Tag Archives: conference

Von Babyrobben, Löwen und Gazellen

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The article below (in German) is written by Julia Kofler, Language Rich Project Manager in Belgium. On 21 March, she went to hear Professor Louis-Jean Calvet speak on the subject of language policy today at a lunchtime conference organised by Alliance Française in the European Parliament.

Les politiques linguistiques aujourd’hui – Die Sprachenpolitik heute

Eine Mittagspause mit Louis-Jean Calvet im Europäischen Parlament, organisiert von der Alliance Française und der Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie

Das Foto, welches auf der Einladung zur Konferenz abgebildet ist, zeigt einen nachdenklichen, fast streng blickenden Herrn in blauem Hemd und grauen Haaren. Ob das einer gelungenen Mittagspause zuträglich ist? Professor Calvet ist, erfreulicherweise, gar nicht der doktrinierende Dozent des Vorlesesaals früherer Unistunden, nein, Professor Calvetss Vortrag war, nach einer zähen Einleitung der Organisatoren, überaus unterhaltsam und, sprachlich gesehen, äusserst bilderreich.

Autor des Buches « La guerre des langues », Louis-Jean Calvet, ehemaliger Professor der Soziolinguistik an der Pariser Sorbonne und nun Professor an der Universität der Provence, ist ein Vertreter und Verfechter der Mehrsprachigkeit und untersucht das Verhältnis zwischen – und jetzt auf französisch : le discours linguistique et le discours colonial sur les langues, puis les liens entre langue et pouvoir. Oder: das Verhältnis zwischen Sprache und Macht folgend dem Sprachendiskurs und dem Kolonialdiskurs über Sprachen.

Louis-Jean Calvet ist auch Autor des französischen Language Rich Europe Essays und weiters Erfinder des « Barometre Calvet des Langues du Monde », welches auf der Website www.portalingua.info getestet werden kann. Die französische Zeitung l’Express titelt hierzu : « Louis Jean Calvet a invente un barometre des langues », und erklärt:

Si l’on parle souvent de l’importance d’une langue en terme de nombre de locuteurs, Calvet démontre que ce n’est pas forcément le facteur le plus important. Si l’on enlève ce facteur, certaines langues bien placées, comme le mandarin qui est en tête si l’on ne prend en compte que ce facteur, voient leur position dégringoler dans le classement et d’autres facteurs, comme la pénétration d’Internet, peuvent permettre à des langues peu parlées comme le suédois, d’arriver en tête du classement. (http://www.lexpress.to/archives/6008/)

Die Website und der Barometer wurde von Professor Calvet zusammen mit seinem Bruder, von Beruf Mathematiker und Statistiker, entworfen. Ein Dream-team also, das Sprachenpolitik und-gebrauch effizient und benutzerfreundlich darzustellen vermögt. So wurden während des Vortrags Elemente wie “competition par exploitation” und “competition par interference” vorgestellt, wobei man sich Ersteres vorstellen muss wie – Achtung, jetzt kommt die erwähnte Bildersprache- eine Wasserstelle in der Afrikanischen Steppe. An dieser besagten Wasserstelle trinken gerne Gazellen, aber nur, wenn nicht gerade ein Löwe dasselbe zu tun gedenkt. Die Gazellen sind zwar vorsichtig, aber die Präsenz des Löwen vertreibt sie nicht vollkommen, nein, es ist vielmehr so, dass die Steppenbewohner nebeneinander lebend ein Equilibrium gefunden haben. Genauso verhält es sich mit dem “modèle gravitationnel”, wo dominierenden Sprachen – auch hyperzentrale Sprachen genannt ( z.B. Englisch und superzentrale (z.B. Französisch) und periphäre Sprachen (Korsisch) ko-existieren ohne sich negativ zu beeinflussen. Deswegen, so Professor Calvet, ist es von wenig Nutzen, superzentrale und periphäre Sprachen zu verteidigen “comme les bebes phoques (wie Babyrobben), es mache vielmehr Sinn, ein Gleichgewicht aller Sprachen anzustreben. Wie das gemacht werden kann und welche Faktoren dabei zählen, kann man selbst am Sprachbarometer testen.

