Focus on Education A belief that hampers learning By: Anthony Pellegrino

A traditional idea that hampers learning for many adults and students is that they insist that “English is their Second Language”. They must dispel this belief if they are to become proficient in the English language. It doesn’t matter whether any of the languages are first or second. What matters is which one will best propel you into opportunities and which one will most hamper you.

These people refuse to accept that the CNMI is no longer the isolated tropical island it once was. It is now in the world’s spotlight. Indigenous people move to the United States seeking education and, for some, a better job. Others travel about the world. Our shores are inundated with people with different nationalities, many as long-time residents, others as tourists. We must learn to move in tune with those complex changes or we’ll eventually become a minority in our own islands. And proficient use of the English language is the vehicle to success.

It amazes me how many student and adults constantly use the excuse that they do not handle the English language with any proficiency because it is their “second language”. Even teachers lament that their students cannot do well in school because English is their second language which seems to excuse them. To me this is a cop out.

Yet almost everytime we speak, read or write anything it is in the English language. All business whether in the public or private sector is conducted in English. Could it be that the sad fact is that these people use this excuse for their laziness in learning to read, write and speak English correctly?

All one has to do is to notice the high number of foreign students who enter our schools without one word of English speaking ability and in three to four years they graduate at the top of their class overcoming almost insurmountable obstacles to master a really foreign language. In Europe many students speak anywhere between two to perhaps five languages. I have never heard anyone complain that their English has suffered as a result of having to learn another language. To survive they learn the languages necessary.

In my own life I did not begin to speak, read or write English until I was seven years old. Italian was my first language until I came to America. All my friends and millions of immigrants have struggled and many today still struggle with having to learn English well. Through hard work and long hours they study until it becomes their “first language”. Mastery of English or any other language is a hard and grueling task that never ends. But the rewards after mastery are limitless.

Are we to assume that the person who complains that English is not his “first language” is quite proficient in the “first language” he lays claim to? Or is his real unspoken excuse that he is too mentally lazy to master any language and prefers to grunt his way through life? If anyone in the CNMI is going to succeed whether he remains here or moves away, he had better start immediately developing proficiency in English. The excuse is inexcusable.

Please do not think that I am suggesting that Chamorro and Carolinian are not important languages and should not be spoke or studied. But we are an English speaking state and our ability to handle the English language will determine our position in that state.

There are no excuses for sloppy English ability. It merely reflects a person’s literacy level. Clothes will make a man or a woman, but language ability will reveal the true character.