Effie's Blog

I’ve studied English for more than 10 years, but at this point, I still cannot say that I’ve mastered this language. After a little more than two months, I’m heading to London and for the first time in my life, I’m going to live and study in a foreign country. And my biggest doubt is, “Will I be okay?”

It seems extremely ridiculous that this question is asked by someone who has been studying English for more than one third of her life and majored in it at university. Yet I just can’t help but wonder how come that English has become so important in our education, our society and our lives. Even though one may be a huge fan of their own country, one may never plan to go abroad for a vacation, and even if they did, they may be so proud of their mother tongue so that they refuse to speak any other languages. However, with English this is difficult; learning it cannot be avoided as there is always someone around to remind you that you not being fluent in English makes you inferior to others. Let us consider this further and consider that no matter where we are--from school to at home, English follows us everywhere from classes to movies.

Then here it is! An English teacher, Patricia Ryan, who has been teaching in the Gulf for over 30 years and has told everyone not to insist on English. To be honest, I was already in complete agreement with her even before watching the video clip. Patricia was one of the first non-Muslims to teach in the state schools in Kuwait. She opened up her presentation in a humorous way, and she certainly had a charismatic charm that made the audience unable to stop laughing and constantly giving rounds of applauding. Then she brought to our attention by some shocking statistics:

“Sadly, languages are dying at an unprecedented rate. A language dies every 14 days….Do we really want to end up with 600 languages and the main one being English or Chinese?” asked Patricia.

Over the past 30 years, Patricia has witnessed some changes regarding English teaching; it is more than a school curriculum but a universal barrier. She explained that is why everyone is so desperate in learning English, which is a drive of chasing a circle for a better education and better jobs. However, if the best education system in the world rejects students based on their linguistic ability, it could cause huge losses to entire human beings as a race. Patricia encouraged us to appreciate diversity because we don’t know what we will lose along with the dying language. The same rule applies to international students. If western education shuts its door to them only because their English is not good enough, they would never know if he or she is the next Einstein, or be able to invent a  cure for cancer.

All in all, I think that  knowledge supported by different ways of thinking should be taken into consideration by each and every one of us in our society of dying language.

“This system equates intelligence with a knowledge of English, which is quite arbitrary, ” Patricia noted.

Going to be an international student myself, I always think it’s cruel for someone not able to pursue their dreams of studying abroad merely due to their English ability. So I guess there is nobody else more suitable than Patricia Ryan, an English teacher with more than 30 years of experiences, to raise people’s awareness of this issue. Nevertheless, Patricia made it absolutely clear that she was not against a global language, but each language is like an intellectual treasury, housing a different way of thinking. While learning English and absorbing its thoughts, as Patricia said, “Mind your language and use it to spread great ideas.”

As the common belief in Taiwan that English fluency means to have a better job and a better chance in life, I do agree. But we have to keep it in mind that learning a second language can help us be better equipped, but it is just a tool like any other skill, not a lifesaver. Therefore, without putting extra efforts, English can’t guarantee you a smooth life path.