Inhospitable Money

I joined my first ESL class in the USA(ever).  I'm volunteering with Catholic Charities.  They work with refugees.  All of the sudden my experience with teaching English is valuable....to me! I worked with 2 people from Nepal who only a week ago arrived to the US.  They are excited to be here and even more excited to get help with English.    

When is the last time I looked closely at money?  Close enough to read the language on it?  Close enough to realize what is absent?  I never realized until tonight how inhospitable our money is for folks who can't read English.  Our coins don't have roman numerals to communicate value.  The roman numerals only communicate the mint year! 

I remember learning Korean money.  It was easy because each coin had a roman numeral on it. 1o, 50, 100, and 500.  I didn't have to know Korean to know how to use Korean coins correctly. And there is English on Korean money!  Can you imagine another language on USA money? Never.

This is not the case for the USA coin!  The language on our quarter is "quarter dollar".  There isn't a "25" on it.  The language on our penny is "one cent".   But if you know how to recognize the word "one" on a penny then you'll also recognize the word "one" on our dime.  The penny reads, "one cent" and the dime reads, "one dime".  If you don't know "dime" means 10 and "cent" means 1, you are out of luck.  At least the nickel has the words "five cents" on it.  Why doesn't it say, "one nickel"?  

Tonight as I asked each woman to give me $2. 76 I saw the determination on their faces turn to confusion.   I watched them examine the front and backs of our coins hoping to find a clue.   It was hard and frustrating. It is just money! Yet it IS money.  Something so simple is not simple anymore .... yet.  Money will become simple again with time and practice.