LL-L "Language politics" 2011.07.07 (01) [EN]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 07 July 2011 - Volume 01
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From: Mike Wintzer k9mw at yahoo.com
Subject: LL-L "Language politics" 2011.07.06 (02) [EN-NL]

Hi LLers,
Ron you write:  *Am I being naive?*
(when you propose tri-lingual education models).
My blunt answer is YES. You suffer from a
momentary black-out because you know better
than most people that administrations are by
nature inert, their learning curve has a time constant
of several hundred years.
Respectfully, Mike Wintzer

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From: Hellinckx Luc luc.hellinckx at gmail.com
Subject: LL-L "Language politics"

Beste Ron,

You wrote:

I simply don't understand why Belgium does not introduce Dutch and French
bilingualism as mandatory in all schools. In this model, primarily
Dutch-speaking students would be required to study French and English as
foreign languages, and primarily French-speaking students would  be required
to study Dutch and English as foreign languages. This would be similar to
the Finnish education model, where everyone learns both Finnish and Swedish,
aside from English as a foreign language. What's so hard about this concept?


You, Roger, are a shining example of a Belgian in this regard: your native
language is Limburgish, and you are fully proficient in Dutch and French,
aside from knowing German and English well. OK ... so this may be a bit
intimidating to the average Jan/Jean. But studying Dutch and French from
childhood (even if your native language is Limburgish, Luxemburgish,
Ripuarian, Walloon, Picard ...) shouldn't be that big of a deal. Am I being
naive?


Even if you know how to speak the language, it doesn't mean you are willing
to speak it eh Ron?

Sure I admit, merely learning the language often changes the attitude of a
student towards the culture associated with that language...for better or
for worse. Take German these days in Flemish secondary schools. In the
school where I'm teaching (Zaventem, near Brussels), few or no students have
developed a positive attitude towards German. In their opinion German stands
for "difficult, rigorous, stiff and technical". Sometimes, this is the
result of a teacher who thinks he/she should embody the characteristics of
the whole German population (whatever that means...some sort of greatest
common divisor?), in other cases the teacher him/herself doesn't even like
the language he/she is teaching!
In the past, I've heard of Walloon educators, teaching Dutch with much
disdain...I'm choosing my words.

If a language does not represent a system that is both economically
succesful, humorous at times, carrying a rich and deep culture and
displaying a forgiving attitude towards foreign learners who are still
struggling with the lingo...well...chances are few it's going to become a
hit among students around here.

Just curious, but how well are American students prepared to speak Spanish
for example? I understand some of them have been learning the language for a
number of years...if they are then visiting Mexico (or Hispanic
neighborhoods in the States), will they then readily and spontaneously
switch to Spanish? I sincerely hope so.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx, Halle, Belgium

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Language politics

Luc:

Just curious, but how well are American students prepared to speak Spanish
for example? I understand some of them have been learning the language for a
number of years...if they are then visiting Mexico (or Hispanic
neighborhoods in the States), will they then readily and spontaneously
switch to Spanish? I sincerely hope so.

On the whole, I would say that those that have adequate skills tend to use
their Spanish when the need arises. This is especially so among younger
people, though I also know of Baby-Boomers that use Spanish not only while
traveling south of the border but also with Hispanic Americans.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron
Seattle, USA

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