Author: i6010418

The objective of the European Union is for everyone across the continent to be able to speak two languages additional to their mother-tongue. That is the official ‘European Language Policy’. Multilingualism they claim, is an “important element in Europe’s competitiveness”. I repeat – everyone is to speak TWO additional languages besides their mother tongue!!! First, I want to point out that the EU actually spends some of its time focusing on implementing programmes so that this goal can eventually be reached. Now, I’m not entirely sure where to even go on from. I ‘ll go from here –

I am not in any way against the idea of people learning another language. In my utopia, everyone speaks the same language or is at least able to. It would make everything so much easier.. Clearer.. It would probably be of great help bringing peace to the world as well, haha. But lets be honest, the way things stand in the world most people only speak one language. Their mother-tongue. Learning a new language is often difficult, especially as you get older. In some subjective scenarios it may not even be necessary to speak anything else but your local dialect. In Europe however, we do have a significant amount of bilingual speakers. Many people in Western Europe for example speak English in addition to their native language. You’d think that the EU would then say – alright, lets begin with one additional language. I’d stand by that objective without doubt. To start with two when we haven’t even achieved one yet just seems strange.

The ONLY reason the EU, although it will not express it this way, has after so much pondering decided to require people to speak two languages instead of the logical single extra language is because it does not want to offend the ego’s of either the French, the Germans or the English. In the institutional working arena, all major languages may be used. They all think their language is the most important and therefore should be used the most. None of them are allowed to “win”! Multilingualism is a strength, and can be very useful to the individual. But this is not what the ELP is based on. If we were taking the Union seriously, I do not think major EU objectives should be formed on the basis of emotions and personal pride issues. If the governments involved were truly (pointing fingers at the same three again here) focused on what would serve the European people best, they would not let their pride-complexes affect long-term decisions. Every decision has to be the most rational decision, and the best decision in the long run. Many Member States will have to, and already do, accept things they may not want to for the greater good. If in this instance this means that English is introduced everywhere, then the French and Germans will just have to take it. I just feel this issue is something we should not even be discussing any more in our time. This for two reasons – the first because I thought we would be past that. I think the Germans, French and English should all be past that. The second reason is because… well, technology is coming.

I agree with the idea that there should be discussion and research done into what language would be most viable and easy to implement for everyone. However in all the literature for this task only one author shared my view that the language chosen should be entirely independent of any sort of emotional sentiment. I also support the view that only one language should be chosen. Some authors have proposed using Esperanto, amongst other artificial languages in order for the common European language to be ‘neutral’. Latin was also proposed. Now although I am perhaps delusional enough to believe that if we introduced Esperanto in every school across Europe now, that in 20-30 years we all might share a common level of it.. I believe other major developments will happen before we could even reach that point. The whole discussion about which language should be spoken in the European political arena just seems irrelevant to me as well. It took me a while but I am now finally going to get back on my former point about technology on the rise.

The EU spends so much money finding and employing a huge amount of translators for every get-together. Sometimes it has to find the most unheard of combinations – a Lithuanian to Maltese translator for example. Or in even more difficult situations, just make sure each translator from both sides is able to translate into the same language. The discussion about which language to choose as a common European language will last decades. Instead of wasting our time fighting about whose the biggest, we could also all wait till translation-technology improves. By my estimations, this will take 10-15 years at most. Within that time (will probably go even faster), machines which combine the functionalities of Google Translate and Siri will exist to translate our every word as we speak them out.

Don’t believe me? Check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRBb27BzevQ

And that’s just one of many basic prototypes coming up.

This technology  in the political arena, if the speaker was speaking in English and a specific representative did not understand English, instead of hiring a translator, the representative could then select which language he or she wants to have the speech translated into by his device and it would do so for him/her as the speech is given. Eventually you would even be able to hand-select the type of voice you want to hear.

In the social arena, it would have similar applicability. Lets say you’re Dutch, and you met a Romanian. Neither of you spoke English, or any other common language. But you needed to communicate about an immediate, highly important situation you have both gotten into. You could speak Dutch, and the other person could speak Romanian. Your device would just translate what the other is saying in the language you choose in the moment.

I truly believe that as our societies continue to modernize, the need for a European Language Policy will completely be eradicated for the aforementioned reasons. Multilinguilism will remain a personal strength, and all learning a common language would be the best thing for establishing understanding for each other. However, I believe that technology will do this at a faster pace. Maybe we will even start wearing an earplug which directly translates anything any one else is saying around you in a foreign language to your own. I implore everyone to inform themselves about the latest tech news – because I’m telling you, anything is going to be possible.

Milan and I went through Maastricht over the past week, trying to figure out which languages were most prominent in the local material environment. We found out that Dutch, Mestreechs and English were almost used equally.

I don’t think you have to read a paper to know that English is being taught at schools all over the world. Once we get to our secondary education, we expect universities to have their programmes taught in English, even if this is not in an English-speaking country. When I think about where to study for my masters, even if I think Tokyo I fully expect all courses to be taught in English there as well – not Japanese.

