(Photo by Mark Sylvester)Several years ago, I was riding on the Orange Line subway, commuting out of Boston with some colleagues. As the train jolted to a stop, the announcer called out "Haymarket!"
One co-worker sighed, "If they're going to have people announcing the stops, they should at least hire someone who speaks English!"
Angrily, I retorted, "He was speaking English. He just said it with an accent, like I would have!"
The name of the stop was, indeed, Haymarket. I'm not from the Boston area and my r's are very pronounced. I could not place the announcer's accent, but it was clear he was not a native speaker of English. And he was probably an immigrant.
Some co-workers agreed. More than once, I heard "They don't want to learn English!" and "Well, they just come here and expect everyone to speak their language. We'll all be speaking Spanish before long!"
And our views came out. My co-worker said he resented the influx of immigrants. I thought he was being narrow-minded. Huge debate ensued among the group. All because of the word Haymarket.
The power of language.
That's what I'd like to explore in this blog. And since language is all about communication, please feel free to comment, agree, disagree, debate. Don't hesitate to suggest topics you'd like to see discussed. In other words, please join the conversation!
What are your language views?
