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<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 24 February 2007 - Volume 01<br><br>=========================================================================<br><br>From: <span id="_user_sandy@fleimin.demon.co.uk" style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">
Sandy Fleming <<a href="mailto:sandy@fleimin.demon.co.uk">sandy@fleimin.demon.co.uk</a>></span><br>Subject: LL-L "Language politics' 2007.02.23 (01) [E]<br><br><div style="direction: ltr;"><span class="q">> From: R. F. Hahn <
<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com">sassisch@yahoo.com</a> ><br>> Subject: Language politics<br>><br></span></div><div style="direction: ltr;"><span class="q">
> Which reminds me of what I heard about Britain's latest law<br>> (proposal?) according to which immigrants are to be tested for English<br>> proficiency. I thought that the United Kingdom (like the USA) doesn't
<br>> have an official language. If so, how can such a law be enacted?<br><br></span></div><div style="direction: ltr;">I remember reading about this recently. As I understood it it wasn't a<br>law and wasn't necessarily about immigrants (although as far as I can
<br>see they'd be bound to come under the same umbrella as anyone else).<br><br>The proposals were trying to address the problem that too many people,<br>but particularly those in the Asian communities in the UK (which doesn't
<br>mean immigrants), don't have the necessary English language skills to<br>compete with those in mainly English-language communities when it comes<br>to getting a job - ie writing job applications and going for interviews.
<br><br>It's worth remembering that any Scot or Gael and most Welsh speakers<br>cope with English very well in professional situations, even if they<br>don't speak the language outside of the workplace.<br><br>This is because in Scottish schools English is taken seriously as
<br>subject, whereas in English schools the language tends to be taken for<br>granted (I don't really know about Welsh schools). My personal<br>observation from working in England is that English people from purely<br>
English-speaking backgrounds are very weak on the grammar of the<br>language beyond whatever they're used to speaking (unless, of course,<br>they're big readers - this is the sort of thing that doesn't always need
<br>to be taught). Whereas I, as a Scot who never spoke English outside of<br>school til I actually left school have such a strong theoretical<br>background in the language that I constantly correct English people's<br>
grammar and expression when reviewing their work (again, such people<br>will be clueless when it comes to discussing literature!).<br><br>Imagine, then, the difficulties faced by someone in the Asian<br>communities in England, who don't speak English at home and get a
<br>negligent education in it at school. I think this is what's being<br>addressed, although it would be better if the answer was to teach<br>everybody English, not just those considered at risk.<br><br>Of course there are lots of brilliant Asian doctors, lawyers and so on
<br>in the UK, but it would be a mistake to forget about the average<br>students just because I was always more used to meeting the star pupils<br>whenever I needed stitching together again after rugby :)<br><br>I'd be willing to accept that this might be the wrong attitude and that
<br>people shouldn't need one particular language to get the job they want.<br>But if raising people's English skills isn't the answer then what is?<br>You have to show how someone who's only really good at Urdu (say) can
<br>compete with someone brought up speaking English. And that's not talking<br>about the bright sparks, or those who have total determination to<br>succeed, or manage to find a niche working for the minority community -
<br>the solution really has to include everybody.<br></div><span class="sg"><br>Sandy Fleming<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://scotstext.org/" target="_blank">http://scotstext.org/
</a><br></span><br>
•
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