her son, "See! Now you can understand the importance of a second language".

 

This joke brings to mind the question of second language(s). Knowing a second language has saved the lives of mother rat and her son. You can imagine what could have happened if mother rat didn't know a second language so powerful as a dog's barking. Mother rat and her son were facing an enemy. They could either run away, if they could, or give in and save their strength for struggle into the cat's guts.

 

A second language is a language you learn that is not your mother tongue – the language you heard, and so learnt to speak, since your birth. People in different corners of the world now learn second languages. The choice of a second language depends on the needs of the learner. Sometimes second languages don't enter the circle of choice. Suppose you were born to Arab parents living in a non-Arab state. You will grow up speaking Arabic, in your domestic household, and the language of the larger community – be it English, French, German, or whatsoever – with which you have to interact in that community. Linguists will then call you a bilingual; a speaker of two languages. Another example would exist in a colonised/occupied country. A citizen of this country may have to learn the language of the colonisers/occupiers.

 

In some other cases, people opt for learning a particular second language. In this case, it is mostly a national option; i.e., the government decides which language to teach in schools as a second language. This decision is made upon political and/or economic reasons. The chosen language may be the language of a politically and/or economically superior state with which the government making the choice is trying to establish, or has already established, relations. This is perhaps the case with English.

 

Before, English was the language of the great British Empire. The British Empire was occupying a considerable number of countries in Africa and Asia. People under British rule learnt English for some practical purpose or developed a kind of language that is a mix between their own and English. Some intellectuals learnt English to use it as a weapon against itself, as was stated by Chinua Achebe, Nigeria's world-famous novelist.

 

Today, English is the language of the world's only major power; i.e., the USA. America has managed to establish itself as a world's major power by advancing in politics, economy, science, literature, education and most important of all: technology. Many world-famous politicians, economists, scientists and educators have learnt and got their higher degrees from the USA. They either were dispatched by their governments or went there on their own to pursue higher studies or obtain a first university degree – and maybe a higher degree afterwards. To maintain its power and assure a minimum degree of language proficiency, the US government has made it a must to pass the TOEFL – Test Of English as a Foreign Language – test with a particular score before you can get a visa and go to America.

 

In either cases; whether a second language is a "free" or mandatory choice, the chosen second language is usually one of a superior state. If not so, why are a lot of people seeking opportunities to live, learn and/or work in the US? Why is the US a first option on the lists of academic dispatches? Why do many people seek to be proficient in English? Why is English the world's number one most widely spoken language? Why is English the language in which more than 80% of Internet content is written? Why do many people insert English words into their speech while speaking their own languages? At some times, French was the language denoting high social status in our Egyptian community, why has it been replaced by English? Has it become a question of evading threats like the situation of mother rat and her son?

 

Why we learn English, I think, has become a question that, as far as a number of devoting linguists and myself believe, must be thought of differently. Perhaps Mr Achebe's statement should be highlighted in this concern.