Watch yer language!

***Opinions expressed in the following post may or may not reflect those of the blogmaster.***

I am reading a lot recently about languages. I saw a pole on Facebook about whether English should be the official language of the U.S. Although in some areas and neighbourhoods it's all but unrecongnizable, I always thought it WAS! Is there any chance, or reason that this might be changed?

Then another friend sent me news about the possibility of the Canadian national anthem being sung in Hindi at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Although Canadians, who will very soon be the forefathers of the first totally beige country in the world are the last people you expect to get all emotional over such an issue, it seems to have happened. Check out this article.

Now I've posted my comments here before about how stupid I think it is for national anthems to be sung at sporting events, but that's not including the Olympics. It literally is country vs. country so it really DOES make sense there. But at an NHL game in Detroit they sing the U.S. national anthem for a team that they should sing either the Canadian or Swedish national anthem for. In the Canadian Football League most of the players are American but that doesn't stop us from singing "O Canada" does it? Other sports are similar. But when it does make sense to sing the anthems I would think the song of a country should be sung in the official language(s) of that country. It's really a non-issue to me.

The question I'm asking myself is what the purpose or pertinence of singing the Canadian anthem in Hindi might have been. Is it because we have a higher number of Indians in Canada now? Canada's evolving but it's still Canada. I don't see Hindi making a big splash in our popular culture. And I think it will be a VERY long time before Bollywood is more popular than Hollywood and the sitar replaces the guitar in Canada. In fact I'll go way out on a limb and say it will NEVER happen. At least not on MY watch. I have nothing against either, just, (shudder), not my cup of cha.

Besides, who will these new-to-Canada Indians be cheering for in the 2010 Winter Olympics? India or Canada. If we could get all the Indians in Canada to cheer genuinely for the Canadian national team to whoop the Indian national team in, uh, some sport that both India and Canada compete in, let's say for argument's sake snow cricket, then and only then would I even think about thinking about listening to an argument for singing O Canada in Hindi. But it's never gonna happen is it? The former, not the latter.

Just about everyone in India speaks English anyway right? Especially the ones who are immigrating to Canada. They have training, they have education, they have skills, they work for peanuts compared to Joe Canadian AND they speak English. So what's the big deal about singing an English song in English? If they feel they absolutely MUST sing it in another language, how bout French?

I live in Korea. If I were working construction or something like that I'd learn the language. But I'm teaching English so I don't need, (or want), to learn it. But every time I go to a Kia Tiger baseball game I stand up and sing the national anthem. In Korean. Okay, okay, I HUM most of it, but I sing the parts I know in Korean. There's one line in it that translates to, "Like that Mt. Namsan armoured pine, standing on duty still, wind or frost, unchanging ever be our resolute will." It pretty much sums up the country for me. So I know for a fact what would happen if I were to even TRY to sing the national anthem in English. Hey there are LOTS of people in Korea who speak English as their native language! Why can't WE sing their national anthem in English? Cuz they stand resolute and unchanging on duty and it would then be every other fan in the building's duty to lynch my "waygookin" ass. Well don't we in Canada, "...stand on guard for thee"?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is better than Canada or worse. All I'm saying is I have no problem at all singing the Korean national anthem in Korean. I've never even thought of singing it in English. And it's not for fear of the lynch mob. It's just the right way to sing it. It's like, it's like... Andrea Bocelli's Con te Partiro sung by Brittany Speares: "I'll go with you baby baby..."

I mean that just ain't right!

Con te Partiro is a song that almost makes me cry every time I hear it. Especially that last note. Damn! I don't really need to know the English translation. It is better without. And there's something about not knowing the meaning that makes my imagination take part in a way it couldn't if I knew.

Contrarily, if the national anthem of Canada were to be sung in Hindi at the Olympic games, not knowing what they are saying might serve a different purpose. You KNOW there would be people saying, "Now wait a minute, for all we know they could be singing:

O Canada
we're glad you're so naive.
We sing this song
but you don't make us leave.

With friends and kin
we barge right in
and pay your ways no care.

Why would I work?
I'd be a jerk!
I qualify for welfare.

gods keep this land
free from sanity.
We'll teach our language
to your kids for a small fee,

but o Canada
we won't learn English for thee.

No Canada
we'll only speak Hindi."

Now don't get me wrong, that's not what I think, but you KNOW there will be people thinking that. It's not a good way to promote the multiculturalism Canada stands for.

I find in life there are three things I turn to when I need a frame of reference or answers to a tough issue: Nature, the Good Book or cartoons. If you can't find any guidance there, just give it up. It turns out that there IS some guidance available. In Southpark season 8 there is an episode called "Goobacks". If you watch the episode, www.southparkstudios.com , and think you might want to talk like the visitors from a million years in the future then just keep on mixing up the languages, Smarty Pants! MAN, can you imagine spelling tests with that langauge? You have to watch it. "Ney nook er nyubs!" You won't get THAT one if you don't watch it either.

So let's stop all this nonsense and have a good, ENGLISH, (and French), Olympic games, shall we?

***Opinions expressed in the previous post may or may not reflect those of the blogmaster.***