Wade - In an ideal world, yes.
But I'm lazy and when it's all easy for you, why work hard at something you really don't need to do?
(See Zero, I admitted one of my many, many faults).
Rock - It's not just the Western world. It's pretty much everywhere now. English is the international language of commerce.
"zombieslayer" wrote:
I expect i'm even lazier than you are. 🙂
And I agree that English is the language of commerce.
But I wonder if part of the reason Americans have so many image problems, and American business in particular, has to do with the fact that too much of what we do is limited by our inability to participate in conversations.
Put it this way. I can walk into a bank anywhere in the world and deposit money or withdraw it never speaking anything but English. Same with buying something in a store. Same with a conference room meeting. Same, of course, with a hotel or an airport.
But what if I want to understand the "supply and demand" of my market more deeply? What if I want to observe people's values, what they reveal when they talk among themselves, what they're doing when they aren't speaking English? My lack of their language leaves me out of touch.
My English allows me to transact with them. But does it allow me to get the best terms of trade? Does it allow me to understand their wants/needs deep enough so that I provide the right products and services to them.
English allows me to trade, but does it do enough language-wise to help me to have something to trade? To keep me from running afoul of cultural or personal barriers to trading certain goods/services?
Here's a trivial example, but I think it might touch on the problem. I just got back from a trip to Braga, Portugal. I'm a foodie, so when I travel I try to spend some time exploring local eating.
Now, if you ever go as a tourist to Portugal, you'll find out that the big dish is bacalhau, which means either "codfish" or "salted codfish", I'm not sure which. Actually, salted or not, bacalau is not one dish, but several -- one description is "one dish, prepared 175 different ways".)
But, after being there for almost two weeks, let's just say I was looking for something other than Bacalhau. Something spicier or "stronger". Something without cod in it.
So, my last night, a friend from Braga took me to a nearby town called Ponte de Lima for sarrabulho. Without a local friend, I would likely never have visited the town, much less found the restaurant which, ccording to my friend, is the best place in Portugal for the dish in question. (Though, to be truthful, I don't recommend this particular dish. It turns out to be a a variety of meats (including, I think, two different kinds of liver), cooked in pigs blood.)
I have no doubt that almost everyone I met that night spoke at least some English, but I shudder to think of what my experience would have been. For one, without the Portuguese guide, I would never have negotiated the "back way" from Braga to Ponte de Lima, but would have instead taken the motorway; and so I would have missed the glimpses into local culture and scenery that the drive offered.
Assuming I made it to Ponte de Lima, I would have discovered myself in the middle of a local festival (devoted to some ceremonial cow; I still haven't figured out what it was, save that the narrow and winding streets of the town, with virtually no signage in English, were crammed with drinking and partying people.
I doubt I would have found the restaurant in question, or any restaurant with a table with any ease.
And were it not for being with someone fluent in the language, I might not have got out of town before my plane left the next day. I expect my "tourist" driving would have got me stopped on the way out of town by the policia enforcing more stringent drinking-and-driving laws (my friend was worried about being stopped after having had maybe a glass and a half of wine).
And that's assuming I would have been able to negotiate the care away from the riverfront, through the streets to the motorway. My guide actually made two or three mistakes (one, the extrication from which, required us to back up a narrow cobblestone street almost two blocks against the flow of a few hundred wall-to-wall pedestrians, and at least three separate extended conversations/shouting matches in staccato, rapid-fire Portuguese.
It was a fantastic time. But it would have been even better had I known the language myself. I was at the mercy of my companion and her wisdom and limitations.
Commerce-wise, this is, as I said, a trivial example.
But as I was trying to wind down to sleep after getting back to my hotel, I found myself thinking: suppose I wanted to really get into the Ponte de Lima celebration? Suppose I was thinking about selling something "Iowan" to these people? Suppose I wanted to point out to the people of Ponte de Lima that there were better cuisines than ones using pig's blood. Suppose I was thinking about making Ponte de Lima not just a one-night visit but a annual three-week vacation? Suppose I was trying to decide whether my company should open an office/factory in northern Portugal?
And I found I couldn't really answe any of these questions, in part, because I knew I needed more Portuguese before I could get all the information I needed.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:2 (NKJV)