Is the European language policy an adequate answer?

The European Union today is situated in a world that has undergone rapid change. As our world becomes ever more globalized, so do our markets, thus leading to the creation of large markets spanning over oceans and across the globe. Reaching a large market presupposes the ability to communicate. In Europe, English has become the lingua franca of trade and commerce, and an increasing number of Member States are integrating English language teaching into school curricula. The drive to upgrade English however runs parallel to the drive to maintain Europe’s linguistic diversity and the states of the EU are thus faced with the seemingly incompatibility of the two policy initiatives. Is the European language policy as it stands now adequate for our time? Where is the EU heading with this policy? Should it be altered, and with that the EU’s position in the global market?

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Linguistic Landscape at the Drielandenpunt

Last week Lia, Luca and me went to the Drielandenpunt in Vaals, where the borders of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium coincide. We looked at the linguistic landscape and wanted to find out what languages are used in signs, maps, cafes, and the like. This video shows what we discovered. Enjoy it!

Wallons, nous! – Us, Walloons!

Walloon and French cohabiting

One of the biggest feature of the European Union is its language diversity. Apart from the official languages, there is a large diversity of regional languages. In Wallonia, the French speaking part of Belgium, the most spoken regional language is Walloon. The numbers of speakers is constantly diminishing as younger generations, like me, speak and learn exclusively French. Nonetheless, the language is still relatively visible in various medias in Wallonia.  

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Mouvement Impératif français

Even though for this blog post I am asked to write about a minority language media example in Europe, I decided to write about an example I know much more about: the French language in Canada. Since I am writing my bachelor thesis on the topic of language legislation in Quebec, I have become a specialist on the topic and therefore it seems more interesting to share with  you some of my knowledge of the national minority language in Canada: French.

For Quebeckers, ‘their’ French language is important. Very important, extremely important. Tons of organisations, websites, Facebook sites and blogs convince their audience of the importance of the French language in the province, often leading to lively and active debates on the websites themselves. One of the most important of these organisations is called Impératif français. Linked to the organisation is a Youtube channel which consists of numerous dramatic videos showing that English is still used in the province. Check out one of the videos:

 

 

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BLOG ASSIGNMENT 2: MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH ENGLISH MEDIUM INSTRUCTION

Hello to you! How is your day going so far?! How are your thoughts about English as a medium instruction? Want to know mine? Come check it out!

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My Identity and My Language(s)

 

My name is Benjamin and I am currently a student. I was born in Belgium but 15 days later I moved to Burundi. In a way, it is representative of how my life has been so far . The constant moving around allowed me to live in numerous countries spreading over Africa, North America and Europe. And now I am in Maastricht.

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From Russia to Germany. From England to the Netherlands.

The tongues I speak…

Hi my name is Ilja, I was born in St. Petersburg, grew up in Germany, spent a year in England, currently study in Maastricht and lived half a year in Turkey during my Ersamus. I already came into contact with many different cultures and their languages and do not intend to stop anytime soon.

Russian to GermanWhen I was little me and my parents lived in an area in Hanover (Germany) with a higher amount of immigrants. Therefore, I had a couple of other Russian speaking friends which I saw practically everyday at the local playground. Our families became friends and thus an environment was created for all of us to learn and practice our mother tongue in a foreign country. In kindergarden and primary school I simultaneously learned the German language and German values that were communicated advancing in this language much faster then my parents did. When I entered high school we were already living in another area of the town and the new friends I made were more or less all German. Speaking Russian was now bound to the setting at home and even conversations with my Russian peers were held in German as this language simply occupied more of our personal life. Now that I moved out and do not even have Russian conversations on a regular basis I myself observe the demise of my Russian vocabulary and even an accent that is continously getting worse to my pitty.

Collecting languages and cultural impressions around the world…

The year after my graduation I spent in London doing an European Voluntary Service (EVS). There I was working at the West London YMCA, which is a on-profit organisation that offers social housing to homeless young people. During that time I could practice my English language skills as I spoke English everydBritish-flag-hand_smallay in my workplace and with my very British host family. I realised for the first time how different cultures can be expressed through their languages. As opposed to the Germans I found that people in England were much more indirect. If somebody wants something from you it is almost never asked in a direct way, almost hidden. Therefore, you have to be accustomed to identify what your conversation partner really wants from you. Confrontations, how I found them, were also tried to be avoided.

All in all I can say that knowing 3 languages and a bit of French only brought advantages to me. Even the bits of Turish I learned during my stay in Ankara are already a good tool to start communication with Turkish people. At the last exebition for example where I worked as a barkeeper, I could make use of some Turkish words making myself very prominent amongst the Turkish visitors, which then were returning more often. From this couse I expect to learn more abut the impact of language on the different cultures and how these define themselves over their languages. I want to explore the history of certain languages and understand in what way these have changed overtime.

 

Guide for this Blog: My Language Profile

J’ai appris l’Italien pour exprimer mes sentiments, le hongrois pour parler à ma grand-mère, l’anglais pour l’université, l’allemand pour parler à mes amis et le francais pour l’Union européenne.

 

Charles V

Freely adapted from Charles V, the statement above presents my language profile in a nutshell.  I am Matthias, 23 years old and have been born and raised in Germany. However, despite this manifest German background I have been exposed to a variety of languages since my early childhood.

 

 

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My international background

My name is Boudewijn, I’m a 24 year old Dutch student living in Maastricht and this is my story, come check it out! Continue reading My international background

Duck-tales: the protagonist

Ente gut- Alles gut,

 

 

a commonly used proverb in the German language describes not only the end but in this case also the beginning, hoffentlich. I am Lucas, a German-Italian student from Maastricht and language has always played an important part in my life not only communication-wise. Having had the beautiful opportunity to have spent actual time of residence in various countries around the world I was able to pick up some foreign languages along the way:

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