EUROPE’S LINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE IN 2050
What would Europe’s future linguistic landscape look like?
Hong Kong’s Linguistic Landscape
English vs. 廣東話
Linguistic landscape (LL) is “the visibility and salience of languages on public and commercial signs in a given territory or region” (Landry & Bourhis, 1997, p.23). It makes the distinction between the two functions of those languages signs, the first being the informative function, informing about the territory of a linguistic group, and the second being more symbolic discussing the status and the values of the languages perceived by the users of the language (Cenoz & Gorter, 2009, p. 56). Well, a place that is considerably confronted with a peculiar LL is Hong Kong.
Les langues et identités, sont-elles liés ?
Une question qui nous revient fréquemment à l’esprit lorsque l’on est confronté à changer de langues régulièrement ; Sommes-nous les mêmes personnes quand nous parlons d’autres langues ?
Bore da! Do you speak Welsh?
Wales is one of the four countries within the United Kingdom (UK) where 3 million people live right in the South West of the UK. Wales has pretty much been a part of the UK since forever, as they officially joined during the 16th century. Hence Welsh Nationalism bearly existed and emerged only in the 20th century. Two movements took the lead in developing Welsh identity; Plaid Cyrmu, the political independent Welsh party in 1925 and the Welsh language Society in 1962. And yet they only got their own national assembly in 1999. One of the distinctions Wales has is its peculiar language. Continue reading →
The FASoS code?
Codeswitching (CS) defined by Trudgill (2000) as a rapid form of language switching, using words or phrases from a “donor” language for a variety of purposes. In other words, this means that it is a change of language within a conversation, hence most often used by bilinguals, either consciously or subconsciously. Baker (2005) in his chapter on “the everyday use of language by bilingual children” adds that CS is usually used when reinforcing a request or a point, to communicate friendship or family bonding. Spohr (2012) has interestingly examined the “Maastricht Code” which would constitute a mix of German and English at Maastricht University, offering an EMI education.
English Medium Instruction, the future of higher education?
In 2002, several European countries decided to sign the Bologna declaration. The later would from then on ensure the comparability of the standards and quality of higher education qualification throughout Europe. In other words, this would mean that any students could move from country to country to study his/her Bachelor, Master and Ph.D. In addition to that universities started to launch programs taught solely in English. This is called English Medium Instruction (EMI), meaning that non-English-speaking countries would offer higher education in English. In our era of globalization, this seems rather logical, universities would then be able to attract international students, making them fit for the international market as well as securing the research base by attracting future Ph.D. students (Wikilson, 2012).
‘Lost in Translation’
Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo Japan.
My name is Zoë, I grew out of a strange mix between Belgium and Scandinavia. My mother is from Antwerp, Belgium and my father from Oslo, Norway. Although I was born in Paris, lived 2 years in Oslo during my early childhood, I lived 17 years in the city-center of Brussels. I thus like to think that I am a Bruxelloise. Growing up in a very (very) strange mix of culture between on my mother side, the quiet uncertain Belgian culture and the massive imposing Norwegian one on my father side. My parents met in Beijing, China where they both were working for their respective foreign affairs department. Their story could be characterized as peculiar, and I sometimes think, they maybe would not have met if they weren’t submerged by the contrasting culture of China.
Hello world!
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