Multilingualism »
Dreaming and Language
March 10th, 2009 | 4 Comments
It’s three o’clock in the morning–at least it is in my time zone–and I’m posting here at Chipanglish after a bad dream.
Actually, since we’re all about language here, that’s not very accurate. To be more precise, there was nothing bad about the dream per se. It’s more that I dreamt in German, and that is considerably disconcerting to me once I wake up.
English as the Lingua Franca: How Long Will it Last?
February 20th, 2009 | 1 Comment
I thought I’d open up a new thread for discussion as a bunch of things I’ve read recently seem to be converging on this topic. We’ve got Elenita’s comment in my foreign language in kindergarten post, Peter’s post on the English as Official Language contract, and this article in The Economist (via Polyglottally Speaking).
European politicians long feared that the use of English in the EU would lead to the dominance of Anglo-Saxon thinking. They were wrong. The example of newspapers is instructive: thanks to English (and the internet), a genuinely pan-European space for political debate is being created. It has never been easier for other Europeans to know what Poles think about the credit crunch, Germans about the Middle East or Danes about nuclear power. English is merely “an instrument”, says Mr Versteegh of NRC Handelsblad, not “a surrender to a dominant culture.”
There is a second reason why Anglophones are not about to dominate European debate: they do not want to. British readers have access to an unprecedented range of news and ideas from Europe in their mother tongue. They show little interest. Only 5% of Spiegel International’s readers are from Britain (though half are from North America). In recent years, British newspapers have withdrawn staff reporters right across Europe, and not only to save money. Britain’s daily newspapers are less and less interested in European politics and policy. Light, sensational stuff is what editors choose for publication, plus tales of British tourists and expatriates in trouble (a genre known as “Brits in the shit”).
Why bother?
Such parochialism may be linked to a fall in language-learning, accelerated since 2003, when foreign languages became voluntary in England and Wales for pupils over 14. That robs them of such benefits as the humility and respect for others that come from learning another language. But given the rise of English, it is rational, says Philippe van Parijs, a Belgian academic.
Go to "English as the Lingua Franca: How Long Will it Last?" »
American-born Taiwanese girl who married a Japanese guy. And who forgot about six years' of Spanish grammar and most of the vocab.
E-mail Yvonne
nerissa
celiviel
yvonnekao
Korean-American girl who blogs under a Spanish pseudonym because being culturally confusing is fun. Native speakers say that she has outstanding Spanish (which is a definite compliment) and outstanding German (which is most assuredly not).
Elenita
American-born, Taiwanese guy who took five semesters worth of German and ended up with a major in Linguistics.
Subscribe