By Donna M. Farina
Recently, while speaking about immigrants, a national politician said: “We have languages coming into our country. We don’t have one instructor, in our entire nation, that can speak that language.” He emphasized: “These are languages, it’s the craziest thing. They have languages that nobody in this country has ever heard of. It’s a very horrible thing.”
For me, a linguist, it’s not horrible but exhilarating. Meeting someone who knows a language that is new to me is a treat.
Not long ago, while teaching a New Jersey City University course, I had the opportunity to work with Mahamat Saleh Adji Mbodou, an immigrant from Chad (in north-central Africa). Besides his competent English (mastered in just four years), Mr. Adji Mbodou speaks fluent Arabic and French; he and I sometimes enjoy chatting in French. This is already impressive, but he also knows Spanish, as well as Fula, Daza (Dazaga), Hausa, Kanembu, and Kanuri, five regional languages with about 195 million speakers collectively.
Mr. Adji Mbodou graduated from NJCU with a B.S. degree in Management in May 2023. While still an undergraduate he began working with refugees as a volunteer. Today, several promotions later, he is employed full time as a program coordinator for the Church World Service Refugee Cash Assistance Program in Jersey City. He is continuing his education and recently received an International Diploma of Humanitarian Assistance from Fordham University. With the goal of enhancing his ability to advocate for refugees, Mr. Adji Mbodou is studying toward an M.A. in Public Administration at St. Peter’s University.
Another student I was lucky to work with is Botirjon Ibrohimov, originally from Tajikistan in Central Asia. He is working toward a Management degree at NJCU. When he studied with me, he was employed as a long-haul truck driver; once he attended our Zoom class while driving somewhere across Texas! He opened his own company in May, Rustam Trucking LLC, named after his father. Today, Mr. Ibrohimov’s business has three trucks and six employees. He credits internships completed while at NJCU with helping him understand how to set up his business.
In addition to his good English, Mr. Ibrohimov’s mother tongue is Uzbek, a language used by 44 million people in multiple countries. He also speaks Tajik, a language close to Persian (Iran) and Dari (Afghanistan); these three languages together have about 140 million speakers. I have the pleasure sometimes of speaking with Mr. Ibrohimov in Russian, another language he knows; in Jersey City, he has picked up enough Spanish to get by. Once his business is established, Mr. Ibrohimov plans to pursue his interest in creating software, apps, and platforms — a skill he developed in his spare time while trucking across the country.
Within Mr. Ibrohimov’s world region, in Afghanistan, there are other languages that were unfamiliar to most Americans when our country was attacked, on Sept. 11, 2001. Not long after the assault on the World Trade Center, a New York Times article explained how Robert Mueller, then-director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was appealing for Americans who speak Pashto as well as other languages to come work as translators, although “several analysts said the rush to hire and train linguists was a late response to a dire shortage that had been apparent throughout the government for years.” The result of the FBI’s appeal? Patriotic immigrants stepped forward.
It turns out that these languages “nobody … has ever heard of” are essential to our national security. An NJCU professor in Professional Security Studies, Dr. Scott Fisher, with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, and elsewhere as an Army officer or Department of Defense civilian, emphasizes: “In terms of national security, one of our most underappreciated strengths is our diversity. American adversaries have to spend years, often with limited success, training people to conduct intelligence and influence activities in English. For the U.S., however, a simple ad on a D.C. or NYC subway can quickly generate interest from native speakers of whatever languages are needed. Whether Japanese during World War II, or Arabic, Chinese, and speakers of other languages more recently, we are at our worst and weakest when we see speaking other languages as foreign or dangerous, our best when we realize knowing other languages is part of being American.”
Recently, New Jersey City University has approved the use of inexpensive tests, available for over 120 languages, that students can take to receive up to 12 undergraduate credits. These tests, from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, have a long and strong track record of validity and reliability. Certainly, it’s important that NJCU students can, by demonstrating their language ability, potentially save money on college credits as well as save time — and move more quickly toward graduation. Also significant is the powerful message NJCU is sending about respect: these immigrant languages are valuable, just one of the many assets the students bring to our door. This message of linguistic recognition is in sync with the university’s brand-new mission statement, pledging that students will receive an “accessible, equity-driven, and transformative education.” The Spanish version — the only Spanish mission statement in New Jersey higher education — reads: “Una educación altamente accesible, impulsada por la equidad y transformativa.”
The question is, who exactly is being transformed? The amazing polyglot students of New Jersey City University whose languages are a national treasure, or the rest of us who benefit every day from these immigrant students’ energy, motivation, vitality, talent, and grit?
Donna M. Farina, Ph.D., is a former Fulbright Scholar in Tbilisi, Georgia, and a professor in the Department of Multicultural Leadership at New Jersey City University. She can be reached at dfarina@njcu.edu.
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