Teaching across the language gap

"Afflications, you say?"\nA student leans forward and whispers the correct pronunciation.\n"Oh, afflictions. Yes, it must be the glasses," jokes associate instructor and graduate student Efrat El-Hanany. \nAlthough this incident of an instructor mispronouncing a word might not have interrupted the process of education, instances do occur when students cannot learn concepts because they cannot understand the teacher's pronunciation, accent or language. Students and teachers convey differing opinions about whether multilingual professors create diversity or cause problems in the classroom. But most agree different languages encourage cultural understanding. \nTeaching in English has proven difficult for some teachers. El-Hanany, an Israeli citizen, teaches History of Jewish Art and Renaissance through Modern Art. Because she speaks six languages (French, Italian, Chinese, English, Hebrew and a little German), she has to occasionally remind herself to think in English so she can speak in English. Sometimes, she comes across words she cannot pronounce.\n"But with students I feel free not to remember a word," El-Hanany said. "Elsewhere, I might say instead of 'merchants,' however you say that, I would say 'salespeople.'" \nEl-Hanany said she feels more comfortable around students because they help her with pronunciation rather than judging her by her mistakes. In her classroom, the student helps the teacher with words, while the teacher helps the student learn concepts and ideas. When students attempt to understand or speak a foreign language, others notice the effort and are more apt to open up and comprehend the student, El-Hanany said.\n"A knowledge of foreign languages and cultures is an essential skill in the modern world," said Visiting Professor of Finnish Language Tapio Hokkanen, a citizen of Finland who also speaks English, German, Swedish and Hungarian. "Everybody knows that the codes in communication in Japan are very different from the Western ones. My example comes from Hungarian. When you meet an elderly lady in Hungary, you have to be prepared to greet her, 'Kezét csókolom,' which is, 'I kiss your hand.' I could neither use it in my own culture, nor in the (English-speaking) world. Although foreigners are allowed to violate these codes, we can feel safer when we are aware of them."\nSome people say more classes should be taught in foreign languages. Hearing and speaking different languages can give students a larger perspective on other cultures, Hokkanen said.\nOthers say because many in the United States speak English, classes should be taught only in that language. As a result, instructors who have trouble speaking English could build barriers in education.\n"My calculus teacher was Indian, and when she got frustrated (she) spoke in" her native language, freshman Nicole Biddle said. "I always wondered what she was saying. It's good to get outside views besides American views, but sometimes my calculus teacher couldn't find the proper words and couldn't get her message across to us … or at least to me."\nInstructors can build barriers in such cases when they interrupt discussions to find the proper word or when they cannot answer a student's questions in English. Students can then lose their train of thought or give up trying to learn the concept altogether. El-Hanany said this situation does not happen often. She said language barriers occur more frequently when gestures or expressions are misinterpreted.\n"One of my friends from Bloomington visited me in Israel once," El-Hanany said. "I jokingly said, 'I'll bill you later for the stay.'"\nAlthough the comment is a joking expression in Israel, her friend thought she was unwelcome and felt bad about staying in Efrat's home. If her friend had understood the language and expressions of Israeli culture, the misinterpretation might have been avoided.\nEnforcing a worldwide language is one way many hope to dissolve language barriers. Several activist groups have pushed English as the official language of the United States. U.S. ENGLISH, which was founded in 1983, claims to be the oldest of these groups and has more than 1.5 million members. According to its Web site (www.us-english.org), U.S.ENGLISH believes designating English as the official language will increase opportunities for immigrants to learn and speak English, which they need to succeed.\nImposing one language on a country, its immigrants or the world might seem to have benefits. But the utopian idea also has complications. \n"I would not support forcing everyone in the world to speak English," said Ken Gros Louis, IUB chancellor from 1980-2001 and professor emeritus of comparative literature. "Communication would certainly be easier if there were one language, but who decides which one? How about Chinese? It seems to me better to encourage each person to learn several languages, rather than impose one."\nThe number of languages a professor has learned is less important than his or her knowledge of the topics he or she teaches, Gros Louis said.\n"Certainly many faculty were hired during my years as chancellor whose first language was not English or who were multilingual," Gros Louis said. "Europeans especially grow up knowing between three and six languages just to enable them to get around Europe. I don't think anyone would have been hired who was not fluent in English. The hiring (probably had to do with) their expertise in a field of knowledge"