Review of Video Series
Speak Your Languages. 2004, Highline Public Schools, Seattle, Washington (School District 401). Video series on DVD or VHS (7 videos). Total running time: 57 minutes. (Reviewed by Susan Bauckus, UCLA)
Reviewed by Susan Bauckus, Center for World Languages, UCLA
The topic of language learning and teaching in the United States can cause unease among Americans. We may chuckle knowingly at the joke about Americans’ resolute monolingualism, having internalized without questioning it that as language learners we are hopeless.
While many Americans are indeed monolingual, we have abundant evidence that many are linguistically privileged. Metropolitan areas in particular have large numbers of residents who speak other languages. For example, the 2000 U.S. Census figures tell us that 39 % of Californians and 54% of Los Angeles County residents speak a language other than English at home. Likewise, 28% of New York State residents and 47.5% of New York City residents speak another language at home. One of the implications of living in multilingual areas is something that we perhaps do not internalize enough: knowing other languages has value even inside the U.S., and even for people who are not language instructors.
The video series Speak Your Languages does its part to convey the occupational benefits of knowing other languages in a local context. The series was produced by the Highline Public School District in Seattle, Washington, and its goal is to encourage pupils to value and develop their language abilities. The series comprises seven segments, each 7-9 minutes long, featuring people with jobs that call on high-level foreign language skills. The subjects are filmed at their place of work and they describe their jobs and their language backgrounds. The jobs shown are varied and some are unusual: they include freelance translators, an in-house translator, immigration counselors, an international non-profit manager, a court interpreter, an international baseball scout, and a Chinese-speaking police sergeant who is also the mayor of his town. Everyone featured works in the Seattle metropolitan area where, according to the 2000 Census, 14.6% of the population speaks a non-English language at home.
The series’ principal message is that language skills are job skills. A strength of Speak Your Languages is that it communicates not only that message but also a number of equally sensible truths about language learning and knowledge. We observe, for example, that the subjects have varied language backgrounds: some are immigrants who have learned English in the U.S., others are heritage speakers, including one heritage speaker of English (born in England, grew up in Israel), and others’ language knowledge began in the classroom. Language, in other words, can be acquired in a variety of ways, all of which are valid. Viewers can also note the following: linguistic diversity benefits communities; bilingualism learned in the family is a gift; and less than perfect knowledge of another language is still usable knowledge. Another strength of the series is that it credits the viewer with the intelligence to draw appropriate conclusions on their own and does not indulge in dreary hype such as cheerleading or teacherly harangues. These qualities give the series an open-endedness that would make it equally appropriate for high school and college students.
Some of the segments are less successful than others. It was difficult to figure out, for example, what the in-house translators actually do. Likewise, the segment about the Chinese-speaking mayor/police sergeant would have been much improved if it had shown him speaking Chinese on the job. Nevertheless, the variety of the jobs and people shown enriches the series and compensates for these minor imperfections.
Speak your Languages is available for purchase on the production company’s web site, where visitors can also see previews of each video. They may be dismayed by the cost ($238 for the series, and single videos for $49). Some may also be disconcerted by the decision to assign each short segment to a separate disk. While this kind of packaging could be considered a waste of materials, it can also allow for sharing among classrooms at a single institution. Purchases support Highline bilingual youth programs. An on-line study guide is also available.
The growing awareness of the heritage language phenomenon in the U.S. brings with it an understanding that language knowledge, regardless of how it is acquired, can be as useful both abroad and in one’s own city. Making this point represents a welcome departure from the earnest tail wagging that is often practiced to encourage language study, on the glories of target culture X, the need to contribute to understanding among peoples, and the ability to see the world in new ways. It might be a relief for some language learners to hear that we can learn and use languages to communicate in whatever way we choose to, including in the workplace. Speak Your Languages makes an excellent contribution to broadcasting that unadorned and practical message.
Works Cited
United States Census Bureau. United States Census 2000. 2 Oct. 2005 www.census.gov.
Joke:
“What is a bilingual?”
“Someone who knows two languages.”
“And a monolingual?”
“That’s an American.” (back)
Date Posted: 8/31/2005