We didn’t anticipate the language challenges. We are “ugly” Americans traveling in a foreign country without understanding their language. We thought so little about the language aspect that we didn’t even get to the thought “everyone will speak English”. Boots’ high school French does come in handy. Ruthi has no ear for language nuances in English let alone the French.
Ruthi has always wondered about the ESL (English as a Second Language) challenges for immigrants like her grandparents (German and Italian) and some aunts/uncles who arrived on America’s shores with little or no formal education, no understanding of English written or spoken, etc. Her mother didn’t speak English until she learned it in the course of her education starting at 1st grade at Lincoln grade school in Marseilles, IL.
So, with a sense of other languages in general (high school Latin for Ruthi and French for Boots), knowing “oui”, “non”, “arret”, “s’il vous plait”, “bon jour”, and “merci” have gotten us by. But walking through Costco today with no English signs or language around us was very isolating. Even though we really appreciate the anonymity of large cities, taking away our language is more personally isolating.
We can understand immigrants staying together with others of their common language to feel connected and a part of something bigger. At the same time, we see the need for immigrants to learn the language of the greater society to belong there. These language conflicts create large challenges for immigrants.
