American Ignorance –vs- Naivety

I am travelling in the United States as I write this and I admit I take some fun in telling people I’m from Belgium. My obvious America accent and familiarity with American issues make it almost impossible for them to believe. Well, OK, I suppose it is.

However, what really bugs me about Americans is how little they seem to know outside of their own little universe. A majority of Americans never leave the United States or, at the very least, never leave North America. While trips to Canada and Mexico might qualify them for international travellers, the fact is the rest of the world is an unexplored ocean for all the rest.

Questions about Belgium from family, friends and waitresses vary from “Where in Germany is that?” to “How has it been since communism ended there?” to if I’ve ever met Jean-Claude van Damme. (Actually, the questions about JCVD are acceptable as it shows they know “The Muscles from Brussels” is actually from there.) I have lived in Belgium for 20 years, but I bet if I was to go to my immediate family members and showed them a map without names they wouldn’t even get close to pointing at Belgium and I wouldn’t even think to ask them to point at The Benelux.

Another of the issues that annoy me is the lack of understanding Americans have for how the rest of the world thinks. I spoke to a lady today who actually believes Obama is damaging our relations with European countries. While my feelings about the Obama presidency will be saved for other posts, the simple fact is the rest of the world is starting to love us again since he was elected. My airport shuttle driver, who has been to Brussels and told me he and his wife loved it, summed it up by commenting on how Americans live in their own little universe where they think they are the only one’s on the earth so a Conservative naturally thinks everyone else hates Obama as much as they do. It is an unfortunate generalization that does not apply to everyone, but it is relatively accurate for a greater part of the population.

I had a fun discussion with a Dutchman on the plane flying to Philly. We were talking about a tour he once did in Philadelphia where the Americans taking the tour knew a lot of the history when they got to places like the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. He was very impressed about this. However, it is also true that if you were to ask the same Americans about Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar or Genghis Khan they would only be able to recall what they’ve seen in a Hollywood blockbuster. Better yet, ask them when the period of World War I or the battles of Napoleon and they will be totally lost. Even better, ask for the decade that the Soviets entered Prague or when China became communistic.

One of the ironies of our ignorance is that it doesn’t even fit with our potential image. A recent study regarding tourists abroad scored the Americans rather high. Although they didn’t do well for being cultured or easy when service was questionable, they did remarkably well for showing interest in local culture and in trying to speak the local language even if they did it horribly. Americans are naturally curious and interested in learning, but our school system has let us down and gotten lazy in teaching us about the world outside of our borders.

If you are an American and reading this you are probably thinking me an arrogant prick. I assure you, I have similar criticisms for my friends back in Belgium and the rest of Europe who formulate opinions about the United States without any real experience or understanding. Believe me when I tell you I have been equally critical of them in the subsequent discussions.

But I am an American and for this reason I want my country to look good. Our general knowledge and understanding of the rest of the world does not show much intelligence on our part and it is something we could improve on if we just opened our minds and pushed our schools to broaden the criteria. Perhaps, after a generation or two it would even help us deal with international problems in a more constructive way. In the meantime, please note that Belgium is not a part of Germany nor did Stalin ever have any power there.

Bad English

While walking in Budapest the other day I saw a pretty nice-looking restaurant. There was a menu on the outside, very professionally made as it was embedded in glass. Next to the same menu was a short story with the history of the restaurant claiming the owner was a “Hungarian-American”.

Problem was; the English on the menu was horrid. The word “caramelized” was used on more than one occasion and spelled differently (never right) each time. There were many structural and spelling errors and the translations of some of the food items were not always right.

Having seen this sort of thing many times I normally would have just rolled my eyes and moved on. However, the claim of an owner with American roots worked on me too much and I went in to complain. I give them credit for admitting they were aware of it and that they were trying to get it corrected, but I have to ask how a classy place like that could have allowed such a thing in the first place.

English is the most abused language in the world. The French take a lot of pride in the “proper use” of their language and they cringe at the versions rendered by people from Canada, Belgium and assorted African countries, but the differences can be attributed to different evolutions rendered by native speakers. This is common with many languages where emigration has created pockets of people whose language-use has evolved in different ways.

English, on the other hand, has a completely different problem. Take a Swede and an Italian doing business together and the chances are high they are communicating in English. Partners from Japan and Russia will likely speak English together. Facebook friends from Argentina and China will be chatting in English. InBev administrators from Brazil and Belgium…well…you get the picture.

With so many people using English despite not being native speakers and then communicating with other non-native speakers it only stands to reason that the language takes a major beating every minute of every day. However, this is no excuse for obvious misuse.

The Belgian Soccer League has installed a new system this year where the top six teams qualify for the “Play-offs”. These play-offs are a round-robin post season where all teams play each other in home and away matches and the total points determine the final winner. This, by definition, is not a play-off and emphasizes a new problem where words start to take new meaning after being applied in the wrong way.

By the time all is said and done we are going to have a completely new language. Belgian schools already differentiate American and English as two separate languages and I have heard of students losing points for having an American intonation or using American spelling (favourite –vs– favorite). Somewhere along the way the U.S. version has been deemed inferior.

What about this makes me angry? I suppose it is the feeling that there isn’t a dang thing I can do about it. We cannot force people to improve their English and it would be presumptuous for us to even try. In fact, we need to be grateful that all these other cultures have accepted English as the international business and travel language as this has made world communication much easier for all of us.

Nevertheless, we need to be prepared for the ultimate consequence and that is the further regression of the English language as we know it today and the advancement of Bad English.