English Plays Offense

[Aurolyn Luykx]

Hamo,
it just goes to show how many hidden assumptions can
be packed into one word. However, I suspect that
"choose" might be the right word for a good number of
those students, given that in the E.U. I think
students are actually offered a choice among elective
foreign languages they might want to study. As I've
mentioned, in Bolivia, there's usually no choice --
English is required for everyone -- but certainly as a
high school student myself (in the US) I had a choice
between 3-4 different European languages.
Aurolyn

--- "R. A. Stegemann" <moogoonghwa at mac.com> wrote:

> Dear List Members,
>
> This entry is in response to the article provided by
> Stan Anonby under
> the heading "LANGUAGE: Tough Talk" and by Harold F.
> Schiffman under the
> heading "French plays defense". The article is
> provide after my
> signature for your convenience.
>
> Well, I suppose it is safe to say that "more than
> 250 million" speak
> English "as a second language" and "more than 60
> million" speak French
> as a second language. By placing only a minimum
> threshold the mind
> boggles about what the rest of the world's several
> billion people are
> speaking (Please read "have some knowledge of")  as
> a second language.
> What tickles me in particular about this article is
> the statement
> "across the E.U. (and excluding the U.K.) 92% of
> students choose to
> study English as a foreign language, compared to 33%
> for French and 13%
> for German". Although I have know idea where these
> figures come from
> and would be very eager to learn how they were
> produced, I find the
> word CHOOSE to be a very poor choice of words. It is
> like saying you
> choose to study English, or any other language where
> universal language
> requirements (ULRs) are in place, because you choose
> to go to school.
> Or alternatively, you choose to go to school,
> because it is required by
> law. Indeed, I choose to do some things because the
> only reasonable
> alternative is death, and I am not about to scuttle
> my entire ship,
> because one hold is infested with rats.
>
> What do you think?
>
> Sincerely,
>
> 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
>
> On 8 Nov 2004, at 21:42, Harold F. Schiffman wrote:
>
> > About 380 million people speak English as their
> primary language and
> > more
> > than 250 million as a second language, versus 113
> million and over 60
> > million respectively for French. Despite France's
> annual $1 billion
> > budget
> > to promote French internationally, the language
> ranks 11th in terms of
> > number of speakers and is flagging. Though it is
> still the primary
> > language at international institutions like
> unesco, Interpol and the
> > European Court of Justice  and a working tongue at
> a score of others
> > English dominates international diplomacy and
> business, and is the
> > language used on 52% of all websites; just 4.6%
> are in French. Across
> > the
> > E.U. (and excluding the U.K.), 92% of students
> choose to study English
> > as
> > a foreign language, compared to 33% for French and
> 13% for German. Even
> > French multinationals like Alstom and Vivendi have
> adopted English as
> > the
> > workplace vernacular. "This isn't about fighting
> English, but rather
> > the
> > use and influence of any language at the cost of
> all others," says
> > conservative legislator Bruno Bourg-Broc, leader
> of a French
> > parliamentary
> > group monitoring the language's fortunes at home
> and abroad. "It's
> > about
> > safeguarding cultural and linguistic diversity by
> resisting
> > uniformity."


=====
DON'T MOURN, ORGANIZE!-- Joe Hill


		
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