The Eu language Policies over the years and the future

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It is known that the European Union is an entity and a project very unique nowadays and in history. Its unique features depends mostly by its unprecedented multicultural essence and the challenges that this entails.   At the core of what characterizes cultures and identities, there is the language or languages that are inherited and spoken. It comes with no surprise that in the matter of European Union language policy, the debate is intense ongoing. Multilingualism is a value of the European Union. In order to keep it alive in and overwhelming globalizing world there is the need for constant and proactive policies. I’m going to discuss the language policy of the EU in its working institutions and on  a the broader range as well.

Critics and room for improvements will always be there, nevertheless the EU language policy has taken many steps and experimented many programs during the past years as it is possible to read in the LETPP Consortium (2011). The main objective of the policies is to raise awareness of the value and opportunities of the EU’s linguistic diversity an encourage the removal of barriers to intercultural exchange. It was in the 1980s that there was a raise in the demand to bring this principles more into practice. As an example the popular Erasmus project has been  created, among others. A lot of focus has been put in the Education policy as a platform for Language policy. In fact the successful Erasmus program permits students to integrate part of their academic formation with universities from other countries. The project surely enhanced for European student the awareness of the multicultural landscape in Europe in a very attractive way, by also making them more aware of their differences and their identities.  As a personal experience, I’ve only started to become aware of how much Italian I was from the moment I started to live abroad. Living abroad changed me but I haven’t lose my Italian identity, despite the fact that I speak English everyday and only sometimes Italian. Despite the fact that I appreciate the possibility of English as a medium of instruction, I wouldn’t want English to became to invasive in the future.

Due to globalization  and the Internet, English established itself as a lingua franca in the world. This started to be a reality also for the EU and its institutions, especially after the consecutive rounds of enlargements. In fact, the more representatives with different languages in the EU institutions, the more comes the need for the usage of a language that is universally comprehensible.  Despite the fact that the EU has 24 official languages, only few of them are actually used as working languages. The most used are English French and German. But English is getting the predominance constantly more. This created an ongoing debate between opposing views and perceptions, for instance among the Dutch Theo von Els’ and the German Ulrich Ammon. The latter in facts contests to the former the proposal for English as the only official working language of the EU. Ammon explains how the presence of German as a working language in EU is important for the status of the language itself. Other criticism for the “English-only”Europe, come from Phillipson that proposes different best and worst case scenarios. One of the worst he proposes, is the policy of laissez faire towards the issue, which would lead to the English triumph eventually. On the other hand, despite being a strong supporter of multilingualism, he advocates the use of Esperanto as the pivotal language of the European Union. This seems like a strong and unusual position and more ideological than practical.  in favor of the argument, the adoption of Esperanto could strengthen the political and ideological view of the European Union, and solve disputes on the unfairness for a  preferred language in the EU. On the other hand Esperanto has not many speakers in the world (but indeed that could change if such policies were introduced).  But more importantly the scenario of the imposition of an artificial language over the world predominant English seems an utopia.

Using English as a lingua franca and as the mainly working language for the EU,doesn’t seem to me as problematic and unfair. Discussions and debates (assuming that these are made without interpreters)  could still be made on equal level as long as more people in the future generations will know English and possibly at higher proficiency. But knowing another language other than English is actually the advantage and added value that people could appreciate. Whether for bilateral talks or negotiations or for interest into another culture. What really matters the most, is that the adoption of English as a lingua franca or working language would cause the gradual abandon or disinterest for the other languages. And this is where the EU language policy should increase its efficacy.  In this sense, the Romanian commissioner responsible for Multilingualism, Leonard Orban, has put great emphasis in one of his speech.

leonard-orban-stefan-micsik Although appreciating what has been done so far, he affirmed how languages should be an integral part of lifelong learning, and how Europe should envisage a space for European political dialogue through multilingual communication with the citizens. Europe should keep of being proud of its multicultural and multilingual nature,  and being an example for the rest of the world.  No matter the number of people by whom a language is spoken or its political influence, its survival is important  for the inheritance and the diversity that characterizes our world.

Il Ligure, e le lingue minoritarie.

