Last Saturday I accompanied my wife who was bringing greetings on behalf of the City for International Language Day at an event organized by SAIL (Saskatchewan Association of International Languages). I’m glad I went because it reminded me that we live in a multi-cultural country. There were songs and dances with groups of children from different language schools in Saskatoon representing various cultures. We have a number of language schools, some examples are Chinese, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, German, Norwegian, Greek, Ukrainian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean and there are more. SAIL’s mission is to preserve and promote languages and culture in Saskatchewan through awareness and educational and cultural programs for a vibrant and diverse province. SAIL works with teachers, volunteers and cultural communities to promote and develop the teaching and learning of international languages. The SAIL website is sailsk.ca. You know what popped into my mind? Donald Trump was speaking at a conference recently and ranting about one of his favourite topics, migrants. He says migrants are bringing languages into the U.S. that “nobody has ever heard of” and he says “it’s horrible”. They’re speaking “truly foreign languages” and “nobody speaks them”. I wonder if he knows one word of any language other than English, a language he doesn’t even seem that adept at.
That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois