<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">====================================================<br> L O W L A N D S - L - 07 July 2011 - Volume 01<br>
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</div><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">From: </font><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gI"><span class="gD" style="color:#5b1094">Mike Wintzer</span> <span class="go"><a href="mailto:k9mw@yahoo.com">k9mw@yahoo.com</a></span></span><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"></font><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Subject: <span class="gI">LL-L "Language politics" 2011.07.06 (02) [EN-NL]</span></div><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br></div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Hi LLers,
</span><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Ron you write: <em>Am I being naive?</em><br>(when you propose tri-lingual education models).</div>
<div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">My blunt answer is YES. You suffer from a</div>
<div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">momentary black-out because you know better </div>
<div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">than most people that administrations are by </div>
<div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">nature inert, their learning curve has a time constant</div>
<div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">of several hundred years.</div><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
</span><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Respectfully, Mike Wintzer<br><br>----------<br><br></font><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">From: </font><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="gI"><span class="gD" style="color:#00681c">Hellinckx Luc</span> <span class="go"><a href="mailto:luc.hellinckx@gmail.com">luc.hellinckx@gmail.com</a></span></span><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
Subject: <span class="gI">LL-L "Language politics"</span></div><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Beste Ron,</span><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br><div><div>You wrote:</div><div><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div>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? <br>
<br>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?<br></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Even if you know how to speak the language, it doesn't mean you are willing to speak it eh Ron?</div><div><br></div><div>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! </div><div>In the past, I've heard of Walloon educators, teaching Dutch with much disdain...I'm choosing my words. </div><div><br></div><div>
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.</div><div><br></div><div>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.</div><div><br></div><div>Kind greetings,</div><div><br></div><font color="#888888"><div>Luc Hellinckx, Halle, Belgium</div></font></div></div><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br></div><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">----------<br></div><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br>
From: R. F. Hahn <<a href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a>><br>Subject: Language politics<br>
<br>Luc:<br><br><div style="margin-left: 40px; color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">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.<br></div><br>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.<br>
<br>Regards,<br>Reinhard/Ron<br>
Seattle, USA<br><br></div><div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><font style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">=========================================================</font><br>
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