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AUDIENCE: What language
issues are particularly

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poignant in today's
political climate

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that they might
talk about today?

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NOAM CHOMSKY: Well, one
issue that's critical

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is the right of people
to have their lives,

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community affairs conducted
in their own language.

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So for example, if
some, say, dictator

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were to take over
the United States

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and produce an edict saying
the official language

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of the country is
Swahili and that we all

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have to talk Swahili from now
on and all official documents

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are in Swahili.

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And if you want to get
a driver's license,

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you have to ask for it
in Swahili and so on.

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I think we'd probably
object, but that's

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the actual situation.

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For example, in Haiti,
it's not Swahili.

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It's French.

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The language that
the people speak

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is a different language, creole.

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So that's kind of a
problem that arises there.

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Similar problems arise here.

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We have Spanish-speaking
communities.

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Do they have a right
to conduct their lives,

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to have an elementary school
teaching in the language

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that the children
know and speak?

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Of course, they have
to be assimilated

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into the general society.

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But these are not
incompatible goals.

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In fact, we know very well
that a multilingual environment

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is actually stimulating.

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It doesn't impede.

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It improves performance
and understanding,

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and being able to
live in your own mind

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certainly has that effect, too.

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So when I grew up--

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not me personality, but the
communities that I was part of,

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the native language was Yiddish.

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And they spoke Yiddish,
and that was fine.

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And when the kids went to
school, they picked up English.