France Beyond Borders was an incredible trip to different cities in France, Spain, and Belgium. Throughout our travels we learned about the importance of language and how it can unite and how it can hinder.
During my time abroad I learned something that I’ve probably been unconsciously aware of my entire life, but never really grasped. The English language is one of such privilege and most of its speakers are completely unaware of that. I myself was in this bubble of ignorance until this trip when I was exposed to cultures outside of my own. I would like to be clear that when I use the word ignorance I do not write it necessarily with a condemning tone. In the United States, the ‘English mindset’ is so dominant that its citizens cannot be criticized for being unaware of other ways. I am not talking about tolerance of others or anything related to discrimination of any kind; those things are inexcusable and people are definitely in control of practicing love over hate. I am strictly talking about the lack of awareness of the conveniences that come with having English as your first language.
Meeting people in different countries where language can be a battle of its own completely changed my world view. Some people must be able to speak several languages just to keep their businesses running in countries where diversity rules, some people fight daily just to keep their language alive, and some people even have to hide their maternal language in order to escape ridicule and sometimes punishment. Because English is such a prevalent language, rarely do we who speak it consider the challenges that may come with communication.
Though it is one country, Belgium is divided into Wallonia and Flanders. With this division of land also comes a division of language where French and Dutch are both accepted as official languages. As with most progressive countries in the world, the cultures are starting to blend and people are becoming more tolerable of those who are different, but there is definitely still a divide. The city of Brussels acts as a middle ground where the two cultures and others as well blend. One morning when I was in a lace shop in the town square I overheard the owner of the shop trying to talk to a customer. First, he spoke in Dutch, and when they looked at him with blank stares he tried French…and then Spanish, English, and finally what I believe was Italian. I was honestly amazed in that moment. To him and many Europeans it may not have been a big deal that he could flip so easily between five different languages, but to a native English speaker like me, it was incredible. I speak both English and French, but most Americans only speak English. That moment in the lace shop though small really was an eye opener for me as to how diverse and how critical language is in Europe. Such simple phrases like ‘hello’ and ‘that will be €5,50’ became a problem, but the shop owner was prepared for situations like that because I’m sure that’s a very common situation.
While in the city of Marseille we went to an Occitan center; a place where they educate and celebrate the Occitan language. It is a romance language, but it is neither French nor Spanish, the two main languages that surround the area, and few people speak it. Before going on this trip I had never even heard of Occitan so everything we learned was new to me. We were given a small lesson on the language and the people, and they described to us the need they feel to share their language with people because it is so small and relatively unknown. After the lesson, they took us on a walk through the neighborhood where the center is and gave us Pastis, an aperitif from the region. Talking to one of the guides, I asked why they help at the center and they explained to me that it is a place where people who already know Occitan can go, but it is people like our group from Ohio State that really makes the center exciting. To them, being able to share their culture and history with people who lives across the world and otherwise may never have heard of their language if it weren’t for them is very rewarding.
In Spain we were lucky enough to have a presentation by an incredible woman who works for the government of the city of San Sabastian. She explained to us the struggles that Basque people face just because of their language. In Spain, Spanish is the official language and just in the past 40 years Basque (known as Euskara in the language) has been accepted as a co-official language in specific territories. She told us that before this acceptance though it was very looked down upon to speak in this language and not in official Spanish. Children in school would be punished if they were caught speaking languages other than Spanish. Punished for speaking their native languages. This was such a shock to me- they should be able to be proud of their culture and instead they had to hide it. Now, it is more accepted, but issues still arise. Because children had to speak Spanish in school 40 years ago, they almost altogether stopped speaking Basque at home. These children then grew up and spoke mostly Spanish to their children who now know little to no Basque. The Basque government is doing all they can to preserve its culture and language, but it’s hard when everyone and everything pushes back against that movement.
I think that having these meetings and experiences could benefit anyone in any professional field- really it could help anyone anywhere in the world. To me and the rest of the students on the trip who speak English as their first language, I think that this was just monumental in shaping us as citizens of the world. As a French and psychology major, I see myself as already slightly ahead of the curve. From a young age, I have been actively seeking out information about other people and other cultures, trying to learn about things outside of the bubble I live in. This trip fueled my passions to continue seeking out new adventures and meeting new people. When I tell people what my two majors are, they tend to ask why I chose two completely unrelated things. To me though, it’s obvious. How can we evaluate the psychology of our world when we only have the view of one culture? France Beyond Borders was a once in a lifetime experience that blew away every expectation I could have had and I will always remember the valuable lessons I learned from it.
