KAMMS World Wide Blog

I just received an email from a gentleman about an article I wrote for Virgina Beach Woman magazine. Although the comments were less than flattering, I am grateful for him taking the time to state his position. I hear people make comments like his all the time, which is exactly why I feel so strongly about what we do at KAMMS.

He began the email by telling me how “misguided” I am. In the article, I presented a metaphor about learning a little Spanish. I suggested that we offer an olive branch to Spanish-speakers. The idea is that we learn a few Spanish phrases to communicate and since they are also learning English, communication becomes easy. Not only can this help to improve communication in many different circumstances, i.e. work, school or in the community; it also brings many other assets to our lives. Besides being fun, studies have shown that learning another language has countless benefits to our lives in general, i.e. increased memory ability, better test scores, etc. There’s so much to write about these facts, it will have to be another article.

So, his opinion that he believes I am misguided doesn’t concern me, but the next part of his comment does. He goes on to say that he “resents” people who speak their native language around him. He says this makes him “suspicious” of them and that this is scary at a time like these.

I know that many people are against other languages being spoken in America. You hear it on the news everyday. Companies prohibit employees speaking their native language at work, or laws are made about language usage. But to feel resentful, suspicious and scared. That really is a shame.

I can’t imagine living my life this way. There are 337 languages spoken in the US. It must be hard to get through the day resenting everyone. There are so many things to worry about in the world. Peaceful people speaking their native language, communicating with each other, shouldn’t be one of them.

I’ve heard all the reasons people create to rationalize their fears about different languages spoken in the US.  No matter how strong they feel about them, they simply aren’t based on facts. You could write a whole book on this irrational fear. (There’s an idea:)

I know there are many people out there who feel disconnected from their fellow Americans because of language barriers. For now, my company, KAMMS World Wide will continue to make efforts to improve the situation. Our goal is simple: help to improve communication among all our citizens and by doing so: promote unity, strength and peace in our country.

Wishing you all great success! Stacey Kammerman

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