language

Everywhere in Aruba there are these little booklets that are supposedly guides to help you on your vacation. You might find them in various restaurants or hotels. In reality, the only thing that they guide a person to are the numerous shops.

But, to at least appear to be a guide, there is a bit of information on Aruba in there, such as the culture, holidays, government and the local languages. When our tourists find out that those who grew up here can speak at least four languages, there are usually exclamations of wonder and marvel at our linguistic prowess.

Yeah, well. Mmphmm.

First off, usually people can indeed speak at least three languages (Dutch, English, Spanish). There exists a debate whether Papiamento is a language or a dialect. Or maybe it is a mixture of both. So I suppose the jury is still out on that one.

Second, we don't exactly sit around and learn languages because we are just that scholarly. Dutch is our official language and is used in government and court documents. It is also the school language. English is necessary because the vast majority of tourists are from the U.S. and we'd like to be able to communicate with them in a manner that is more efficient than point and grunt. Also, let's not forget the ubiquity of the American culture. Titanic just isn't the same with sub-titles. Spanish is also on the list because we are very close to South America and the culture. Dancing a merengue simply isn't fun if you don't understand the words.

I won't deny it; knowing all these languages can be very handy sometimes, especially if you are in a foreign country and you want to be able to discuss the price of a particular item without anybody understanding what you are saying. We practically have our choice of language to use.

The thing is, that we grow up learning all these languages practically at the same time. The result of this, in my experience, is that no language is learned perfectly, because we fall back on using different languages in one sentence instead of limiting our use to one language. So while it is enough in order to converse with a visitor, when we visit their native countries, the switch to limiting ourselves to one language only is difficult.

However, knowing all these languages do give us a greater appreciation for the different cultures that these langauges belong to.

Comments

[Francine]

When I visited Aruba, I was one of those expressing marvel and wonder. :) I think it's great, espeically in The Caribbean where not many of us, sadly, speak a second language.

[Kari]

A choice of three languages? All fluent? Wow. I've often wondered at Trinidad and its close proximity to Venezuela/the South American coastline, but the lack of structure in making Spanish a required second language. It's not even widely-spoken enough to simply be picked up as a "cradle language" either...

[arubagirl]

Near fluent in three languages. The level of profiency varies, of course. Some people are better at Spanish than Dutch, some people are better at English than Spanish.

I think that Spanish is so popular we like their music, and their countries. Venezuela and Colombia are the places were a lot of Arubans go to get their medical treatment if ours is lacking. Marc Anthony's new single (he's J-Lo's current husband) is practically an anthem here. Because we hear the language everyday, you learn to speak it. I think that plays a greater role than that it is taught in school, although it is. It's mandatory for at least 4 years, depending on which level of highschool you go to.