The Market Will Decide What Language(s) We Speak

On any given street in the San Fernando Valley, it is quite common to hear Spanish spoken (not to mention Russian, Armenian, Hebrew or Chinese). And in reaction to this phenomenon, it is also common to hear people complain: “They’re in America now. Why don’t they just speak English?”

Well, as a Latino, I have an answer. As a student of history, I have another. And as a believer in the free market and free speech, I have yet another.

My Latino pride will say, “Yes, we’re in the Americas, and we were here first, so what are you doing here?” From my perspective, if people are speaking to each other, what business is it of yours what language they use? They weren’t talking to you. And even if they were, do you really think Latinos speak Spanish just to annoy you or because we are trying to replace English with Spanish as the language of the land?

Get real. You don’t have to tell monolingual Spanish speakers that speaking fluent English can make a big difference in their paychecks. They know this and they want their children to speak English as well. The adults simply don’t have the time, the resources or the educational background, and English as a Second Language classes across the city have long waiting lists. So, of those who complain I can only ask: Do you have any constructive ideas? Ready to accept tax increases to support an extensive adult education program?

OK, so let’s try the historical answer. The first languages spoken in California were in fact Native American. So if some haughty Anglo wants to insist on primacy, perhaps we should all speak Chumash or Mojave. But the first European settlers in California spoke Spanish.

After more than 250 years of Spanish-language dominance there followed 150 years of English-language dominance. With all that history, that California should now become increasingly bilingual in Spanish and English seems hardly surprising.

Now let’s take the free market approach. I happen to be a true believer in the principles put forth in the Bill of Rights. I would like to point out what should be glaringly obvious to the English-only types; when the Constitution states that we have freedom of speech, it doesn’t limit this freedom to any particular language. If some of that free speech should be in Spanish or Chinese or Armenian, then fine. That is what freedom is all about.

In this country that has thus far been able to sustain this marvelous free speech (despite numerous assaults), we also have a free market. Funny thing, the two go together. So why don’t we let this free market work in the area of free speech?

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The reality in Southern California is that speaking Spanish can be a significant advantage in many sectors of our economy. This shouldn’t be a surprise. There are more Latinos in the greater Los Angeles area than there are Danes in Denmark or Israelis in Israel. More than one-fifth of all Latinos in the United States live right here. Now that’s a market.

This market buys food, shoes, houses, cars, TVs and clothes. And this market works in banks, factories, warehouses, offices, hospitals and shops. Communicating to this market in the language of the buyer is only good business. So naturally, speaking Spanish has economic value. And, of course, so does English.

The free market will ultimately decide. Latino kids will grow up in the U.S. They will learn English, and they will learn Spanish, and they will work in the evolving economy, and they will make their own decisions as to what to speak. It’s up to them; not to you or to me. We’re going to have to trust the invisible hand of the free market.

I believe it will produce a multilingual and multicultural society that will be economically stronger than ever by being more in tune with the rest of the world and its markets.