Although Japan might be one of the worst possible specific examples, as I assume Japanese is still used before English there.. Using English for Medium Instruction is becoming a global trend. Melis (2010) claims that there may even be an existing threat to some local languages because of this fact. She mentions the example of Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Most Universities in Belgium and the Netherlands teach their courses in English – so basically making Dutch an almost useless language later on.

I think this is all extremely positive. I feel an increase in the use of English globally is a direct effect of globalization. So then yes – because of this there may be losses of local identity and language in the long run. But on the other hand, by being able to speak a universal language you as an individual open yourself up to the rest of the world. Instead of imagining a future in your home country, you then also feel comfortable picturing this somewhere else. It just makes everything so much easier for you.

Saying that, most the literature concerning this subject did not contain many shocking or exciting facts. It contained the usual – you learn a second language better when you’re younger, the first language you learn will probably remain your strongest, and as you keep learning more languages your ability to fully do so will probably deteriate. This makes switching to English after a certain age harder, thus switching to English for those who haven’t learned it at a young age could turn out to be problematic. After the statistical side of things, you’ll run into that political debate whether all of this is positive or negative. The former view claiming that it increases universal understanding for each other, and the latter that people would lose their sense of identity. If every Member State of the EU spoke English at every level of society, this would greatly damage national identities yes. But I’m starting to think…. Who cares?

As I said – I think this is all extremely positive. I’m going to grab Europe as an example. If I were in charge, although it may sound idealistic, I would do it this way.

 

I have spent about ten minutes thinking of a different way to start my first blog post than to write “Hi everyone! My name is Flin Voerman..” but I’m still struggling. So I’ve decided that by writing down that I still can’t think of anything as a first sentence my opening sentence would still be different, and I already mention my name..! Right now, I’m twenty-four years old. To make reading this easier I’ll also mention that I’m a third-year bachelor’s student at Maastricht University. I was born in The Hague, one of the bigger cities in the Netherlands. I  honestly could not write that I was “born & raised” there though. My parents and I lived there until I was about three. We then moved to Groningen. Both of my brothers would be born there. We stayed for about about three or four years, I believe I was seven  when we moved back to The Hague. This time to a house in the city.  Again though, we’d only stay in The Hague for about two years. Up until this point I had enjoyed a typically Dutch upbringing.. and I only ever spoke Dutch. I was Dutch. Then – my mom sat my brothers and I down. Tum-tum-tum. We were moving to China. I was so shocked.. And pissed. I didnt want to leave. What the f**** was I going to do in China? Little did I know that I wouldn’t return to Holland until I’d be eighteen… We didn’t stay in China the entire time, we actually spent more of our time living “abroad” in Dubai. I went from a Dutch school to an international school in China. We had a lot of different nationalities there and everything was taught in English. I then went to an American school in Dubai. Obviously everything was taught in English there too. My parents always assumed we’d come back to Holland one day though, so I had to go to extracurricular Dutch lessons to keep up with everyone in Holland where ever I went. Maintaining my Dutch was very important. Moving from one extreme part of the world to another, surprisingly, were not such culture shocks to me. I was young.. You not only learn a new language better when you’re young, that stuff you always read.. But you are probably easier to adapt too.. At least that was my experience. Life is not as complicated yet. I was used to new situations as well, and I kind of always knew that where I lived, I’d never live there forever. I would have to be ready to start somewhere new sooner or later. It wasn’t even a problem to me any more knowing this. I remember as a teenager I asked myself where my home in the world was. I didn’t know. I probably spent my most important years growing up abroad, always speaking English to everyone except for my family. Ironically the biggest culture shock to me was moving back to Holland – I wasn’t like all the other Dutch people any more. We moved back to the same house in The Hague. I didn’t get along with my closest friends from when I used to live there. We had different humor, attitudes, everything. I wanted international surroundings. That’s where I belonged. Not dealing with one group of people, but never knowing for sure what group of people is what suited me best. That’s how I grew up. Still now, basically everyone around me has a different nationality to me and in my closest relationships (again, bar my family) I always speak English. That doesn’t go to say that I don’t feel Dutch though. Or that my spoken and/or written Dutch isn’t as good as my English. I wouldn’t be able to say which of the two I’m better at. Dutch is probably still my natural tongue. Most of my thoughts are in Dutch. I am very proud of my nationality as well. I go about life according to a lot of Dutch norms and values especially.. I belong in an international environment, although I feel Dutch. And I mostly act Dutch.

Language has had a big contribution to feeling this way. If I didn’t speak Dutch, I couldn’t even imagine claiming that I was Dutch. I think speaking the native language is one of the main criteria for feeling part of a nationality-based group. It is certainly a required criteria. You could not be direct and honest in social settings and still be Dutch, but you couldn’t be Dutch and not speak the language. I myself do not believe somebody’s nationality or job at a particular time can define who someone is in its deepest of meanings. But in terms of language contributing to a nationality-based identity, it contributes a lot. I say this BECAUSE I lived in China and the Middle East. Who knows if I lived in the UK or USA? Maybe I would feel British or American now. But because I have always been tall, white-skinned, and relatively blonde-haired, I could never be Chinese or Arab. I always stayed Dutch.