THE ROAD TO PEACE IS UNDERSTANDING EACH OTHER! A MAJOR REASON FOR THE LACK OF TRUST IN OTHER NATIONS – THE LANGUAGE BARRIER
THE ROAD TO PEACE IS UNDERSTANDING EACH OTHER!
A MAJOR REASON FOR THE LACK OF TRUST IN OTHER NATIONS –
THE LANGUAGE BARRIER
In thinking of Americans’ relationship to the other 195 nations on our planet, I feel Lada Ray gives excellent advice. I know that growing up in America, I often heard that people of the Middle East were mean. In preparing to visit the Middle East, our tour guide cautioned the women about speaking to the Arab men. I actually felt uneasy.
Thankfully, my rebellious nature kicked in! I dared to look at and speak to the so-called mean Arabs. I found them very gracious and willing to assist in any way they could.
One morning I wanted an orange with breakfast. I asked the waiter in our Palestinian hotel dining room for one. There were no oranges in the kitchen, so he walked to a nearby fruit stand and purchased an orange and brought it back to me, refusing to allow me to pay him for it.
Another time, a group of us got lost in Damascus. It was raining. We stopped to ask a man, waiting for his bus, for directions to our destination. Instead of telling us, he volunteered to walk with us–in the rain and taking a chance of missing his bus. We offered to pay him, but he declined. Just two examples of “how mean the people of the Middle East are.”
Having the opportunity to meet one-on-one people I had been told were mean totally disproved this American propaganda. Although I speak only English, I have learned a very important lesson via my travels abroad to 4 continents–there are many people to meet and love on our beautiful planet!
Following WWII, Americans considered the Japanese our enemies. While attending seminary in the 1960s, I met and became best friends with a Japanese student. She spent time in my home, even though some of the neighbors were upset because I invited a Jap into my home. The Americans who met and got to know her loved her. A few years later, she died from cancer, as a result of being exposed to the fallout from the atomic bombs Americans dropped on Japan–the only time nuclear bombs have been used in warfare against another country. She, a Japanese who would die of cancer due to American bombs, came to visit Americans, stayed in our homes, cooked us fabulous Japanese meals, gave us gifts from Japan, taught us about her culture, and became a well loved adopted member of several American families.
Excerpts from an article by Lada Ray–a linguist born in Russia who has traveled and lived in nearly 30 nations on our planet, including the United States, where she worked as a financial consultant for AIG and Smith Barney/Citigroup–add to my discoveries of the Way to Peace through getting to know people from nations around our planet.
“Let me first say that in the global scheme of things, the language separation is how they are able to keep us all divided and distrustful of each other. If we don’t understand each other’s language, we cannot know the truth. It’s so much easier to pull the wool over people’s eyes and get them to listen to your own propaganda. Perhaps because of that I initially became a linguist. It will be so important for humans to eventually develop a global language that would become the means of close communication among all.
In this respect, English-speakers are in by far the worst situation. Usually, people from other countries have learned some foreign languages, including English. European citizens tend to speak several languages fluently. Many Russian citizens would often know a regional language or two and a bit of a foreign language (alas, not well enough), in addition to Russian. But the US citizens tend to speak only English since it is assumed that everyone anywhere would understand you. This seeming victory of the English language, coupled with absolutely horrendous school instruction and lack of travel experience, harbors a seed of terrible defeat and future isolation. And this is in the country that prides itself on being the melting pot of immigrants!
All I can say is that the world is changing. It is my advice to my American and other English-speaking readers to begin learning foreign languages – FAST!”
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THE ROAD TO PEACE IS UNDERSTANDING EACH OTHER!
