We speak your language
Multilanguage skills come in handy for journalists who cover diverse communities; people with these skills give newsrooms a competitive advantage.
Welcome back to Don’t Forget My Voice, a newsletter to help you navigate journalism’s chaotic and toxic maze. I’m Mc Nelly Torres, a longtime investigative journalist, editor, trainer and mentor.
I was sitting inside a catamaran on a hot, humid July morning waiting to sail on Spain’s southeast coast, known as Costa Blanca. About 30 tourists joined the tour with us for a day at the sea with food, drinks and music.
Some of the tourists were a lively group of about 10 Germans. The group, which sat near us, was wearing green matching Hawaiian shirts bearing the face of a man whose life they were celebrating that day.
I was there, too, celebrating my husband's birthday. It was our second and final week traveling throughout Spain. Alicante, a vibrant coastal city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, was our final destination after spending a week in Valencia.
My husband chose to sail to Tabarca, a small island about 12 miles east from the province of Alicante, to celebrate his trip around the sun.
Once we got within a mile of the island, we boarded a smaller boat in groups of five to go ashore. Tabarca, which is about 1.1 miles long, is known for its clear waters, beaches and historical significance as a former pirate refuge.
As I tried to board the boat, one German held my hand and helped me get inside. He seemed surprised when I said, “danke schön,” but smiled in response.
Once we arrived at the island, we had about 45 minutes to explore. We walked around the beach, shops and restaurants; took pictures and talked to the locals as we ordered drinks. We heard multiple languages, some I couldn’t recognize.
On our way back, I began talking to the crew member who was taking us back to the catamaran. I was curious about the island’s population.
I asked in Spanish: “¿Cuántas personas viven en la isla?” (“How many people live on the island?”)
“Treinta,” dijo. (“Thirty,” he said.)
“¿Tienes mal tiempo como huracanes que ponen a sus habitantes en peligro?” (“Is there any bad weather that threatens the island and its inhabitants such as hurricanes or big storms?”)
He said no.
As we continued the conversation, I noticed that one of the Germans was translating our conversation into German for the rest of his friends.
I smiled and asked: “¿Hablas Español?” (“Do you speak Spanish?”)
“Tengo una novia de Ecuador,” dijo. (“I have a girlfriend from Ecuador,” he said.)
We laughed.
This short interaction with strangers was a beautiful moment this summer as I traveled Spain. It was a mundane and normal interaction among humans speaking different languages, something that seems rare in the United States and in some circles, is loudly opposed.
And it reinforced a strong belief I’ve always had — the ability to speak multiple languages is an asset that opens personal opportunity and expands cultural horizons.
Good interviewers know how to use the power of words to gather details and information. But journalists who have the expertise to gather information and interview people in their native languages have an advantage others don’t have.
Language skills open the doors to access and provide an important opportunity to build trust among communities, including marginalized ones.
Wasted by water
I have never worked for Spanish media, but I have conducted hundreds of interviews in Spanish throughout my journalism career.
People seem relaxed and are likelier to have honest conversations in their native languages. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched a face lit up when I asked them if they would rather speak in Spanish.
When I came to Florida to work for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in 2005, I was assigned to the Miami bureau. It was a great assignment because Miami never lacked news and the city that year was part of what was then the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record.
Many of us remember Hurricane Katrina, which became one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history after it landed in southeast Louisiana and Mississippi on Aug. 29, 2005. (The storm was back in the news recently for its 20th anniversary.) The hurricane’s storm surge caused catastrophic flooding in New Orleans, killing nearly 1,400 people and displacing more than a million.
But before all that took place, Katrina flooded neighborhoods south of Miami as a Category 1 storm before it left the Florida peninsula and gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico.
Weeks later, I drove with a staff photographer south of Homestead, where we spent hours talking to residents who were trying to pick up pieces of their lives after the storm flooded their homes. I saw garbage piles and damaged vehicles in an area that was still in the cleanup stage and was not designated as a flooding zone.
I was also there because the Federal Emergency Management Agency had denied a state appeal for individual federal assistance to South Florida residents. I was working on that specific story with a colleague, Madeline Baró Díaz, and those two stories became part of a package of stories we’d produce on the storm’s aftermath.
