Alla inlägg den 30 juni 2007

Vi återger här ett förnuftigt inlägg från en brittisk parlamentsledamot från den 9/3 2001:

Mr. Denis MacShane (Rotherham): I am grateful for the chance to discuss the Nuffield report on the teaching of foreign languages in our schools. I think that it was Bismarck, who spoke many languages, including French, Italian, Russian and English, who said that speaking many tongues was something that head waiters should do. Charles V, the 16th-century emperor, said that he spoke Spanish to God, Latin to his confessor, Italian to his mistress, French to his men and German to his horse. I shall make a plea for a more modest aim: that we in Britain seek to improve our knowledge of foreign languages so that more of us can speak at least another language.


A monolingual Britain will not survive in the global economy. For the first time in our nation's existence, we have given up insisting that an effort should be made to speak other languages. England has lost an empire but still believes in the imperialism of English. That is a huge mistake because already more than half those accessing the internet are no longer doing so in English. In the United States, Spanish-speaking Hispanic citizens are poised to overtake African-Americans as the country's biggest minority group. Of course, as we know, President Bush campaigns in good Spanish.


There are more than 100 million German-speakers in Europe. As language follows money, the growing economic dominance in central and eastern Europe of Germany, Austria and Switzerland means that more and more German is spoken in that region. We know how far French reaches in Africa and Canada, and Spanish and Portuguese dominate in Latin America. In Asia, Chinese is increasingly becoming a second language.



English is the world's most popular choice for a second language, but as the rest of the world is now learning English or another second language, why are we so foolish and arrogant as to believe that we do not need to speak other tongues? It was not always thus. Throughout our history, our kings, queens and Prime Ministers have spoken and written European languages. Until recently, it would have been unthinkable for an "educated" man or woman not to have some knowledge of other languages.


 

That was not merely a question of elites; skilled workers would often finish an apprenticeship by working abroad, although, as we know, apprenticeships have gone. Young men would go off to become police inspectors in Hong Kong and learn fluent Cantonese. Army sergeants and corporals would give orders in different tongues to local troops in far-flung parts of the old British empire. Administrators and business people working in different parts of the world would master other languages.



It is a huge error to assume that English will suffice in 21st-century business. On every page of yesterday's "Appointments" supplement to The Times, in which executive jobs are advertised, appeared calls for "fluency in French, German or Spanish", "fluency in at least one foreign language essential" or "language skills--a plus". I cannot stand the awful term "UK plc" but our economic future as a nation will not be secured until we can speak in more than our own tongue.


Denna nätdagbok är knuten till nätverket Språkförsvaret.

Av Nätverket Språkförsvaret - 30 juni 2007 00:33

Temat är "Namn, namnvård och språkpolitik i ett mångspråkigt Norden i dag". Platsen är Institutet för språk och folkminnen, Hörsalen, Uppsala. tid 7 - 9/9 2007.

Syftet med konferensen är dels att jämföra erfarenheter av olika namnskick och principer för namnvård i de nordiska länderna, dels att diskutera i vad mån en mer utvecklad nordisk samsyn i namnvårdsfrågor är önskvärd och möjlig. Programmet kommer att rymma föredrag som från språkliga eller rättsliga utgångspunkter överblickar och problematiserar namnfrågor i Norden i dag. Läs mer om konferensen här!

Denna nätdagbok är knuten till nätverket Språkförsvaret.

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