Um nun auf die Frage der gelungenen Mittagspause zurückzukommen, ja, es waren zwei gut genutzte Stunden, der Geist wurde genährt, nur der Magen kam zu kurz.

Meertaligheid: óók voor kinderen met een auditieve of communicatieve beperking!

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Below is a press release (in Dutch) written by Tjeerd Rintjema from our partner organisation Mercator in the Netherlands after the Poliglotti4.eu Expert Seminar, which took place from 9-10 February in Leeuwarden. The main message that came out after the first day of the seminar was that the sooner you begin with multiple languages the better – and this applies to everyone (also to children with auditory and communicative disability).

Tot nog toe gingen veel logopedisten en therapeuten ervan uit dat je kinderen met een auditieve of communicatieve beperking, zoals doofheid, downsyndroom of autisme, beter eentalig kunt grootbrengen. Drs. Mirjam Blumenthal, onderzoeker bij Koninklijke Kentalis, toont tijdens een lezing het tegendeel aan. Zo laat zij een opname zien van een zevenjarige die doof is sinds zijn eerste levensjaar, maar desondanks drie talen spreekt. Hij is weliswaar een uitzondering maar wel illustratief voor haar betoog.

Blumenthal is een van de veertig deelnemers aan het Poliglotti4.eu Expert Seminar, georganiseerd door het Mercator Kenniscentrum van de Fryske Akademy in Leeuwarden op 9 en 10 februari. Experts uit heel Europa zijn in de Friese hoofdstad samen gekomen om te praten over het thema “Early Language Learning”. De centrale boodschap na dag één luidt: Hoe eerder je begint met meer talen hoe beter, en dat geldt voor iedereen.

Meer informatie over het Poliglotti4.eu Expert Seminar kunt u vinden op www.mercator-research.eu.

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

Does Age Matter?

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Everyone knows that learning languages becomes more difficult as you get older. Our brains are no longer sponge-like and, as the saying goes, you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. This provides a nice, ready-made excuse for those of us trying to balance evening classes with work and family commitments. We don’t have time to sit and learn vocabulary every evening, but even if we did there wouldn’t be much point now that we are over the age of ten. Right?

Well maybe not. Recent research from Israel (presented at the 12th International Congress for the Study of Child Language in Montreal) shows an adult brain is more suited to learning a language’s grammar than a child’s brain. In one experiment, researchers invented a new grammar for Hebrew and tested 8, 12 and 21 year olds on their ability to learn the system. The 21 year olds achieved the best results.

In an article for Belgian newspaper de Standaard, Monika Schmid, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Groningen, explains that many scientists are unable to agree on this subject. One reason for this is it is difficult to create a truly controlled environment in which to test language learning ability. External factors such as schooling mean that children tend to be immersed more thoroughly in a language, so they reach a higher level of fluency more quickly. But if these factors were removed, would children still come out on top? The Israeli research suggests not.

However, grammar is only one aspect of language learning and Professor Schmid goes on to explain that while rules can be learned more easily by adults, children tend to learn a language more intuitively:

Volwassenen leren talen expliciet: ze leiden de spelregels van de grammatica bewust af, zoals je ook een videorecorder leert programmeren. Kinderen leren talen zoals ze ook leren fietsen: op een gegeven moment weten ze intuïtief hoe het moet.

At the end of the day, does it really matter how old we are? So we might not become as fluent or learn as quickly as we would like to but if we are motivated and enthusiastic about learning a new language, surely that is much more important!

Thanks to Canan Marasligil for drawing my attention to the article in de Standaard.

Information on the Israeli research is also available in English from the New Scientist website.

META FORUM 2011: Solutions for Multilingual Europe

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British Council colleague Ágota Bíró has attended a conference in Budapest this week: META FORUM 2011 – Solutions for Multilingual Europe (June 27-28 Budapest) and reports back for the Language Rich Europe blog.

„Multilingualism is now a norm, not an exception.”- Joseph Mariani (CNRS/LIMSI, France) said in his presentation about „The Future European Multilingual Information Society”  in a conference organized by Meta-Net, A Network of Excellence forging Multilingual Technology Alliance.

