At Howard University, I once took a class on Hispanic literature with Dr. Ian Smart. Smart is a Trinidadian professor living in the US, married to a Panamanian, who speaks about four languages. Our texts were read in translation, but one of the first class discussions he lead focused on the importance of foreign language proficiency. Smart emphasized that people in the African Diaspora lived in various parts of the world and spoke thousands of languages. With so much being lost in translation it is important to be able to communicate to foreign language speakers in their native tongue.
Of course, one might not be able to learn thousands of languages or some of the less-spoken traditional tongues. But, due to colonialism, Germanic languages are spoken throughout the Diaspora. Speaking more than one of these languages then may be helpful in making connections to others in the Diaspora.
Admittedly, my Spanish is not where it should be, especially for someone who lives so close to South America. I understand much more than I am able to speak and this is certainly something I aim to work on in the near future. In the meantime, I’ll be helping a Spanish-speaker add a second language to her belt because just as important as it is for me to speak Spanish, it’s also important for her to speak English – helping her to make a deeper connection from her South American homeland to her Caribbean brothers and sisters.
This is a new service that we’re adding to our offerings and it’s amazing that with the many Spanish-speakers who visit, pass through or live in T&T that we didn’t think of it before. My approach to teaching English as a Second Language (ESOL) will also include lessons on dialect – an important aspect that is often neglected in ESOL. It is within the dialect where much can be lost in translation, but also where much can be learned about the history of the country and its people. Hopefully, while the new student is learning English and more about T&T, I’ll be able to pick up some more Spanish and more insight into South America.
Best,
Zahra