Author Archives: Eilidh MacDonald

About Eilidh MacDonald

Project Co-ordinator, Language Rich Europe - British Council Germany

English and Linguistic Imperialism – Time to move on?

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‘Linguistic imperialism: still alive and kicking?’ was the topic of a British Council Signature Event at the recent IATEFL Conference and Exhibition in Liverpool. Robert Phillipson, the author of the 1992 book Linguistic Imperialism, stated in his opening comments that ‘English opens doors for some but closes it for many.’ The concern that local languages are often neglected in preference for English was one shared by many attending the session, although Sarah Ogbay (University of Asmara, Eritrea) counteracted that ‘what we usually see is that people want to learn English because it opens the door’ to opportunities rather than it being forced upon them.

The debate over the status of English is one that is surely going to continue for a long time, but in the Language Rich Europe recommendations we address the issue and attempt to move the discussion forward by calling for the position of English to be ‘explicitly acknowledged, in order to propose a new model for the co-existence of languages in Europe.’

The EU’s ‘mother tongue plus two’ policy, for example, in reality usually means ‘mother tongue, plus English, plus one.’ This does not leave much space in curriculums for other languages, particularly for individuals for whom the mother tongue is not the same as the language of schooling or in areas where the regional/minority language is not the same as the national language. The ‘plus one’ is further undermined by the belief that ‘English is enough.’ It is not.  For many, at least in Europe, the English language has become a basic skill to be listed on the CV alongside IT and Communication. To put yourself ahead of other candidates in the job market, yes learn English, but you now need other languages as well. The promotion of a ‘linguistic profile’ by the EU would be a less restrictive way of recognising the importance of all languages to an individual and their society.

According to Sarah Ogbay, ‘the spread of English does not undermine the local language as long as the language policy of the country really looks after the language of the local people.’ Research shows that children learn better by learning in their mother tongue and UNESCO promotes ‘mother tongue based multilingual education,’ but during the session many examples were given of children learning in English to the detriment of their native language. Language Rich Europe’s Recommendation 7 calls for ‘Migrant’, ‘Immigrant’, ‘Community’ to be

explicitly recognised through appropriate instruments at European level… the offer of languages other than the national language(s) should be adapted so that all students, regardless of their background have the opportunity to learn the languages of their community, from pre-primary to university education.

This builds on the Council of Europe’s European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which recognises the importance of governmental support and promotion of these languages. Without policies many languages struggle to survive when competing with ‘bigger’ languages.

But it is difficult to know which languages require protection and the extent to which protection is necessary if data has not been collected on languages spoken and used in different communities. Language Rich Europe emphasises the importance of this by placing it right at the start of the recommendations:

Recommendation 1 – steps should be taken to increase current knowledge about the languages spoken and used in different communities and countries throughout Europe, and on the relationships between languages; for example, through data on translations. An initial survey of existing census data should be compiled and relevant authorities should be encouraged to carry out further census/survey work in this area.

Danny Whitehead, British Council, Indonesia, stated at the IATEFL event, ‘English can be and is a very powerful and valuable part of a person’s linguistic repertoire… it provides opportunities for individuals… it is the cornerstone for cultural relations.’

It should be ‘part of a person’s linguistic repertoire’ rather than a way of creating a monolingual individual. In the words of Becky, R.K. Ndjoze-Ojo (former Deputy Minister of Education, Namibia) ‘If English is a global language, which it is, how can it be used to give hope to speakers of thousands of other languages?’

- Read the Language Rich Europe Recommendations on our website

- View the ‘Linguistic imperialism: still alive and kicking?’ event and other IATEFL coverage here.

Other related blog posts:

- Is English a form of linguistic imperialism?

- International conference on endangered languages

- Have you seen our European Recommendations? Call to Action!

Languages at the London 2012 Summer Olympics

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It’s a matter of hours until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games and 10 days until I visit London 2012 myself, so it’s probably about time Language Rich Europe got into the spirit of things!

London is a multilingual and multicultural city regardless of whether the Olympics are happening or not, but the arrival of participants and spectators from all over the world has resulted in a greater effort to recruit multilingual staff to meet and greet arrivals at airports and to produce multilingual signs. Unfortunately this hasn’t always worked as effectively as the organisers may have liked, with reports that some Arabic signs in train stations and Westfield Shopping Centre are ‘gibberish.’ But it’s a well-meaning gesture and for an Olympic Games which places so much emphasis on legacy, I will be interested to see if there will be any lasting impact on multilingualism.

If you are heading to London for the Olympics, have a great time and here are some resources to help you communicate with the locals and visitors alike:

- London 2012: Breaking the Language Barrier – a quick guide to London English 

- Learn key phrases in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Mandarin and Arabic using the British Council’s Visitors Handbook 

- Learn cockney rhyming slang with the USA team

Learning Languages through Sport

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Football, some believe, has become a ‘global language’. In a BBC blog post from 2009, Tim Vickery writes

I have often put forward the view that part of the explanation for the extraordinary global success of football is that the gameis a universal language which we speak with different accents.

Other sports popular in the UK do not always have the global reach of football. Snooker, rugby and cricket can all struggle to gain audiences in many countries. Could one reason for this be that these sports have not turned into ‘global languages’ but have remained predominately English-speaking? If this is the case, could language education potentially open doors to audiences in countries where these sports are less popular and in turn make pupils more enthusiastic language learners?

In the Netherlands, the European Platform internationalizing English has decided to develop a cricket project which will incorporate cricket into the sports programme of up to 120 bilingual schools across the country. This initiative has been described in an article by Rod Lyall on Cricket Europe Netherlands as possibly

the most important initiative in the Dutch game since the ICC introduced its High Performance Program, and may in the end prove to be even more significant for the sport’s long-term future.

The opportunity to use a language programme to reach over 25,000 pupils is clearly appealing to a sport keen to raise its profile; but the programme can be beneficial to pupils too. Senior projects officer at the European Platform, Onno van Wilgenburg, explains:

Cricket is anideal sport for our purposes […] because it can be enjoyable both for pupils who are naturally athletic and those who are a bit less talented.

Because it is played across the English-speaking world it adds a truly international dimension to our programme, and it can feed into almost every area of the curriculum.

The essence of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) is that language learning should not be confined to the language classroom but that other subjects should be taught ‘through the medium of a language other than that normally used.’  Programmes such as this can provide a good opportunity for learners to improve their sporting and linguistic skills simultaneously. It is not only cricket that could reach a new audience through programmes such as this one, but languages too.

For more information on the cricket project, you may be interested in the following articles:

Bilingual schools projectis Dutch cricket’s big opportunity

34 schools sign up for Dutch bilingual schools scheme

Thank you to our Portuguese partner, Lachlan Mackenzie, ILTEC, for bringing this project to our attention.

Scotland – a multilingual country?

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It’s St Andrew’s Day today – Scotland’s national day, so what better excuse than to have a wee keek at the state of languages in my home country.

Scotland, like the rest of the UK, is not exactly famed for its ability in foreign languages. This has made the news again recently with British Council Scotland warning that a decline in Foreign Language Assistants could affect student numbers and the quality of foreign language education. Lloyd Andersen, Director British Council Scotland said:

Assistants perform a vital role in supporting language teachers by bringing a cultural dimension to language-learning that enthuses and inspires young people

Teachers are in no doubt this helps increase linguistic fluency and makes it more likely a young person will continue studying languages to a high level. In an increasingly globalised world, Scotland needs to be outward looking.

The Scottish Government, which provides funding for the FLA programme, has set up a working group to implement their programme of learning two languages plus ‘mother tongue’ but some see this as unrealistic.

2 + 1 is not a new initiative, nor is it an invention of the Scottish Government. Both the European Union and Council of Europe place emphasis on citizens being able to communicate in ‘mother tongue plus two languages.’ From the current level of foreign language education, this may be difficult to achieve, but I applaud the Scottish Government’s recognition of it as an important target nonetheless.

I also think there is another important point which cannot necessarily be separated from the foreign language debate – and that is the fact that Scotland is not historically or currently a monolingual country. As well as English, Scotland has two other main languages – Scots, a language which shares a common root with English, and Gaelic.

Scots and Gaelic receive financial and political support from the Scottish Government, where the Minister of Learning and Skills, Alasdair Allan has a particular responsibility for these languages. At a time of economic turbulence, the time and money spent on languages which are not as widely spoken as English is criticised by some, who also see it as pro-independence propaganda from a Scottish Government where the Scottish Nationalist Party has a majority.

