2nd Language Attrition

[hsmr at gol.com]

Hi everyone,

Two notes to two fellow list members:

AUROLYN
Thank you for clarifying the situation in Bolivia. I was saddened to
learn, but in no way surprised, that Bolivia also has an ineffective
universal English language (UEL) requirement. Surely there must be at
least one country in the world that has one, but I have yet to find it.
I have several more short answer questions, if you wouldn't mind?

1) When you say grade school, are you including both the primary and
secondary levels? If so, at what level does a child begin his training?
Also, is the English language a prerequisite for entering state-run
universities? Are there private universities that do not require
English? How about non-degree, post-secondary programs, do they have
English language requirements, as well?

2) Although secondary school graduates with some proficiency in English
are able to obtain jobs that others cannot, are they financially
rewarded for their additional training? Here in Hong Kong language
makes a difference with regard to what job one obtains, but on average
all secondary graduates receive the same wage no matter their level of
second language proficiency. In short, one is only rewarded for one's
language skills, as one advances higher through the system. If one does
not advance, there is no reward.

3) How about the government? Does it require expertise in the English
language for entry level employment?

4) I was tickled when you wrote "and (unsurprisingly) teaching
English". Being a landlocked South American country, far away from the
US border, I should think that Bolivia's system of English language
instruction would be even more hermetic than that of either Japan's or
Hong Kong's. How advanced is Bolivia's teacher exchange program? Are
foreign language teachers required to spend time in a country that
boasts English as its native tongue for certification?

DAVID
Your analogy with regard to language and clothes I continue to find
both witty and charming, as well as practical and descriptive.
Certainly all learners of second languages, who can make it beyond
their textbooks, and actually experience their newly acquired language
skills, as something more than knowledge to be forgotten after
graduation, must share your view to some extent. I certainly do.

Whether nasal sounds are more attractive to the human ear than glottal
stops, I cannot say. Does our initial standard of judgment of
linguistic beauty not depend on what language or languages we grew up
with? As a native speaker of English my attraction to French probably
had more to do with my teacher and my newly acquired ability to seal
off my nasal cavity when speaking. Certainly it tickled my nose, when I
spoke, and that tickle remains today. I have another question.

You have stated that Kinshasa Lingala Creole is DR Congo's wide-area
language? How is it acquired? Among friends? In the extended family? In
the market place? On the radio? Is there any popular literature written
in Kinshasa Lingala Creole? Or is it entirely achieved through oral
transmission? To what degree -- not extent -- is the language spoken in
the nation at large? Please refer to my posting entitled MP-Lingualism
before responding.

Hamo


R. A. Stegemann
EARTH's Manager and HKLNA-Project Director
EARTH - East Asian Research and Translation in Hong Kong
http://homepage.mac.com/moogoonghwa/earth/
Tel/Fax: 852 2630 0349
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