An English Ceilidh

So last night I went to an English Ceilidh (pronounced Kaylee) without any notion of what exactly I was getting myself into. The organizer of the event explained to us that English is missing its folk culture, and it's true. Everyone knows what traditional Irish music and dancing is, and even Scottish folk with the bagpipes and kilts is well-known, but England is one of the only European countries that doesn't have a traditional costume and music. Even most English people get stumped when asked what their folk culture is... Part of the reason for this is the prominent role the Industrial Revolution played in shaping the nation; smaller folk culture kind of faded out. By the end of the night, a roomful of international students understood English folk better than most English.

The night had the potential to be a total disaster. There was a single caller explaining to a roomful of stunned international students that they would be hopping and sliding around the floor like the people at a Jane Austen ball, but everyone got really into it until we were all laughing and clapping and hopping around like rabbits. My partner for one of the dances ended up being a great big guy who swung me around so fast, that I nearly lost my footing. He seemed to think this was rather funny, and did it over and over again until I had had about enough. There was a band composed of guitar, violin, banjo, accordian, etc. and the tunes sounded almost Irish, almost Scottish, but not fully either because they were English. There were even some folk singers who sang songs about men whose homing pigeons flew away, and one about a woman who covered herself in goose poo, which was amusing.

I met a ton more international students, and it really surprised me how intent most of them are to learn English. I have met a handful of students on exchange such as myself, whose classes aren't even going to count toward their home university when they return. Whyyy then are they studying here, you may ask? The single most often explanation is to learn English better. One fellow studying science explained that English is the language of the sciences. All the scientific papers are in English, and if you want to succeed in the field, you MUST be able to maneuver in the circle of English science.

In many cases, it is often about forward motion too. I asked my friend Johnny if he missed speaking German, and he said no, not really, that he was here to perfect his English, and didn't want to speak German as much. He said that when his German friends spoke to him in German, he would respond in English because that he what he is here to do. This surprised me, because when I was in Spain, I was SOO happy whenever I met another English-speaker, and would speak very fast, easy English to them. I know that if I had insisted on speaking Spanish all the time, I would have learned it all that much better, so the fault is mine. I find their insistence to learn English inspiring, and it kind of reminds me of how all the immigrants that came to the States must have felt when they left their home country and language behind. It IS crazy and kind of scary to think of how imperialistic this language has become, especially in academics, that people who don't need to learn it want to in order to pursue a certain career or line of study. Could English possibly become our global language someday? It certainly seems like a possibility.