However, these initiatives are not solely the result of an SNP government. Scots has been ‘back on the agenda’ in education since the 5-14 curriculum was introduced in 1991 and both Scots and Gaelic are covered by Part II of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, which was ratified by the UK Government in 2001. As with foreign languages, Scotland and the UK are following the EU and Council of Europe’s lead, with the European Charter considering that:

the protection of the historical regional or minority languages of Europe, some of which are in danger of eventual extinction, contributes to the maintenance and development of Europe’s cultural wealth and traditions… the right to use a regional or minority language in private and public life is an inalienable right

This does not mean they should be taught to the detriment of English, clearly there is a need to learn it, but considering English’s dominance I find it unlikely that this would happen. Rather, Scots and Gaelic should be included in education instead of being sidelined to languages of the playground or home or as part of the once-a-year Burns Night celebrations. As recently as the 1960s, the Scots language was looked down upon as ‘not being proper English’ and even today it is often criticised for being a dialect or, worse, slang. Ayrshire, Glaswegian, Doric and Lallans are all dialects of the Scots language and, as anyone who has encountered a Glasgow taxi driver knows, they are spoken frequently outside of school.

If proper acknowledgement was given to this language in school, many children might have a different relationship with language learning. Instead of being ‘bad at English’ they can suddenly speak two languages. With this knowledge, confidence and enthusiasm at learning a foreign language might in turn increase.

Lingue per un cuore europeo – Costruzione di un’identità plurilingue e pluriculturale dell’Europa nel mondo

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Silvia Minardi from Language Rich Europe partner LEND (lingua e nuova didattica), blogs on the recent conference in Turin, Italy. 

A Torino, dal 28 al 30 ottobre scorso, abbiamo noi di LEND (lingua e nuova didattica) celebrato i nostri primi quarant’anni come associazione multilingue che si batte per una scuola plurilingue nelle sue scelte curricolari. E lo abbiamo fatto con un seminario internazionale dal titolo “Lingue per un cuore europeo. Costruzione di un’identità plurilingue e pluriculturale dell’Europa nel mondo”.

Abbiamo anche celebrato i 150 anni dell’Unità d’Italia, un processo nel quale il ruolo della lingua italiana è sempre stato quello di unire il Paese e di farlo uscire da quello stato di analfabetismo generale che caratterizzava la società italiana della seconda metà dell‘800.

E la nostra festa è stata molto bella perché abbiamo potuto condividere emozioni, ricordi, progetti, idee con tanti amici di sempre con un occhio attento al futuro e alle sfide che le nuove società plurali ci mettono continuamente di fronte.

La cerimonia di apertura che ha visto la presenza di tutti i rappresentanti delle Agenzie Culturali Straniere presenti in Italia (British Council Italy, Goethe Institut, l’Ambasciata di Francia con il Bureau de Coopération Linguistique et Artistique) è stata presieduta da Jean Claude Beacco che, illustrando i progetti più recenti del Consiglio d’Europa, ci ha aiutato a guardare dentro il concetto di identità plurale che era tra le parole chiave del Seminario stesso. Le relazioni in plenaria si sono susseguite con un ritmo molto vivace e hanno visto la presenza di illustri studiosi nei loro rispettivi campi di indagine e di ricerca: Piercesare Rivoltella, Peeter Mehisto, Michel Candelier, Uwe Mohr, Hermann Funk, Monica Barni, Rita Sidoli e tanti altri. Incastonate nel programma del seminario abbiamo voluto ascoltare la narrazione di alcune persone che hanno nella loro storia individuale vissuto la pluralità di lingue, di culture, di appartenenze, di identità. Tra le relazioni hanno suscitato interesse e grande attesa i primi dati relativi alla situazione del Plurilinguismo nel nostro Paese che Martin Hope ci ha fornito in relazione al progetto LRE – Language Rich Europe. Importanti sono stati anche i lavori che docenti lend e non solo hanno mostrato e realizzato nei laboratori del sabato pomeriggio con un pubblico attento e molto motivato di fronte ad esperienze concrete di plurilinguismo che sono state l’oggetto dei diversi laboratori.

La conclusione è stata affidata a Gustavo Zagrebelsky, presidente emerito della Corte Costituzionale, autore di un libro dal titolo “Le parole del tempo presente”.

E’ evidente che un seminario di questa portata per i temi affrontati, le domande sollevate, le emozioni e i ricordi che il compleanno di LEND ha saputo suscitare non si esaurisce con la cerimonia di chiusura e la consegna del tricolore alle responsabili del gruppo lend di Torino da parte del Presidente Nazionale. Un seminario come quello di Torino è destinato a lasciare un segno nel tempo. Come tanti altri seminari lend, anche questo non passerà senza aver provato a cambiare le cose in questa scuola sempre più grigia e sempre meno plurilingue.

www.lend.it

Spotlight on Spain – Languages in the Spanish Education System

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In the final installment of our two-part series Spotlight on Spain, Marta Genis of the Universidad Nebrija discusses the status of languages within the education system and the importance of this to Spain as a whole.

