Merci me

By Jim Terry

Earlier in the summer, the democrat candidate for president made the following statement:

You need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language. It's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beaucoup, right?

What a shallow and backward world view. But what can we expect from an empty suit?

The reason many people from other countries are multi-lingual is because of geographic propinquity and self preservation.

There are reasons for Americans to learn other languages and the study of a foreign language often helps us to understand our own. Words in the English language have their genesis in other languages. Some long dead languages live today through the English language.

According to Sussex University in the UK, "English is the world's leading international language." Just as Greek was the language of commerce in the Roman Empire, English is today's international language of commerce. And noted lexicographer Dr. Wilfred Funk, who headed up the Funk & Wagnalls organization for many years, stated in his book Word Origins, "The American language is the richest in all history."

Martin J. Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer of American International Group (AIG), the international holding company engaged in various types of insurance, on May 30, 2007 , speaking at The Margaret Thatcher Lecture Series said of the English language, "It is a global language. It is the global language. The language of prosperity."

Last year I had the opportunity to travel to Europe, Asia and Africa. I had no trouble communicating with any native of the countries I visited-from the hotel desk clerks to the ten year old girl selling book marks in the streets of Cairo. She proudly spoke English and wanted to show the Americans she could speak it to us in our language, "Ten fo'one dolla."

Do people of other nations want to hear us speak their language when we are there? Yes. Do they demand it? No.

I found natives of the lands I traveled to be more than tolerant with me. They appreciated my sometimes bungling attempts to communicate. But, they too, wanted to practice their English with an American.

I have traveled extensively throughout Mexico and over the years acquired the ability to speak Spanish, one of a group of languages classified as the Romance languages. French, Italian, Portuguese, and Rumanian also belong to this group. And, these languages have many words, or variations of words in common.

Armed with this academic knowledge, when our ship docked at Brest, France after a transatlantic crossing, last year, my wife and I passed on a big breakfast aboard ship and set out to find a small French patisserie for local coffee and fare.

Brest is a pretty sea port which lies at the tip of the Breton peninsula and is an active shipping port; the French port nearest to America.

We found our romantic spot, Brioche Dorée. On the red awning appeared, "Restaurant, Sandwichs, Patisserie, and Salon de thé." The glass case across the front of the shop contained colorful pastries, many cheeses, and exotic sandwiches. This was our breakfast stop.

As we approached the counter to place our order another American tourist was attempting to make his needs known to the clerk, "I need a napkin." She raised her eyebrows and shrugged her shoulders as if she did not know what he was saying.

At this point, I said to her, "Dieu (as in view) servilletas, s'il vous plaît." I knew the Spanish word for napkin was servilleta and made a guess as to whether it was the same or similar in French. The clerk turned to me and smiled, then handed the tourist two napkins. As he said , "Thank you," I said, "Merci beaucoup."

My wife is longsuffering when it comes to my outgoing nature and she grinned a devilish grin, one which said, "OK, you won that one. You better stop while you're ahead."

I turned to the clerk and placed our order, "Dieu (as in view) croissants de abricot et dieu (again, as in view) caffes, s'il vous plaît." And I gave my Love a devilish grin of my own as the clerk smiled pleasantly at me and nodded her head in the affirmative.

The clerk drew two glazed rolls with large bright apricot centers from the glass case and placed them on little red plates. She then moved to the coffee machine, turned and asked, "Large or small?"

A few weeks after we returned home, our good friends Dr. Jim Nelson Black, author of two important books on American culture, When Nations Die and Freefall of the American University, and his wife, Connee, came for dinner and talk about our travels to Europe. I told them the story of the delightful patisserie and my ability to communicate in French. Dr. Black is fluent in French and appreciated my attempts and success in ordering two croissants and coffee.

However, he asked me, "How did the god croissants taste?"

"God croissants? What do you mean god croissants?"

He then explained that my request for dieu (as in view) is the French word for god. What I should have said was, deux (as in do). That is the word for two.

Perhaps Senator Obama hasn't encountered many foreigners in America. He overstates the truth when he says, "It's embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German..." The truth is most who come here speak a faltering English; most are not entirely fluent in English.

What is embarrassing is for Senator Obama, a United States senator and candidate for president of the United States to have a view counter to the rest of the world with regard to the English language, the language of his own country. A language which is, according to Mr. Sullivan, who quoted author and linguist David Crystal in his speech,"...the first language that's ever been spoken by more people as a second language than a first."

He should endorse English as the official language of the United States. After all, English is the language of commerce around the world. English is the language of prestige.

Oh, I forgot to finish the story of our romantic breakfast in the patisserie. As I said, my wife is longsuffering and the clerk was tolerant. When the transaction was complete, I looked straight into the eyes of the young French store clerk and said with a deliberate tone, "Merci beaucoup." I was now three for three.

© Jim Terry