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Italian university switches to English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Immersion, Schools & Certificates |  | |
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4675 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 9 of 13 17 May 2012 at 2:44pm | IP Logged |
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It disturbs me to think about a prospect for the future: once a non-Anglophone country's universities have all switched to English, pre-university schools would have a huge incentive to make English their language of instruction, too, in order to better prepare students for higher education. Then the country's schools could switch to English at earlier and earlier levels, always justifying it by referring to preparation for the level above, until kids spend much of their day --- and have most of their formative learning experiences --- using English from a quite young age. Then English really might threaten to push out some national languages, as proposed in another recent thread... Edited by tastyonions on 17 May 2012 at 2:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| aquablue Senior Member United States Joined 6392 days ago 150 posts - 172 votes Speaks: English* Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 10 of 13 19 May 2012 at 5:39am | IP Logged |
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In a way, there is a positive side to this. In recent times, language could be
considered as a major disincentive for the majority of English speaking monolingual people to journey abroad to study and live long-term in a foreign country like Italy due to the tough linguistic barriers to entry that a University level education usually requires. Now, they have an opportunity to acquire a full degree in a foreign country in their native language which will also beneficially, give them the chance to study the local language to an advanced level on the side (something they may never have had the opportunity, ability or desire to take on before), a necessity if they are to fully enjoy and experience local life in the country of their interest. Therefore, this actually exposes more students to the prospects of learning foreign languages. So, I can see there are both positives and negatives to this story. Also, I wouldn't be worried about English as a potential threat to Italian. I would rather see it as just another incentive for Italian students to perfect their English, a language that is required in a global economy. In that way, fewer Italians may choose to leave Italy for schooling abroad if their interest is in the international sphere when they can perfect their English at home. Edited by aquablue on 19 May 2012 at 5:46am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| freakyaye Senior Member Australia Joined 4848 days ago 107 posts - 152 votes | Message 11 of 13 19 May 2012 at 11:08am | IP Logged |
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It's likely the university will appeal to Italian bilinguals and will likely be a point of elitism for them. If many
universities went this route and primary/high schools swapped to English to meet the demand I think it would inspire an Italian language revolution. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Gabriel Anton Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4613 days ago 10 posts - 26 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Persian, Pashto | Message 12 of 13 19 May 2012 at 2:41pm | IP Logged |
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I think it's an interesting opportunity for Italians so inclined to benefit from it. Imagine if a University in California or New York taught fully in Spanish or French, I imagine they would be quite popular. Edit - I don't think this portends the death of the Italic language(s). Some have referenced the Swedish tendency towards English/Swedish by bilingualism, yet It doesn't appear that Swedish is in any danger (though perhaps I'm not qualified to make that comment, never having visited the country). Isn't English instruction at very early ages the norm in many parts of Europe already? Edited by Gabriel Anton on 19 May 2012 at 2:45pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4717 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 13 of 13 19 May 2012 at 4:57pm | IP Logged |
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English instruction in terms of "teaching children English" or "teaching children in English"? The first is relatively common - most people start learning their first English words when they are 9 or 10 or so here - but the latter is rare, although bilingual schooling does exist (in Frisia they even have trilingual schools - Dutch, English and Frisian). I attended a bilingual track in secondary school and was partly taught in both English and Dutch, but those are really comparatively rare (and cost extra money).
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