Da quando sono nato, non ho mai avuto molto contatto con lingue minoritarie e dialetti. I miei genitori parlavano strettamente Italiano. Sono nato a Roma come i miei genitori, anche loro cresciuti monolingue. A sentirli parlare si poteva tuttalpiù  notare un accento abbastanza romano, ma neanche così forte. E questa differenza l’ho potuta notare solamente quando all’età di 6 anni ci siamo trasferiti ad Imperia, una provincia del Ponente ligure. Alcuni dei miei amici trovavano divertente l’accento con cui pronunciavo alcune parole, ma avendo vissuto lì per oltre 15 anni il mio accento è diventato neutro. Tuttavia, non c’è solo l’accento che è tipico della liguria. Se ti inoltrerai lungo le calate delle vecchi moli, con le stradicciole e le vecchie case, potrai udire le persone (specie quelle anziane), parlare in un altra lingua.  La lingua a cui mi riferisco è il dialetto Ligure . Il quale è poco comprensibile se non lo conosci. Esistono molti dialetti in Italia che riesco a comprendere più facilmente. Ma se sento parlare il ligure stretto, Imperiaè probabile che non capisca più del 10-20 % di quel che viene detto.  Questa lingua, è a parer mio in pericolo. Pur avendo vissuto in Liguria per 15 anni, sono entrato in contatto con il Ligure poche volte. Il ligure non viene insegnato nelle scuole, non viene trasmesso regolarmente nelle televisioni, e la maggior parte dei miei amici anche originari del posto, non sa come esprimersi ligure, e capisce questa lingua quanto me. Per la verità, la maggior parte delle volte che ho potuto ascoltare il ligure, è grazie a delle canzoni.

 

Più nello specifico, mi riferisco alle canzoni di Fabrizio de Andrè, cantautore famoso in un tutta Italia, è il cantante simbolo e orgoglio di tutta la liguria. Nato e vissuto a Genova, si contraddistingue fra le altre cose, per cantare molte delle sue canzoni In Ligure, portando in qualche modo la lingua in contatto anche con il resto d’Italia.  Ovviamente la sua popolarità è ancora più forte in Liguria. Il cantautore ha contribuito forse più di tutti a far sì che la gente ascoltasse il Ligure, o cantasse in ligure. Io stesso sono in grado di ripetere a memoria molti dei versi delle sue canzoni, e capirne parzialmente il significato. Una delle sue canzoni più famose, rimane  “Crêuza de mä” cantata interamente in genovese, e che fa riferimenti alla vita nella “Genova vecchia”.

Anche se probabilmente il suo intento non era quello di salvaguardare il futuro della lingua ligure, si può ipotizzare che ha contribuito più lui in questa causa che “top bottom policies”. Questo dipende largamente dal difficile status del Ligure, che pur essendo una lingua a se stante, non è riconosciuta come “Lingua Minoritaria Europea”. Di conseguenza non ci sono efficaci policies di salvaguardia. Per altre lingue presenti sul territorio Italiano esistono misure si protezione più radicate, sebbene talvolta non perfette. Tuttavia, dove manca l’istruzione e la televisione, arrivano le canzoni. Le canzoni di Fabrizio de Andre continuano ad essere intramontabili sebbene sia deceduto nel 1999.  Inoltre, la sua popolarità ha anche ispirato altri gruppo a cantare in ligure. Il più famoso esempio moderno, sono i “Buio Pesto” i quali si esibiscono in vari generi musicali, ma cantano quasi esclusivamente in Ligure.  Anche il nome del gruppo rimanda al famoso condimento di origine ligure, per l’appunto, il pesto.

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Per finire, a parte il supporto e la vitalità che queste canzoni forniscono alla lingua ligure, internet offre oggi la possibilità di fare molto di più per chi volesse. Infatti come ho potuto leggere in alcuni articoli, l’esponenziale crescita dell’utilizzo di internet ha creato nuove possibilità per le lingue minoritarie di essere ascoltate e conosciute.  Oggigiorno esistono Wikipedia in moltissime lingue, Ligure compreso. Artisti possono esprimersi e cantare canzoni nei loro dialetti raggiungendo chiunque fosse interessato grazie a youtube, come accade per molti aspiranti cantautori napoletani. Tutto ciò permette di ascoltare canzoni in lingue e dialetti di tutta italia e del mondo, un esperienza non poco interessante!

My change of attitude towards English language.

When I was in high school, I’ve never much liked English class. My grades were rather low and I had no significant interest in improving my language proficiency. By then I didn’t have even remotely the idea that one day I would have lived abroad and studied in English. I thought I had no need and no much use for English but holidays. It was only after my first year of university in Torino that I had my first significant experience with the English language. After quitting my first year of university I started an internship in the European Parliament, eager to escape my unattractive boring routine and to try something different and somehow adventurous.  I say adventurous because by then my knowledge of English was really poor, only based on my unpracticed school knowledge.  My French was even worse.

