LL-L "Language use" 2005.05.15 (02) [E/German]

[Lowlands-L]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 15.JUN.2005 (02) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: D.L. MacLaughlan-Dumes <dmac at physics.ucla.edu>
Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2005.05.14 (06) [E]

>>From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
>>Subject: Language use
>>
>>Perhaps I am deluded, but I assume that minorities that feel that their
>>language and culture are appreciated are more likely to be happy and thus
>>good citizens, and as such they will figure out by themselves that
>>they must become proficient in the country's lingua franca.

I hope I've got the attributions right. This is the part I wanted to
address.

The thing that puzzles me, and always has, is how convinced some folks are
(present company excepted, I'm sure) that multilingualism is somehow a
threat to society. The anecdote about Unavision reminds me how curious is
the notion that offering alternative language options in media somehow
"retards" a particular group's integration into the local culture. Why
could it not be seen as a motivator for non-Spanish speakers to pick up a
second language?

I grew up in Southern California and live there now. My area is
particularly rich in language options. In my kids' grammar school the
kindergarteners were taught to count to ten in English, Spanish and
Korean---if I recall correctly, twenty-eight different languages are
represented by the student populace. There's a Russian enclave a few blocks
north where shops and libraries reach out to Russian speakers. One of my
next-door neighbors is from Thailand, the other from Poland and Israel.
Just within our shared courtyard we can manage a fair world-language
representation.

Yet if children want to study any language formally (other than English)
there's no public-school option to do so until ninth grade (high school).
It's been my impression over the years that encouraging foreign language
acquisition (again, unless it's the "official" one, English) is not given
the precedence it might have in other parts of the world. Alas for us....

One of the reasons I joined this list was to find out more about the
Lowland languages (especially North Frisian, which my Schleswig ancestors
may have known...I know they were fluent in Danish and German when they
arrived in the USA). It's not my field of study so I'm generally pretty
quiet on this mail list (though if the subject of Afroasiatic languages
ever comes up I'll probably chime in). Some of the comparative discussions
here enthrall me; I wish I could participate. For now I'll just absorb.

My experience in my own field, and in language learning in general,
suggests that the more a person learns language systems, the more each new
language augments the ones you already know. Why is a multilingual society
necessarily a threat to some folks?

Regards,
D.

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From: jonny <jonny.meibohm at arcor.de>
Subject: LL-L "Language use" 2005.05.14 (08) [E/German]

Lieber Reinhard, Ingmar,

Reinhard, Du schriebst:
> OK, guys.  Let's not allow this puppy to go any crazier now before genuine
> biting ensues!  Play nice!

Du hast völlig recht. Hier ist wahrlich nicht die Bühne für solchen
unqualifizierten und anachronistischen Revanchismus.

Meine (slawischen, germanischen und jüdischen, in dieser Reihe proportional
zu ihren Anteilen in mir)) Vorfahren, typisch deutsch auf eine gewisse Art,
würden es wohl kaum verstehen, wenn ich weiter auf solche Sticheleien
einginge.

Dank' auch Dir, Ing[e]mar!
Du schriebst:

> Es sagt nur dass viele Leute noch immer nur an den (am?) Krieg denken wenn
> es um Deutschland geht, und alle Deutsche automatisch als "Nazis"
> bezeichnen. Das passiert leider auch hier in der Niederlände, und sicher
> auch in der englischsprachigen Welt

Wir sollten Fußballspiele zwischen Niederlanden und Deutschland verbieten-
oder :-)? Da wird der Mist immer besonders hochgekocht, vor allem von
analphabetischen Hooligans.

Un'- wat meyr 'Platt' prooten!

Zu meinem engeren Freundes- und Bekanntenkreis zähle ich beinahe mehr
'Holländer' als Deutsche. Die dritte Generation dieser 'Einwanderer' aus den
60er Jahren geht jetzt zur Schule in Deutschland und wird mit der intensiven
Aufarbeitung des Nationalsozialismus ebenso konfrontiert wie Kinder
'alteingesessener' Deutscher. Ob sie dabei wohl ebensolche Schuldgefühle
entwickeln wie ihre 'ur'-deutschen Klassenkameraden und ebenso empfindlich
reagieren werden wie ich???

Und was ist mit den sog. 'Gastarbeiterkindern', deren Eltern oder Großeltern
aus Italien, Spanien, der Türkei etc. zu uns kamen? Lernen sie am Ende auch,
an der deutschen Schuld zu tragen?

Schluss erstmal mit Hochdeutsch! Wird immer alles viel zu ernst!

Greutens/Regards

Johannes "Jonny" Meibohm

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