The conference brought together representatives of top-notch European research centres; small and large technology corporations; translation services and other users of language technology; language communities; and policy makers responsible for supporting research and innovation.

The meeting was organized by META-NET, a Network of Excellence consisting of 47 research centres in 31 coun­tries and funded by the European Commission. META-NET is forging the “Multilingual Europe Technology Alliance” uniting technology researchers, providers and users for a large European research and innovation effort. Repre­sen­tatives of more than 280 organi­sations from 40 countries have already joined the alliance.

In his opening speech, Zoran Stančič, Deputy Director-General for Information Society and Media in the Euro­pean Commission, formulates clear expectations: “In the European Union we have lifted to a large extent the physical borders between countries, still there are many borders remaining, including linguistic ones. Access to information in all languages is a necessary condition to enhance the circulation of products and services, and to boost the advent of a seamless digital single market. I strongly believe that Europe can further develop its leader­ship in language technologies and deliver solutions that will benefit the European society and economy at large. The only way we can achieve this, however, is to combine efforts and build a strong partnership with all stake­holders concerned. The place of language technologies in the future European research and innovation land­scape will depend heavily on the ability of the field to speak with one voice.”

The participants of META-FORUM debated the guiding visions and initial plans for the envisaged technology push. In three vision groups and in a public web dialogue, experts from more than 100 companies and research organi­sations have already assembled bold visions for future research and visions about powerful language technology applications that will change our work and everyday life. The visions were presented and discussed at the Budapest conference. The shared vision will serve as the starting point for a strategic research agenda, whose first outline will also be discussed at META-FORUM. As Hans Uszkoreit, the META-NET coordinator, explained, “With the right vision, actors and agenda, we can secure the future of Europe’s languages and the competitiveness of a European industry sector in a key area of technological growth. The public costs for such an effort might not be higher than those for 100 kilometres of highway in a new member state.”

Improved Learning of Irish – can language-orientation instruction help?

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The Fryske Akademy in Leeuwarden (Netherlands) hosted a ASOAS-UCL / Mercator Research Conference ‘Languages of the Wider World’: Understanding Resilience and Shift in Regional and Minority languages.

Seán Ó Riain, an Irish diplomat currently on secondment to the European Commission, has presented the paper published on this blog post. His Ph.D thesis (Trinity College, Dublin, 1985) dealt with language planning in Ireland and Québec. All views expressed in this paper are personal to the author.  

Improved Learning of Irish – can language-orientation instruction help?
 Seán Ó Riain 

“Research the propedeutic qualities of various languages to discover which second language is most likely to encourage subsequent language-learning. An innovative UK programme has been testing an alternative propedeutic approach since September 2006 (sections 4.2 and 6.4.1), and this may have implications for the order in which languages are learned.” 

From Recommendations of EU Civil Society Platform on Multilingualism (29 pan-EU organisations), final report, 30 March 2011
The Harris reports of 1984 and 2006, on the teaching of Irish in primary schools, showed that 96% of students from the Irish-medium schools master both languages, yet in the English-medium schools, despite some 12 years studying Irish as an obligatory subject, up to 70% of students make little progress. This had led to some criticism of language learning as “elitist”: the educational system has had the unintended effect of excluding the majority from a positive experience of multilingualism.

This presentation seeks to make four main points:

1)      It is generally accepted that any second language which has been thoroughly learnt will be helpful in subsequent language-learning. 

2)      Due to its unusually streamlined structure, a short course in Esperanto is particularly effective in preparing learners for subsequent language-learning. 

3)      The aim is not to learn a large amount of Esperanto, but a ‘language orientation course’, lasting 50 – 100 hours, covering the basic grammar of Esperanto and the 500 most frequently-used morphemes, the equivalent of 2,000 words in other languages. 

4)      A pilot scheme in an Irish primary school is recommended, to test whether and to what extent such a course could improve the learning of Irish, or the learning of French, German, etc. in a Gaelscoil (Irish-medium school).