Language Is Necessary for Our Survival in Today’s World
How presenters defined “the nation” and its “critical language needs” proved to be an important aspect of Vibram Five Fingers Shoes the National Language Conference presentations.
Several federal representatives argued that a national language policy should conceive of the nation’s needs more broadly, especially in acknowledging the existence of linguistic minority communities in the United States. These presentations attempted to expand definitions of the nation’s language needs to recognize non-English-speaking citizens’ claims to equal access and civil rights, as well as to address the general lack of cultural understanding and empathy for linguistic minorities. Presentations on this topic included the Justice Department’s need for greater numbers of translators for federal trials, the Labor Department’s need for more bilingual employees to service Limited English Proficiency small business owners and workers (Mok), and the Department of Health and Human Services’ need to recruit more heritage language speakers into the medical field in order to remove cultural and linguistic barriers that limit many citizens’ access to the health care system Jang).
Meanwhile, Under Secretary Chu and U.S. Representative Rush Holt, among others, used their conference presentations to define the nation as a citizenry insecure at home because of the military’s language shortfall in overseas theaters of war. In his opening address, Representative Holt argued that the September 11 terrorist attacks on U.S. soil occurred because vital intelligence gathered in foreign countries had been “lost in translation” (1). Chu, meanwhile, explained that, even though “national security and national interest could once be discussed in terms of physical borders and cultural boundaries, it is indisputably no longer so. National security concerns take us from the streets of Manhattan to the mountains of Afghanistan and to the resort cities of Bali” (“The Influence” 3). Holt and Chu tried to narrow the scope of this language policy debate as they defined the nation’s language problems in terms of the military’s overseas operations. Moreover, Holt and Chu repeatedly echoed the conference’s theme of “a call to action” as a way of tabling debate about the ideal aims of language education. Chu, for example, maintained that America’s monolingualism and cultural illiteracy are “a fact of life” that conference participants must accept for now. As a nation, Chu argued, we don’t need more talk about ideals “we need action” that shapes our nation’s “raw materials” into the language competence that is “necessary for our survival in today’s world”. Ultimately, both Holt and Chu tried to compel conference participants to commit to protecting the nation rather than debating what should or should not be defined as the nation s language needs.
The DoD published a white paper entitled A Call to Action for National Foreign Language Capabilities in order to synthesize conference deliberations and to provide a framework for legislators who would join the effort to form this national security language policy. The document, published in February 2005, proposes a seven-part strategy for coordinating the nation’s efforts to identify, manage, and expand its language resources. Foremost among the components of this strategy is the creation of a National Foreign Language Coordination Council, chaired by a National Language Authority, which would be responsible for “developing and overseeing the implementation of a national foreign language strategy across all sectors,” from commercial, educational, and nonprofit organizations to local, state, and federal governments . Not surprisingly, the military’s definition of its language needs as the nation’s language needs dominates the white paper’s analysis and recommendations. Five Fingers KSO Although the white paper does mention that the United States has a responsibility to ensure educational, economic, and civic opportunities for the nation’s heritage communities, the DoD asserts that it is in the nation’s best interest for the military and intelligence communities to lay immediate claim to “the limited language resources that exist right now”.
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