by Colin Hyde

In consecutive weeks the PM has forwarded visions for Belize that would alter the fabric. It is natural for people to put their guard up immediately when they hear of change, but no sober person rejects change if they feel it is for the better. PM Briceño has forwarded that he believes Spanish should be an official language, and that he’d like to see the issues holding back the Equal Opportunities Bill (EOB) settled, and it be passed into law by the end of the year.

Starting with Spanish becoming a second official language, we wouldn’t be the sole country with more than one. Lorena Muniz Cuervo, in a piece at MultiLingual titled, “Official Languages: Why Some Countries Have Them and Others Don’t”, lists a number of reasons why Canada, India, and Switzerland have multiple official languages; and Australia, Costa Rica, and the US don’t have any. In all the texts, we have English listed as our official language.

We live in a sea of Spanish speakers, Spanish being the language most spoken in the countries immediately north, south, and west of us. From the business side, there’s a lot going on around us that many cannot fully participate in, take advantage of, because they don’t speak Spanish. Already, many jobs in Belize call for bi-lingual workers. Then there’s the art in the Spanish language. If I have to go on a trip alone, Vicente Fernandez, Los Angeles Negros, and Lola Beltrán are coming along with my Nabor, Peetaz, and Rhaburn. It’s a no-brainer that we should take every opportunity fu laan fu platicar. But making Spanish an official language, I think we need a discussion.

Before we put on our fins and mask, it would be good for the PM to explain what his motivation is. If the main thrust here is respect, like Lovindeer I say the more the merrier—make Garifuna, Mopan, Kekchi, and Yucatec official languages too. And German. I didn’t forget Kriol. Maybe our Kriol Kongsyl would want it in the lofty list. A mi, Kriol is a national thing, bigger than big. It’s okay to dislike Kriols; it is treasonous to downplay the importance of the langwij. I say about making Spanish an official language, if it is to clutter the House of Representatives with lengthy expressions in different “tongues”, why; and if it’s about printing all official documents in English and Spanish, that looks very wasteful. 

Years ago, Dr. Silvaana Udz pointed out that English is not the FIRST language in Belize, and that anybody who thinks Kriol is English is misled. As it stands right now in the House, Barrow’s son, the, ehm, DOCTOR, has the greatest command of spoken English. It is so that all Belizean Americans are fluid in English, because that’s the language they speak every day. Noteworthy is that our “elite” English-speaking group includes Belizeans from all tribes.

Most live-ya Belizeans don’t have brilliant command of spoken English. I’m sure when things get testy in the House, many would like to break from English into their native tongue, their first language. I feel for them. Personally, I have great difficulty speaking English. Every time a situation forces me to brok into it, I feel like a farmer or fisherman in a starched white shirt and bow tie. Aha, when the Speaker drops the gavel at the end of House meetings, I bet all of the representatives, except for the Bel Am Barrow, chuck away English for their first tongue, or Kriol.

Know your blessings when you see them. It is a blessing for Belize that the first words of only a few of us come from Webster’s dictionary. Similarities bind us; being a country with many tribes, we must embrace everything that glues us as a nation. When speaking English, we’re stuttering in the same boat.

Some whose first language is Spanish didn’t grasp why some a we Kriol recoiled when we saw our country being referred to as BELICE abroad. In the days when we were still British Honduras, I spent ALL of the Easter and “summer” holidays at Spanish Caye. Monday to Friday there were no men on the island, only women, youth, and children. On the weekends, the men came to caye on Cygnus, my grampa’s motor/sail boat. Two of my grampa’s nieces, Ena Leslie and Gwelda Lopez, lived with my paternal grandparents, and when I was growing up they were already big girls. I remember Gwelda worked at the Vogue, thanks to Sister Sarita Vasquez helping her to get a job there. That job helped Gwelda pay for her education at St. Catherine Academy.

On the weekends, Ena and Gwelda came along with the menfolk, and they left when Cygnus returned to the city Sunday evening or very early Monday morning. You know the joy of meeting and the sorrow of parting. All of us gathered on the bridge (pier) when Cygnus came, and we were all back on the bridge when Cygnus left for the city. Ena and Gwelda spent their early years in the south, and both had a little knowledge of Garifuna and Spanish, and were proud of that. At every sorrowful parting, they would say, “Until next week, now it’s back to Belice.”

BELICE has a sweet sound, and it became the fashion at cay to say BELICE when we looked north on a clear day and saw Belize City in the distance. But when our leaders went to foreign to represent us and we saw BELICE on the table in front of them, that wasn’t pleasant for us, and for many other Belizeans. It bothered many of us, not because of Mexico and Honduras. It was all because of Guatemala. It is not nice to have another people claiming your country.

There were two major waves of new Belizeans from the west and south (1970’s, 1980’s), and government-related content had to be translated so they were up to date with matters in their new country. But, because our country emphasizes English, no tribe will be without a working knowledge of the language for long. The day after the 1989 election, a PUP victory, I learned when I came home in the evening that some members of OUR new Belizean group, the men, had marched through the village with their machetes and a few shotguns. They were celebrating the PUP victory. They were new here, fresh from civil wars in Guatemala and El Salvador. They didn’t understand Belize.

I had some clout in the village then, because I was very active in community life. My first option to ease the tension was to go and have a talk, but for a reason that is a long story, I put that on hold. I decided to make a phone call to the Amandala publisher first. I knew he knew some big PUPs, and that that year he wasn’t divorced from them, because they had promised him his radio station. I called him, and ten minutes later he called back and told me he had spoken to Brother Said (Musa). I am pretty sure he said Said said that he would tell the party leaders up this way to have a little talk with the belligerents. I am certain he said Said said new Belizeans would be BELIZEANIZED through their children because of our school system. What Said said was profound. Our education system would see us through, preserve the beautiful fabric of our country.

Thanks for your patience while I rehashed, with some new twists, those last two stories. Definitely there should be more emphasis on Spanish; all our young people must be taught the language. Call me foolish, but in my youth I rejected formal education. Later on in life I learned to love learning things that were in books. For a time I picked up math as a hobby. I found I loved history too. I ran into trouble when I wanted to learn Spanish, and that’s mainly because I had rejected parsing in school, and it is still the most boring thing to me. It’s got its worth, in gold. Anyone who can parse can sail through any language. You’ve heard of Spanglish. Well, poor me, all bikaaz I can’t parse, I bok at English.

Ouch, I’m out of space for the EOB. That’s no small fish to fry, so I best put up for now. Si Dios lo desea, la semana que viene, voy a presentar mis centavos, los dos, en respeto de ese tema that is very tochiz. Until then, day-deh.