I remember how the homeowner, Santos Negrete, apologized for the stench inside what had been her home; she said mildew and mold were growing inside the walls. It was heartbreaking hearing these families describe the things they’d lost and the government’s failure to help when they most needed support.
The story was published Sept. 23, 2005, on the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s local section front page with the headline: ‘Water ruined everything.’
The top read:
“All that is left on the wall is a picture of a young Marine ready to defend this country. Jose Negrete’s serious face welcomes visitors to what remains of his home in the Country Start developments near Homestead.”
“My husband found this picture and hung it there,” said Santos Negrete, a mother of five children. “It doesn’t go there. I used to have a mirror before the water ruined everything.”
“The floods brought by Hurricane Katrina last month came late at night, invading living rooms, bedrooms, kitchens and garages. The water damaged furniture and precious possessions and for those without flood insurance the nightmare continues. Residents of Country Star have not recovered from the hurricane’s destruction. The floods ruined a lifetime of work in a community where families live paycheck to paycheck.
Since the Category 1 storm dumped a foot of rain on their neighborhood four weeks ago, the homeowners have tried to get rid of growing mold and mildew. As they struggle to regain a sense of normalcy, they worry about their health and how they will pay the damage.
For others, however, the pain is too much to bear. They left their homes and have not returned, leaving piles of ruined furniture, books, and carpet sitting on the curb.”
I could have not written most of these paragraphs without interviewing these families in Spanish. Because I spoke their language, these families welcomed me into their homes and shared intimate and personal details as they endured a harrowing time.
Many newsrooms understand that having multilingual staff provides access that becomes crucial during breaking news and is also a strength when producing investigative reporting.
But in all the newsrooms I worked, especially newspapers with investigative teams, this important skill is often missing because the hiring decision makers don’t consider it a must-have.
Not an English-only country
The United States has been a multilingual society even before its independence. Hundreds of Indigenous languages were spoken in this land before the first contact with European explorers and settlers.
But the U.S. has a dark history of suppressing languages, sometimes using violence, other than English through coercive assimilation policies and xenophobic sentiment. The assertion of Anglo-American cultural dominance targeted Indigenous people, slaves who were forced to learn and speak English only, immigrants and colonized populations.
These efforts have affected many communities who have lost their native tongues such as Indigenous people. Regardless, 350 to 430 languages are spoken here, U.S. Census Bureau data shows. The bureau further found that 68 million Americans speak a language other than English in their homes.
In March, President Donald J. Trump, whose first and third wives came here as immigrants from Eastern European countries, issued an executive order designating English as this country’s official language.
Executive orders are mainly symbolic but Trump’s order is part of a coordinated agenda against immigrants something he campaigned and has profited from since he announced his candidacy for president in 2015. But this is not new — the “English-only” movement has been advocating for English as the official language for decades.
Jack Jennings, founder of the Center on Education Policy, a nonprofit advocating for public education, wrote in 2015 that multilingualism is a national asset that’s sorely needed for national security and economic success.
“From a political perspective, a strong national multilingual foundation helps facilitate global relationships and policy goals. In fact, the United Nations cites multilingualism as a fundamental value in international diplomacy, contributing to communication that is more impactful and meaningful,” Daniel Olson wrote in 2024 for Time magazine.
Also in 2024, Foreign Press Correspondents USA wrote, “The ability to speak a foreign language is an invaluable asset—especially for journalists. … In our interconnected world, news organizations are increasingly catering to diverse and global audiences. Journalists who can write or produce content in multiple languages can reach a broader audience, increasing the impact and distribution of their work.”
I agree especially with a line in Olson’s story that reads: “far from being mysterious and dangerous, multilingualism strengthens the economy and builds international connections.”
But there are other benefits, too — that human connection and interaction becomes so intimate and powerful when two people, perhaps two strangers, are speaking the same language freely.
I hope to learn more languages in my lifetime because I believe multilingualism enriches our culture and opens doors for human beings to share what we love — food, history, friendship, music — with other people. It’s what makes us human and is our way to love each other and the world around us.
Gracias por leer. Thanks for reading.
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