Outside the Anglosphere

This week, I’d like to put down my opinion on the vacation and immigration habits of many of my fellow American citizens. As someone who is highly interested in learning foreign languages and living in other countries, I realize that my opinion and experience and not that of the typical American. I hope that this will bring some value to what I have to say and yet that as an American I give my opinion not to belittle or unnecessarily criticize Americans, but rather to make us better through correction.

When I scan my social media feeds, I see lots of great photos of beautiful places and sites from around the world. And yet, the sampling that I have comes mostly from English-speaking countries. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy seeing photos from New York City and London, but after a while I’m hoping that we start venturing outside our comfort zones a bit more than a trip to England.

As English-speakers we have the obvious blessing of natively speaking the language used foremost in global communications. In the business world, and in tourism, and in entertainment media, English is by far the preferred language of use. However, this blessing is an obvious curse in that it gives us a sufficiently large comfort zone that many of use never attempt to break.

The topic is easily seen when a large portion of the American populous entertains the idea, whether seriously or not, of immigration. This happens occasionally during crises, but most recently during the presidential election. There were many talking of immigrating, including celebrities. Of course, very few of these people would be able to successfully immigrate in the way that they imagine, but that is another subject. So, what country does the typical American think of immigrating to? Canada!

There are reasons to immigrate to Canada, but the obvious reason that so many Americans pick Canada as their first choice is that they are looking for something as similar as possible to their previous experience. And Canada definitely fits that description. In behavior, accent, culture, and almost every observable way, Canadians as people and Canada as a country are very similar to Americans and the United States. And while that makes the move and assimilation process seamless, it removes one of the main benefits of immigration, or even tourism, which is that of expanding one’s horizons and experiencing new things.

I consider life experience to be very important in gaining both knowledge and wisdom. Obviously, a person who spends their whole life in one village only knows how things work in their town, and has no real experience outside of it. The same can be said for someone who has spent their whole life in America.

Now, I’m not suggesting that someone who spends their whole life in America is not smart or is somehow below-average, as this is indeed the experience of the typical American. However, if one lives their whole life in America, they are only getting the American viewpoint on everything they do. They experience education in America, an American career, an American family setting, the American healthcare system, etc. How can this person say that the way that business works in America is the best if they have never been abroad? They cannot.

In fact, Americans are very lucky because in my opinion, America does most things very well, if not the best in the world. As such, Americans do not need to travel abroad to experience many great things. However, we shouldn’t take this for granted, as nothing is permanent, and the process of globalization has allowed much of the world to catch up in many areas of development.

I just want to encourage Americans and other English-speakers to realize that the English-speaking world is not the whole world, and the rest of the world is worth a trip at least as a tourist, if you are not interested in immigration. Taking a trip from America to Canada is like switching from CranApple to CranGrape juice, and going to the United Kingdom is very similar. Yes, there are differences between these places, but there is a whole world of options outside of these places.

The worst thing that can happen is that you go abroad and realize that you love America the most for what it is. At least at that point, you will know why America is great for you, and you will not take for granted things that you missed in other places. And that is fine. But we can’t say that America is best for us when we haven’t tried anything else.

But you may in fact find that there are things that you appreciate about other countries that America is lacking. Personally, I have really come to appreciate the manner of dress and level of fitness that the French maintain. I don’t feel good wearing sweatpants outside of the house here in France, whereas in America I remember occasionally seeing people out on the town in their pajamas. And for the other point, really it is just more uplifting to be around other people who have no obvious weight issues and seem to be taking care of their health.

Finally, I should add that I understand that learning another language is hard, and takes dedication. The good news is that for most places, a phrasebook, a good attitude, and sometimes a lot of non-verbal communication are enough. But certainly, for immigration, you have to learn the native language. Don’t be fooled by the fact that many European countries have good levels of English. If you want to assimilate, make friends, understand the humor, and be more like the natives, you need to speak their language. And when you do, you will be very proud of yourself, and will have brightened your own future and perhaps that of your family.

I hope that this has not been too discouraging to any Americans getting ready to go abroad to other English-speaking countries. There are a lot of great things to see and do in the English-speaking world, but it has also all been done before by every other English-speaking tourist. Immigration to Australia has been very high lately, as it is a warm Anglophonic country. Enjoy your trip to New Zealand, but do realize that it is not that far off the beaten path, and that that there are other places just as exciting and beautiful out in the non-English speaking world. So let go of your comfort zone and experience something really new.