Language Exclusion on Campus
Logos International School represents 20 nationalities, and with national diversity comes multilingualism. Language is an imperative aspect of humanity; however, is more the merrier?
According to the Logos official handbook, all students are required to converse in English throughout the school day. However, have Logos students complied with this requirement?
No, in fact, whether it was intended or not, language has become a tool or mechanism for social exclusion.
So what's the problem? Are Logos students incapable of conversing in English? Well... considering they're taking classes in English (besides language classes), I would say the majority are pretty proficient in it. As a Korean myself, I'm not going to deny the fact that we quite enact this problem. The root of the problem comes from a particular nationality predominantly taking up each grade and preferring to communicate in their national language even when a non-speaker is around. Intended or not, it excludes people and makes them feel emotionally isolated.
[Interview]
"Koreans talk a lot in Korean at Logos. We have many cultures, many backgrounds, and lots of languages, but Korean is the most spoken secondary language at Logos because of the number of Korean students. This isn't always bad, but it becomes bad for the community when groups are made specifically with Koreans or students are taught in Korean. I personally hear a lot of Korean in school which doesn't always bother me unless I was in a conversation that switched to Korean mid-way." - Interview 1
"Before, I used to feel quite excluded when classmates would speak in different languages just to leave me out of certain conversations. Sometimes it was just a joke, and they would tell me afterward what they said. Other times, they wouldn't. So, I had to adapt by learning to understand certain phrases and words they used. Now, I can mostly understand what they're saying so I don't feel excluded anymore. I don't think it's a huge problem unless the things they are saying are seriously offensive towards others." - Interview 2
"Honestly, at first I didn't really mind, but when my friends spoke Korean when I'm with them, I would assume that they're talking about me; however, even after constant reassurance that they're not, I'm still always uncertain because I'd never know unless I knew the language myself. But then after experiencing it for more than 5 years I got used to it because I learned that people sometimes prefer to speak in their mother tongue, not because they wanted and intended to exclude people, but just because they felt more comfortable communicating in it." - Interview 3
Though it may not happen overnight, let's all make substantial efforts to overcome this problem. Thankfully, we have English to resolve the language barrier. All we need is a little empathy, awareness, and respect!