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The Arbiter Speaks Spanish
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View this article in Spanish entitled “El Arbiter habla Español.”
Vea este artículo en Español se llama “El Arbiter habla español”
A little over a year ago, the Boise Weekly made history in our community by publishing an excellent report on immigration in both English and Spanish. Soon after, they unveiled the generous initiative of offering a blog in Spanish, whose growth exceeded initial expectations, as shown by the number of registered visits. Even so, the final objective of making these articles appear in Spanish in the printed edition never made it to light due to a lack of space. Now, The Arbiter has extended the opportunity to give life to this project in its daring and independent pages.
This opportunity is especially unique given what is being expressed in certain social and political circles in this country. And the truth is that such neoliberal times split the soul of anyone paying attention to the fleecing that continues to take place here. The elimination of civil liberties, the undoing of social programs, and the deterioration of free speech have become manifest (I have here “The Age of Untruth”) and as a result, this new journalistic space can be one of those tiny windows where we stick our heads out, breath and feed the hope of the return of a few basic liberties.
Although the political arena is trying to limit the importance of Spanish by not giving it a place in school curricula and by blotting it out from public spaces, it is clear that language is a phenomenon, a tool that cannot be stuck in a closet regardless of how much a few lunatics insist on doing so. A different reality is the rest of the world, where children begin to learn and become fluent in multiple languages at a young age. When I return to Europe, I delight in seeing three-year olds taking their first steps in another language, and kindergarten students already immersed in classes completely taught in a tongue other than their first.
On the other hand we have what might seem like the counterpoint. Informative media exist presented exclusively in Spanish, but the intentions of some of them seem more questionable. Their objectives appear to be largely commercial or laced with undertones of control. They neglect the cultural arena and lack a diversity of opinion, often treating Hispanic audiences as if they were sheep: They saturate them with stupendous recipes for gastronomic delicacies that make readers long for their homeland. They stun readers with ecclesiastical blessings of any act no matter how inconsequential, and they use the concept of the “model” Latino that serves in the United States Army to suck readers in and abusively glorify the government. And all of this gets taken to the tenth power, just in case.
The reader would agree then that those who perpetuate this calculated bombardment are doing the immigrants in this country a hollow favor; they disconnect them from events of a serious nature and impoverish their respectable intellect.
For all the Spanish speakers that would let themselves be drawn in by this little newspaper piece, and for the students that are learning this language with sincere dedication, despite the blow dealt by their monolingual education as children, I hope that this printed and cybernetic space can be a breath of fresh air where we might share, converse, elucidate, air out our frustrations, and finally clear the cobwebs from our pens so that we might make use of the written word (the reader can access and comment with ease at arbiteronline.com). The written component of the language is fundamental to preserving it as well as to enriching thought.
If moreover this opportunity could serve as a record so that writing might illuminate the winding paths of our soul, full of shelved opinions, perhaps repressed by society out of fear and a lack of debate, then I would not doubt in the least that today we are opening the door to a matter of substance.
Fernando Lázaro Carreter, once head of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language, said that “where language suffers impoverishment, thought itself is impoverished.” I would go even further in saying that if language becomes impoverished, emotional expression becomes limited, empathy is blurred and altruism is fulminated.
Let us feel free to encourage our Spanish speaking companions, and those that are working on learning Spanish, to communicate with each other in this space for the Spanish language that The Arbiter has extended to us. If expressing our ideas helps us elevate our language, and if sharing our ideas gives us greater strength to express ourselves freely, then we might contribute to surroundings that are more affable, tolerant and natural.
JUANJO CARMONA
Translated by David Collinge
Special to The Arbiter