The models for languages in education in Spain vary not only between areas, but also within them. For example, in Valencia (a bilingual community) there are different language models for non-university education. In the Castilian-speaking area Valencian is taught as a subject and the usual teaching language is Castilian. In the Valencian-speaking area there are several programs which include beginning with Valencian taught as a subject and gradually incorporating other subjects in that language; and teaching wholly in Valencian.

In Navarra, the language models range from teaching wholly in Spanish or teaching in Spanish but incorporating the study of the Basque language as a subject to teaching wholly in Basque. While in Cataluña, children are schooled totally in Catalan and learn to read and write in this language and Spanish is gradually introduced into the curriculum.

The ability to communicate in a foreign language is necessary in today’s society. It is also a pressing need within the framework of European unity, as movement of professionals and workers between the countries of the European Community increases along with foreign travel, cultural exchange and communication of news and knowledge.  There is, therefore, a great social demand for providing students with a communicative competence in a foreign language in compulsory education. Spain, a multilingual country, with four official languages, lots of dialects and many immigration languages present in everyday life, should be sensitive to learning foreign languages.

In Spain English is the language chosen in most of the communities, although some communities have programmes for French, German, Italian and Portuguese. The teaching of a foreign language begins at 8 years old, but there are many autonomous regions in which it is introduced at 3 years old. Currently Spain applies two models in what has been called bilingual education. The main characteristic of the first one, called Secciones bilingües, is the coexistence, in the same course, of bilingual groups of students and others that are not bilingual. The second model consists of infant and primary schools in which English (or another foreign language) is taught to all students. As regards to teachers, their expertise is different depending on the levels.  Primary teachers are generally non-native language specialists, while in secondary education teachers are mainly non-native subject teachers.

The preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity should be a main priority of Spanish language policy as it can affect greatly the rich variety of languages we enjoy. Cultivating language skills is absolutely necessary in this plurilingual world of ours for various reasons; firstly, they are the most outstanding vehicles for culture; secondly, they help value and respect other cultures, accepting differences more easily; and thirdly, they enable people to benefit from opportunities in employment and mobility. In addition, using different languages is necessary in order to participate in the social and political life of our plurilingual European countries. Thus, it is vital to adapt the education system to these new human needs since language is the most important mark of identity

Additional Reading:

Blanco, J. & Nicholson, D. (2010) Cambridge ESOL and Spanish school networks. In Research Notes, issue 40, May. Cambridge ESOL. Available online

Frigols Martín, M J (2006) CLIL implementation in Spain: An approach to different models. Available online.

Hnízdo, B. (2005-2011) The types of European plurilingualism:  Gateways to Creation of Transnational Identities? In Development of the Czech Society in the EU: challenges and risks. MSM. Available online.

European Day of Languages in Estonia

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Council of EuropeIn today’s guest post, Sam Noble, intern at  British Council Estonia and student at the Humboldt University of Berlin, writes about his experience of the European Day of Languages in Estonia and how it has motivated him to learn more languages. The original article was posted to the British Council Estonia blog.

The European Day of Languages, held this year in Tallinn University, is an exhibition to promote language and culture to school and university students in Estonia. The British Council attended, alongside other institutions to do just that. The Estonian, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, Polish, Spanish, Hungarian, French and German institutes were all present, identifiable by their respective miniature flags. In addition, there were musical performances from a prepubescent Polish prodigy playing piano (I could not resist the alliteration), Russian girls in traditional costume singing in their Finno-Ugric dialect (which is the linguistic family vowel-happy Estonian belongs to) as well as language classes for all of the represented languages as well as various Estonian dialects. The only class missing was an English language class, indicative of just how pervasive English is in Estonia.

Having said that, the British Council stall was busy, giving ad-hoc university advice to young and exceptionally polite students and handing out free prospectuses and pens to all who seemed curious. It was a great opportunity to give impartial advice about British universities to potential students. Having worked for universities before, your author knows how competitive universities are in attracting non-UK students to their university. Tuition fees are extraordinarily high in the UK, consequently all universities are desperately trying to attract EU and non-EU students, riding on the excellent reputation that the UK university sector has abroad. Of course not all universities are deserving of this reputation, and it is these universities who are persuading wide-eyed students to come to their university. My advice to students was to aim as high as possible. If you are going to dish out a small fortune, apply to Oxford, apply to Cambridge and not a university that you have never heard off in a town you can not pronounce.

