Inglorious Education

Tim and I watched Inglorious Basterds this past week.  I do enjoy Tarantino's work.  I became enamored when I saw Pulp Fiction at the now non-existent Tacoma Mall Theatre with fellow writing major Josh Smith.  How story telling became non-linear.  How the music was another character.  How he refused to patronize the audience by explaining everything.

But, this isn't a love letter about Tarantino.  It's a letter of embarrassment at the American educational system.

And you are probably wondering how I made that leap...

After watching IB, I went to IMDB to find out more about the actors.  I'm kind of a geek in this respect (and many others...bite your tongue...you know who you are...).  As I am going through the list of actors, I become more curious.  Most of these actors are European (not British).  For most of these actors, English is not the first language.  Most of these actors are fluent in multiple languages.  Yes, I'm sure dialect coaches were on hand to assist the actors, but probably more for the Americans.  And here is where I make my point.  The European actors were fluent in usually three languages.  Fluent.  Flu-ent.  Why?  Because the European schools teach children multiple languages at an early age, when the brain is still spongy.  We Americans wait to muddle through Spanish in high school, when the brain is more rigid.  I can barely remember how to ask for the bathroom in Español.  (I can order a beer.  Can't do much after that.)

When Brad Pitt says, "Bon giorno," with that horrible southern drawl, not even attempting to sound like an Italian dialect, I was reminded of how the world sometimes views us.  We expect everyone else to use our language, but we can't be bothered to learn theirs.  I hope this changes some day, but I won't hold my breath.  Until we can convince the powers-that-be that this is a worthwhile avenue to pursue, we will continue to be monolingual.