It was indeed a major change, that required a lot of adaptation and effort on my side, but eventually that paid off. Realizing of much important is the English language even in Brussels, I tried to avoid Italians as much as possible to practice it in depth. The improvement was exponential, and it made me even more attracted by the environment, and the opportunities that the  proficiency in this language could open. After the End of my stage (4 months), I had to go back to Italy. My spoken English reached a good level , but I felt I was not done with it, I wanted to improve further, and keep living in an international environment. Is with that desire that I came to find out about Maastricht.

Once again, since I was never the most motivated and ambitious student, I was embarking myself in another difficult challenge. Not even my father had much trust in this at first, since I dropped out from the Italian university in Turin. But I appreciated the system of Maastricht from the beginning for various reasons, and I was enthusiastic. For instance, Maastricht University  gives the opportunity to everyone with a diploma to enroll, no matter the grades in high school. So if you work hard, you can manage.  Therefore I decided to start, and it was indeed, difficult. In the book “Multilingual approaches in University Education”, is shown how the chances of success increase when studying something conceptually familiar in a familiar language. I was totally new in the field of European studies (I’ve studied in a scientific Lyceum), an my knowledge of English language was still a bit weak for academic levels (especially writing skills). Nevertheless, knowing that the challenge was hard, I put lot of energy and effort to succeed the first year, and I’ve succeeded. An now I am fairly satisfied with the level of m English.

I believe that is a great thing that many Dutch universities give you this opportunity to study the full bachelor program in English; that is something more difficult to find in Italy. I do not argue that studying in English is better than studying in Italian, or any other language. But It’s great to have the opportunity if you want so. Especially in some fields, it is very convenient for the competitiveness. The Bachelor program in European studies is arguably one of the programs where this choice makes sense the most. That is because is convenient that the future people that will be working in international environments have a certain fluency with today’s lingua Franca. I could notice this in first person when I was having my internship in the European parliament. Some Italian politicians had a really poor knowledge of the English language, and  had to rely a lot on their assistants. I believe that despite the fact that they might have been good politicians, this deficiency is very penalizing in an international arena. As an Italian, I would wish that most of  people that are meant to represent me in the European Parliament have, if not proficiency, decent knowledge of English language.

 

Proficiency in English

 

As this map shows, the percentage  of population able to hold a conversation in English in Italy is rather low in comparison to many of its counterparts in the EU. Many of these country with higher level of English, also perform better in the economy ( Yes I know, not Greece).  But far from arguing that that is the solely and manly reason, I believe that an increase of the English popularity in Italy can only benefit the country and its workers competitiveness. This all adds up on the my opinion that Italy should follow the example of other European countries, and offer more bachelor programs taught in English. This could also help the Universities in Italy that, in recent years, have experienced a rapid decline in the in the international rankings.

Downsides? I don’t think this will eventually cause the demise of the other national languages, at least not at the speed  that should worry anyone. I have indeed noticed that sometimes I’m lacking some words when I have to speak Italian again, or I express myself with untypical constructions. But I don’t see it as a problem, especially because it goes back to be normal if I am back to Italy for longer than a month. In conclusion, the mild disadvantages don’t match the potential opportunities for English-Medium Instruction at Universities, which are far greater.

Languages and me

Hello everyone! Buon giorno, bon jour y buenos dias; I can’t go much further than that….

My name is Elia, and I am much more of an exception here than in my home country.In fact, being a student in Maastricht means that you daily meet and know people with a vary interesting mixture of nationalities. Which in most cases implies a rich variety of multilingual skills. It’s not rare to meet fellow students with two mother tongues. But I ain’t anything like that, in fact my only hometowns movements until 20 have only been within the Italian territory, with my Italian family. I’ve been therefore raised strictly mono linguistic. I studied at school 8 years of English and 3 years of French. I never mastered the languages until I went to live to Brussels for an internship, where I improved my English and a tinny bit of French. Improvement that continued once I started the University in Maastricht, where English is the teaching language.

Apart of this I can only add a basic knowledge of Spanish, which I started to study one months ago. My Spanish skills are due to my 3 weeks trip to Cuba, where the only spoken language was Spanish, and effort on my side was required to make myself understood. And of course the similarity with Italian help a lot.  But I never studied how to write in Spanish. For these reasons it’s most likely that the languages I will use in my blog will be English and Italian.

A presto!