Thinkin' they know English

There has been some discussion in the news here in Iceland that Johanna, the Prime Minister, has not been talking to the Icelandic press enough, has not been speaking to the foreign press at all, and has refused to take diplomatic trips abroad. Some people question whether the problem is that she does not speak English. The counter argument was of course she must know English, she was an airline stewardess before she went into politics.

Now, my Icelandic is good enough to get me through all sorts of daily interactions, and I can follow the news, have participated in meetings in Icelandic. But I would never presume this means that my Icelandic is good enough for me to go into politics here, or to try my hand at extremely important delicate negotiations that turn on the nuances of particular words.

Many of my English speaking friends familiar with Iceland have agreed with me that Icelanders, and really no offense meant, but a lot of Icelanders tend to overestimate how fluent they are in English. One reason for this is probably that English has two very different registers, the normal everyday language of television and blogs and even most magazines and newspapers, and then the formal language used in things like business agreements, legal proceedings, academic papers. There are many, many Americans who are basically illiterate in this English, and indeed, since one can pretty happily make it through life without knowing this type of English, most people do not even realize it.

Those that do master this form of English, however, are the ones that can make the brilliant legal, business, and international agreements.