The day was also a great opportunity to see how other cultural institutions work and promote themselves. The Danish Cultural Institute were astounded that no Estonians were considering studying in Denmark. Unlike the UK, not only are there no tuition fees but the government gives students an allowance per month (I’m wondering why I didn’t study there myself). The monthly allowance is more than the average Estonian civil servant or teacher earns. This got me into a long and interesting conversation with my colleague and an Estonian woman who runs the English language exams at the university. In short, lots of Estonian nurses, doctors and teachers are going to Finland, Sweden, Norway and the UK simply because they can earn so much more there than they can here in Estonia. I assumed Estonians earned a similar amount, especially here in Tallinn where the prices are similar to a lot of UK towns. How do they manage?

But back to more jovial subjects. The Spanish stall was very popular, true to national (and positive) stereotype; the Spanish were gregarious and attracted a lot of attention. I wish I’d been wearing tweed and a bowler hat to emulate national stereotypes as well (the British Council didn’t even have a flag). However, my French equivalent was envious of the literature we were giving to students, that is an in-depth guide book to all the universities of the UK. “That would make my life a lot easier” He opined. If French tuition fees were anywhere near the UK prices, then French universities would be compelled to offer publications such as these to people.

I hope an event such as this continues to promote language here in Estonia. It was an event which promoted culture and language in a positive and sharing environment. Learning a new language is an enlightening experience. But more realistically, it is a way to enhance career prospects as many Estonians working in other countries may attest. I am always envious when I meet multi-lingual people. I speak one language, but this day motivated me to learn. Now if someone can just explain to me the Estonian case system I may give Estonian a go…täname, et lugemine.

 

European Day of Languages: Oh Paris, comment je t’aime!

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As part of our European Day of Languages mini-series, we would like to share an excerpt of an article by Hannah Kelly, a student from the UK currently living in Paris.  In the article she talks about her experiences of learning French and the cultural differences between France and the UK. You can read the original article in full on the British Council France website.

 

À l’approche du deuxième anniversaire de mon déménagement en France, je repense aux débuts de mon histoire d’amour avec la langue française – j’avais cinq ans lorsque mes parents m’ont envoyée pour la première fois dans un camp de vacances durant deux semaines, où j’ai appris à communiquer (un peu) et à (essayer de) me faire comprendre.

Cette passion pour les langues étrangères s’est poursuivie à l’école, puisque j’ai eu l’opportunité d’apprendre une deuxième langue en classe – et j’ai décidé d’apprendre le français, évidemment. À l’heure du choix de mes cours à l’université, il n’y avait qu’une seule chose qui m’intéressait : les langues.

C’est donc le désir de mieux connaître la langue française qui m’a amené à Paris à l’âge de 18 ans, et je dois avouer que je n’étais pas du tout préparée à affronter les différences culturelles entre le Royaume-Uni et la France. J’ai grandi dans une ville relativement petite, dans le nord de l’Angleterre, où je connaissais la majorité des gens de mon quartier. C’est un véritable choc quand on s’installe dans une ville aussi grande que Paris, et la perspective de passer facilement une semaine sans croiser le moindre ami me semblait vraiment étrange au début.

Après avoir terminé ma première année d’études, j’ai commencé à travailler. Je croyais que j’étais capable de parler le français, mais je me suis vite rendue compte que je m’étais trompée !

Il y a d’abord la vitesse avec laquelle les gens s’expriment, qui ne correspondait pas du tout à la vitesse avec laquelle je comprenais ce qu’ils disaient – surtout à la fin d’une journée de 10 heures ! Il y a ensuite le langage courant, les mots que je n’ai jamais rencontrés dans mes livres mais qui veulent dire des choses toutes simples, comme « bouquin », « frangin » ou « fric ». Et puis il y a, enfin, le fait que pas mal de français souhaitent pratiquer leur anglais, ce qui ne me dérange pas du tout, mais disons que ce n’est pas exactement la raison pour laquelle je suis venue ici…

 

European Day of Languages competition – Languages Speak up!

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Council of EuropeThere are lots of exciting activities happening over the next few weeks as part of the European Day of Languages on the 26 September and we will cover as many of them as possible on the Language Rich Europe blog, so keep checking our Home and News and Events pages!

First up, the British Council and EUNIC in Brussels are launching a competition – Languages Speak up! - to find Language Ambassadors who are willing to lend their voice to the cause of language learning by creating a short video of their linguistic journey.

