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The dark side of language dominance | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5289 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 145 of 176 04 June 2014 at 10:06am | IP Logged | ||||||||
This is a prediction, not stating it as a fact- furthermore I said it 'could' occur. Currently it seems unlikely but there is a possibility it will change. Germany may be a slower on the uptake tho considering the strength of German in Europe and the fact their education system is not as 'English-happy' as many other European countries 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5289 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 146 of 176 04 June 2014 at 11:30am | IP Logged | ||||||||
I just finished going through this 'book'. I read all the pages up to 88 then began looking for main points. I found it on the whole definitely suggesting a pattern of a move towards a global English, but as you suggested it did mention a fall later on. The 'fall' is a little vague but I guess it's hard to detail something that's in the distant future. These are the major points I came across (some of this just copied straight out of the article, other points are my words summarising their points as copy & paste stopped functioning): English is at the centre of many globalisation mechanisms. Its future in Asia is likely to be closely associated with future patterns of globalisation Current enthusiasm for English in the world is closely tied to the complex processes of globalisation. . On the one hand, the availability of English as a global language is accelerating globalisation.... globalisation is accelerating the use of English. Page 38 - English could be marginalizing minorities affecting their opportunities in a given economical environment There is, however, another dimension to this. English is a necessary skill for many of these workers: for example, Malaysia in 2003 made basic proficiency in English a requirement for all foreign employees, just as Bangladesh signed an agreement to send 200,000 workers to Malaysia Remittance is important to developing nations economies (so the need for English language skills of those migrating elsewhere is required as these workers seek employment in wealthier countries to work and send remittance money home to families) Internal migration (India for ex): Many rural migrants seek employment in one of the hospitality industries where some level of English is expected. Because the language of the city is often different from that of their home area, new linguistic skills are acquired, and a linguistic conduit established between the urban and rural varieties. If life in the city goes well, the worker may be joined by the children who will also acquire new languages (pos feedback mechanism) Internet less English dominated nowadays. Internet allows for study of less known languages News reporting in Arabic took middle east by storm when Al Jazeera launched. Al Jazeera now has English news, as does Russia, France, Germany (national language news and English language news) linguistic diversity may be seen as a threat to the maintenance of a harmonious society in which now allows for much easier survival of foreign immigrants continuing to use their own language in the new country within communities- but multilingual societies can be more easily sustained In Singapore English has gradually shifted from a second language to the main language used at home (while both Mandarin and dialect has dropped significantly). In India English is often used among young ppl to form relationships, mothers and fathers may have different linguistic backgrounds in which English is used as opted as the best option. Fall in the number of languages began before English rose to prominence as a major world language. English does however pose a threat to national languages. Mandarin teaching growing- expectations of 100million in coming years (still far less than English) Developing world going through big educational system changes in a globalized world including improving national proficiency in English English has moved from foreign language to ‘basic skill’ in many countries' educational systems Universities competing on a global stage and teaching more and more in English as they compete for researchers, teachers and students and thereby raise their profile In 2003-2004 1500 masters programs across Europe where English is not the national language. Weak English skills has been cited in research as a major problem with Indian and Chinese university graduates to seeking employment in an international company/setting English competes with French Portuguese in Africa as medium of instruction in education (Senegal for ex) Estimated 53% of international university students world-wide study in English speaking countries. 2nd is 11% in French, 3rd: 9% in German. Teaching other subjects via the medium of English has increased across Europe since it’s inception in the 90’s in Finland English language teaching in school across the globe is increasing, the age at which it begins is being continually lowered and the amount of educational institutions teaching English across Europe has been increasing In Japan the company that owns Berlitz reports attendance to English conversational classes for 5 year olds up from 8% in 2000 to 21% in 2005. A trend apparently common throughout Asian countries. Countries aspiring to major changes to their languages (these statements made usually by each country’s leader of state): Colombia: bilingualism in 10 years. Mongolia: seeking bilingualism with English. Chile: bilingual in a generation. South Korea: aspiring for English to be official language in 'enterprise zones'. Taiwan: 80% of public opinion poll want English to be added as official language. In Switzerland’s German speaking area English to be introduced as 1st foreign language taught before French. English replacing Russian as main foreign languge taught in Baltic states English compulsory in Chinese primary schools. 