tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11829619.post114813484811004385..comments2023-10-20T17:34:36.183+02:00Comments on The Enlightenment of Max: On the Language DebateMonkey's Maxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02682860045391115600noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11829619.post-1148317728610619962006-05-22T19:08:00.000+02:002006-05-22T19:08:00.000+02:00Yes, Ludo, but the thing about those Northern Euro...Yes, Ludo, but the thing about those Northern European types is that while they are the majority speakers in their own cultures, they recognise that they are minority speakers in the wider world.<BR/><BR/>No matter what happens economically with China, India or whomever, English speakers will never really be a minority language group in the world because there are so many of us all over the place. (Unless something very unexpected happens somewhere down the line.)Monkey's Maxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02682860045391115600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11829619.post-1148281344958579442006-05-22T09:02:00.000+02:002006-05-22T09:02:00.000+02:00I think one of the things that is surprising about...I think one of the things that is surprising about those Northern Europeans is that despite being the majority culture/language speakers they recognised a utility in acquiring a second language. I think that a lot of English speakers really believe that only one language i.e., theirs is truly necessary ... because everyone else is learning/should learn it.Ludovichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13599152697751698223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11829619.post-1148219680803521652006-05-21T15:54:00.000+02:002006-05-21T15:54:00.000+02:00TM, like I said in my post, it's about doing it pr...TM, like I said in my post, it's about doing it properly. A lot of private schools in the US manage bilingual immersion, as well as public magnet schools - those programmes are populated by children whose parents understand the need for their kids to speak more than one language.<BR/><BR/>It's not just the Dutch, it's the Scandinavians and other Europeans. The Czechs will get there too. They all have a need to communicate with people who don't speak their languages for business and international relations. Americans, Brits and Canadians generally just assume that everyone else will learn English and therefore we don't have a need. I won't deny that that is true to an extent, but it won't always be so.<BR/><BR/>Back to your question, the Dutch et al teach and learn languages well because they understand that speaking foreign languages is an essential skill that everyone needs for work, travel, etc.Monkey's Maxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02682860045391115600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11829619.post-1148214224333224272006-05-21T14:23:00.000+02:002006-05-21T14:23:00.000+02:00MM,I agree with you 100% in terms of promoting mul...MM,<BR/><BR/>I agree with you 100% in terms of promoting multi-lingual education. <BR/><BR/>However, I do have reservations.<BR/><BR/>I think it will be a waste of everyone's time if the program isn't taken seriously. I went through 10 years of public school French and I am not fluent - which sucks and was a waste of my mother's tax dollars...<BR/><BR/>How does Holland do it? The Dutch are the most multi-lingual people I know...and they still manage to speak Dutch.Tits Malonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15220161064022768780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11829619.post-1148170406198961702006-05-21T02:13:00.000+02:002006-05-21T02:13:00.000+02:00Thanks so much for adding those points, Ludo.I had...Thanks so much for adding those points, Ludo.<BR/><BR/>I had been considering your first point, that legislation won't make people stop speaking their own languages, but then it didn't make it into my post. I had been thinking of the Czech example, with which you are familiar. The Hapsburgs ruled here for 100s of years and made everything officially German, but the Czechs still spoke Czech.Monkey's Maxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02682860045391115600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11829619.post-1148169622014624432006-05-21T02:00:00.000+02:002006-05-21T02:00:00.000+02:00Hear hear to that MM, but could I just add, as som...Hear hear to that MM, but could I just add, as someone with advanced degrees in this area, that quite frankly legislate as much as you want people will speak the language(s) that are moist useful to them for both instrumental purposes and for identity purposes. Moreover, before we get passionate about the linguistic rights of migrants in the America, or at least at the same time as we do, can we spare a thought for the languages of the first inhabitants of the Americas. A native American language dies every year. So (try to) stop Spanish speakers in Texas and California and New York from speaking their mother tongue, there are millions more elsewhere, but when the last speaker of Eyak, Marie Smith dies, the language will die with her. She is not alone in facing a silence, a loss of culture and identity. THere are about 30 American languages with under 10 speakers left, and another 40 or so with under a hundred. <BR/><BR/>apols for preaching to the converted!Ludovichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13599152697751698223noreply@blogger.com