If you speak three or more languages we want to hear your story! Enter to become one of our Language Ambassadors and you could win a new iPad 2. The selected videos will feature as an important part of the websites of our major twin projects: Language Rich Europe and Poliglotti4.eu.

To enter all you need to do is to make a video clip of 2-3 minutes, using all the languages you speak.  In the video we want to know about you and how your language skills have improved your life.

Use the following to help you:

  • Who are you and what do you do? Introduce yourself.
  • What languages do you speak?
  • When did you learn your languages and how did you learn them?
  • Why do you feel that learning another language is important?
  • Can you tell us about a time or situation when knowing a foreign language really came in handy?
  • How does speaking different languages affect your daily life?
  • Please say “I love languages” in your favourite foreign language.

Important: Use your imagination and feel free to involve your friends and families.  Most important is to make your video fun to watch!  Also be sure you speak in all of your languages.

 Why participate?

  • To encourage and motivate others to learn languages.
  • To share your insights on benefits of learning a language.
  • To win a prize and feature on our websites among well-known Language Ambassadors.

Who can enter the competition?

  • Residents of the Council of Europe Member States
  • Adults of any age (18 or older).  Due to child protection regulations no one under 18 may appear in the video.

How will the winners be chosen?
A panel of judges from the multilingual Language Rich Europe project team and the British Council will choose the winner. The panel will judge your entry on:

  • original idea when choosing the setting and plot for the video clip
  • the imagination and creativity shown in presenting their story of multilingualism
  • the clarity of the benefits of being multilingual

How do I enter?

  • Read the instructions carefully first before making your video
  • Read the terms and conditions before entering
  • Make your video clip of Languages Speak Up!
  • Upload your video with maximum 4 minute length

How do I upload my video?
Between September 26 and November 4 (17:00 CET) upload your video on YouTube and post the link to the video here. (“Submit your ideas and comments” on the right hand side)

If you have any problems posting it there, just get in touch with christiane.keilig@britishcouncil.de.
Important: Your video should be uploaded by 17:00 Central European Time (CET) on Friday, 4  November 2011.

What can you win?
•    The winning video will win a NEW iPad 2 
•    One runner-up will win a Sony Bloggie camera

Important: All winners of prizes, including the main prize, will be informed by email and will be able to collect the prize on a date agreed with the organisers in the British Council office in your country.

                                        

The Power of Languages

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We have written before on the effects government can have on languages but at a record 460 days without a government, Belgium has shown the reverse – the effect that languages can have on government.

While there are other issues here beyond languages it seems impossible to explain the situation without mentioning them. For example, an article in today’s Independent, suggesting the current stalemate could finally come to an end, describes it as follows:

After a world record-breaking 15 months without an elected government, Belgium appeared yesterday to be teetering on the edge of a compromise between its Dutch-speaking and francophone political parties.

Although no coalition government has yet been agreed, eight parties have solved a conundrum which has defied Belgian politicians for almost half a century: how to guarantee the civic rights of French-speaking people who live in the officially Dutch-speaking suburbs of Brussels.

French-speaking, Dutch-speaking, francophone… all words that are repeated in every news article reporting on Belgium’s lack of government over the last 15 months putting languages right at the heart of the matter, where in other countries it might be ethnicity, religion or politics.

And it is not just in government that languages hold such power. Staying in Belgium, sensitivities between Dutch and French speakers have even infiltrated the underground service in Brussels, which has been scrutinized for its music choice. As metro spokeswoman An van Hamme reports:

We decided to try playing songs from an international hit list. This meant a number of French songs and practically none in Dutch and this drew complaints from Dutch-speakers

As a result, the metro service has stopped playing music in French and instead plays hits in English, Italian and Spanish.

Meanwhile in Quebec, the Barreau du Québec has insisted that newly recruited judges to the Supreme Court be bilingual.  According to Director General of the Barreau du Québec, Me Claude Provencher:

It is a fundamental right to be heard by a judge in one of the two official languages. This ensures the equal status of both our official languages. To do so without the help of an interpreter boosts public confidence in the justice system and improves the quality of services rendered, since information is not being conveyed by a third-party.

Also in Quebec, earlier this year, languages made it into court when an airline was sued for $12 000 after a passenger’s request for a drink was not understood by a flight attendant and other services were not provided in French as well as English.

Languages clearly have the power to affect government, legal, business and even musical decisions and policies. They should be treated with the respect they deserve!

 

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