the importance of knowing two languages
Telling stories to multilingual children is a humbling experience for a mono-lingual storyteller. English is my mothertongue and it is the only language I am fluent in. I typify native English speakers in that for most people whose first language is English, to our shame, it remains the only language we converse in. I can use all sorts of excuses, such as languages other than English were not taught at my school, standard for state primary and high schools in country areas in the 1960's and 1970's in Australia, and still the case for most country primary schools. Now high schools usually offer a language, but not till Year 8 or 9 and most school leavers are not fluent in the language they have 'learnt' at school. However, according to the 2001 census, English is the only language spoken in the home for around 80% of the population. This means that one fifth of the Australian population speak a language other than English at home. That's 4 million people. Mandarin, Italian, Vietnamese and Greek are the major languages other than English, spoken in Australia. Many first and second generation migrants are bilingual.
When Europeans first came to Australia there were over 300 languages spoken by the indigenous people of Australia, the Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders. Today, 200 years after European colonisation, many of those languages have died with the speakers and many more are endangered. However, an Aboriginal language remains the main language spoken for about 50,000 people. English may be the forth or fifth language spoken by many Aboriginal people. In 2003 attempts were made to introduce Aboriginal languages into the state of NSW School curriculum, however it was an option that only 46 schools took up. Preserving and maintaining Aboriginal languages is a priority for Aboriginal people that must also be embraced by the general population and government and non-government organisations if we are to prevent the extinction of all indigenous languages. Language is more than being able to communicate.
'Language is at the core of cultural identity. It links people to their land, it protects history through story and song, it holds the key to kinship systems and to the intricacies of tribal law including spirituality, secret/sacred objects and rites. Language is a major factor in people retaining their cultural identity and many say "if the Language is strong, then Culture is strong"'. (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission ATSIC 2000, p.4)
Australian sign language, known as Auslan, is the main language of the Deaf community living in Australia. A survey conducted by Hyde and Power (1991) calculated that there were 15,400 deaf users of sign language, and possibly another 15,000 hearing users. And yet, unlike many countries in Europe and Asia, where sign the news service is presented in both spoken word and sign language, there are no Auslan signers anywhere on Australian television, with the exception of the intermittent presence of a host on the children's show 'Playschool'.
Colonisation meant that languages other than English were extinguished, endangered or excluded. However in the 1970's Australia's public policy of Multiculturalism replaced previous 'White Australia' policies. Principles promoting cultural diversity and social justice became enshrined in legislation. Although it has been in place for the last forty years, it is paradoxical that one of the basic tenets of cultural identity, speaking in your home language, is largely ignored. Despite the fact that Aboriginal people are no longer forbidden to speak, or punished, for speaking their mother tongue, this does not mean that indigenous languages are no longer at risk. We must be prepared to be as outraged over the suppression and loss of indigenous languages as we are about the loss of indigenous flora and fauna. In the same way that the introduction of foreign species of animals and plants is responsible for the extinction and decimation of many Australian native animals and plants, the imposition of the dominant language, English, displaces indigenous languages.
However outrage is not enough. We must actively encourage the integration of indigenous languages in school curriculums, not only in Australia, but throughout the world. In Australia it is important to look at how Europeans have anglicised words and used a European frame of reference for describing Australian flora and fauna. We need to acknowledge the Aboriginal origins of many words in our lingua franca.
Even though I am a monolingual storyteller, I take every opportunity to introduce my listeners to words and phrases from the country or language group my story is from. Story is my second language. So saying, the following traditional Cuban folktale is a story I regularly tell to promote and celebrate bilingualism.
The Importance of Knowing Two Languages
Yesterday morning I was on my usual walk to the beach, when I stopped dead in my tracks because I saw a family of antechinus, bush mice, huddled together in the middle of the road. They'd come out of the rainforest and were now stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one side of the road I spied the neighbour's ginger tom cat and on the other side was a stray tabby cat. Both of these cats had that family of antechinus in their sights. Now the road wasn't a busy one, otherwise the mice would be crushed in an instant, but I did wonder what would be their fate. As the cats began to close in on them, I watched the mother mouse huddle her brood around her. The cats continued to stalk their prey and I considered whether I would intervene, when the most extraordinary thing happened. The mother mouse stood up on her hind legs and went WOOF! WOOF! Those two cats jumped up in the air, somersaulted and flew off into the bush. And then I heard that mother Mouse say, "See kids, the importance of knowing two languages."
Recommended websites:
Survey Source:
Hyde, M., & Power, D. (1991). The use of Australian Sign Language by Deaf people (Research Report No. 1). Nathan: Griffith University, Faculty of Education, Centre for Deafness Studies and Research.
Story Source:
The Barking Mouse: A tale from Cuba by Antonio Sacre from More Ready-to-tell Tales From Around the World
by David Holt, Bill Mooney
August House Publishers, Little Rock Arkansas USA 2000
language, photo by Roman W. Schatz