176million ppl in China studying English in 2005. Philippines are debating whether to make English the language of instruction at all levels of education. Taiwan, Japan, Thailand all introduced initiatives to improve teaching of English language instruction in 2005 English language instruction in universities to ‘flow down’ to secondary schools. English learning enthusiasm to peak at around 2 billion learners and fall off from there as a saturation point is reached. Anti-American sentiments are at their highest point ever (2005) while china is viewed more favourably in most countries. Media beginning to be more international than American dominated. Spanish telenovelas crossing into English language viewing space in US Many countries in Europe have adopted language protection laws in recent years. Teaching mother tongue via education should be supported as very important Teaching English at young age with respect to Asia could be changing the culture of those countries The proliferation of English learning in some cases emphasizes the importance of learning any foreign language in relation to trade English speaking countries may adopt more foreign language learning of the languages that their immigrant populations speak Cost of learning English low, Cost of learning other languages is high ---------------------------------------- All in all a very interesting but big read. I think it supports my thoughts on globalization being tied to English, not necessarily Americanization, supports some of my fanciful predictions on how English will gain ground as global language or how it already is, but doesn't talk much about it supplanting other languages. It does mention that English is a threat to national languages (without a lot of explanation). The main part which is different to my thoughts is that it predicts a decrease in English language learning in the near-ish future. An interesting read kanewai, cheers mate 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4435 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 147 of 176 04 June 2014 at 11:42am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Good luck to Colombia in their quest for bilingualism in 10 years. They're going to need it. Edited by beano on 04 June 2014 at 11:42am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4435 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 148 of 176 04 June 2014 at 11:50am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Although, as we all know, "learning" a language in school doesn't always lead to the ability to speak it in real life. Most education systems have a foreign language as part of their program. Today it tends to be English whereas French or other languages might have had priority in the past. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5289 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 149 of 176 04 June 2014 at 12:00pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I think if national language laws weren't in place, English would pose a real threat to national languages. Take the Netherlands for example with large immigrant populations that in the past didn't speak Dutch. They apparently (I lived there briefly, locals informed me and some reading too)... anyway they apparently communicated in their own languages or English since they had learned English. This is part of the reason it became law the Dutch must be learned for long-term residents. Other European countries adopted similar laws. Leading on from that, and taking into account your increased labour mobility in the EU via large scale English 2nd language adoption I see a problem. Let's imagine a heap of people moving to other countries. It's likely to affect smaller countries first, so let's take Denmark for example, shall we... Okay so heaps of Germans, French, Spanish and Eastern Europeans doesn't really matter who (ex Swedes and Norwegians would prob learn Danish relatively easily), so they all move to Denmark for work as it's going though an economic boom of sorts (this isn't real just to clarify). Okay now the population isn't that high 6 million if i recall correctly. There becomes a very significant number of immigrants who all communicate in English, not Danish. Okay if language laws are in place if they don't learn Danish they leave (mobility no longer very mobile, and possibly illegal as restricting free movement of people- an EU cornerstone and right). If they are allowed to stay and speak English as it's the lingua franca for Europe what will eventually occur to the national language over time? This is why I feel the EU COULD be bad for languages. If the EU wants to improve labour mobility, yet nation states want to protect their languages it becomes a very tricky situation. I know in southern Spain there are areas that are over 50% foreign ownership made up of generally northern Europeans taking advantage of their rights as EU citizens moving to a sunny climate, can you blame them? I'm not telling them what they should do, and Spanish is a lot safer in this scenario compared to my Danish scenario but the EU could spark the denegration of national languages could it not? (if labour mobility barriers are taken away such as high proficiency language tests). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5289 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 150 of 176 04 June 2014 at 12:02pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree. I doubt their policy has taken that desired direction. Whilst I'm sure other countries on the list are prob doing ok. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| PeterMollenburg Senior Member AustraliaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5289 days ago 821 posts - 1273 votes Speaks: English* Studies: FrenchB1 | Message 151 of 176 04 June 2014 at 12:07pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
I agree, but English stands a better chance now than other languages did in the past. The benefit of hindsight with regards to rubbish teaching methods in the past. English is taught via the context of other subjects in many cases (eg Geography taught in English) which gives it meaning as opposed to abstract analysis. Also almost everyone in Europe is learning English so there's no feeling of isolation, proficiency tests in Europe must work to some degree as the Dutch certainly speak English well. Old methods have been improved upon. I learned French in high school and by 'learned' I mean I learned about three words, literally. I hated it and I slipped under the radar and still passed it 2 out of 3 years... just by guessing my way through multiple choice tests and so on. There's also a lot of incentive for young people with access to a lot of 'cool' English language media. That's something I never had with French in high school (I think English speaking countries have been particularly bad in past decades at teaching foreign languages). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4435 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 152 of 176 04 June 2014 at 1:34pm | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I'm not sure if the teaching itself is that bad. After all, why should a British language teacher be any less creative or enthusiastic than a continental counterpart? I think the main reason British kids are so poor at languages is that they already know that they will have little practical use for French or German in later life and there is precious little reinforcement outside the classroom. Also, is it realistic to expect schoolchildren to become strong speakers? Kids who study physics or chemistry aren't all that advanced in these disciplines either at the age of 16. A few are, but you could say the same about the handful of "language nerds"
Edited by beano on 04 June 2014 at 2:18pm 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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