Mackenzie Wenner Blog 3

Do you speak English? How does the US* configure in Anderson’s notions on the role of language and literacy/print in imagining a nation? (*You may choose another nation.)

English is the only language I have ever spoken with any amount of skill or eloquence (and even then only sparingly). In middle school I took Latin, and from an earlier age I studied German and French, both of which I continued through high school. I speak English because I grew up with it, but I had little incentive to excel in other languages I was being taught because English is the primary language of this country and extremely well known around the globe. On occasion I have traveled to Europe and Central America, and with my English and nuanced international hand gestures never had an ounce of trouble being understood. We have now in the world a set of “Super Languages” that are largely spoken by educated peoples in most of the world. I would include Spanish and French next to English on that list and Mandarin as an up and comer. There are historical and contemporary reasons for the rise of these four above hundreds others. Spanish and French were spread earliest through colonization, and English gained global importance along with all other US exports in the first days of globalization. Mandarin is of late being emphasized for the same reason, its global market share and GDP.

But this is not a recent development. In the Middle Ages elites could converse across national boundaries in Latin, and later French became the language of many European royal courts. The upper class and the educated class had then and retain now an increased ability to communicate on a global level. Anderson writes of language being essential to national shared identity. I reject, however, the validity of this as an exclusive claim with respect to nations formed on principle rather than cultural heritage. To become a citizen of the US one has to show competence in the English language, however I believe an immigrant who comes to this country the way most of our ancestors did, with regard to the American ideals is already a member of the nation regardless of their mastery of English because of their choice to align with national tenants.