Shameeka Smalling is part of a small minority within the African American community. She can speak two languages fluently and is part of that tiny group of Blacks who believe in riding the bilingual train all the way to the bank.
“I’ve gotten every job I’ve had since college because I am bilingual,” said Smalling, who earned both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University in International Studies and Spanish.
Smalling, 32, who teaches Spanish at Baltimore City Community College (BCCC), confirms reports that Black Americans are throwing away job opportunities because they only speak English.
According to statistics from the National Council of State Supervisors for Languages, every year Americans who only speak English miss out on 200,000 job opportunities- and the number of foreign language related jobs is only expected to increase.
Aside from her position at BCCC, Smalling also does medical interpreting in hospitals for patients whose needs tend to get lost in translation.
“I’m able to help put other people at ease because if they can’t communicate in both languages, I can,” said Smalling. “I’ve been able to help companies save money because I can do interpreting and they don’t have to hire a separate interpreter.”
With data from the U.S. Census Bureau showing that the Latino population in this country soared from 35 million in 2000 to 53 million in 2010, Spanish is quickly becoming the nation’s official second language.
Smalling has taught Spanish in Baltimore high school classrooms and said part of the problem is budget-related. “Our young Black children are in public schools that are cutting language programs, in addition to the arts, and they are missing out.”
“I studied abroad in high school. My advice is to study abroad as early as possible for as long as possible,” said Smalling, citing early exposure to foreign language as a reason she has been so successful as an adult.
While exposure in high school can have a significant impact, professors and researches on the college level say elementary school is where Spanish should be introduced and that teachers and guidance counselors should stress the importance of a foreign language to every student.
“We’ve seen across the board in high schools that foreign languages are treated almost like an elective,” said Tamari Jenkins, associate professor of Spanish at Chaffey College in Fontana, Calif. “Counselors will systematically elect African American students out of foreign languages and put them in sports or dance.”
Jenkins says textbooks are another major reason African Americans are lagging behind in bilingual capabilities.
“Our students don’t see themselves enough in foreign language course materials. There is a huge African Diaspora. There are native Black Spanish speakers and native Black French speakers,” said Jenkins. “Our students aren’t even aware of this because the textbooks are just barely starting to include one chapter on Haitians in French textbooks and maybe half a chapter on Afro-Cubans in Spanish textbooks.”
