European Observatory for Plurilingualism

-> Monolingualism is bad for the economy
In most countries of immigration, linguistic diversity is by and large ignored by policy makers. If there are language-related policies, they take a deficit view of migrants and their children and focus on improving their English (or whatever the national language may be). Many people resent even the meagre efforts that states are making to help migrants and their children learn the dominant language, and ESL provision in schools is a ready target for funding cuts, as is currently the case in NSW. Going beyond ESL provision and investing into meaningful bilingual education that would enable migrant children to reach high levels of bilingual proficiency in both their heritage language and the dominant language are, by and large, unheard of. Usually, ensuring bilingual proficiency is the exclusive responsibility of parents and thus the usual vagaries of luck and privilege apply.

-> If you talk to the locals in their language, you understand their needs
sing translators is a tricky thing, I've found. I have to use them at times, but there's often a problem that's subtle and difficult to counter, and that is that translators tend to be from the better off sections of society. Even if they're local, it can be that they're far less comfortable going to refugee camps than I am. And there can be a tendency be for them to translate what they want to translate, rather than necessarily exactly what has been said.

gerardM a écrit:

gerardM a écrit:Hi everyone,

World Languages
Learn how to say I LOVE YOU for you to say it to that person you love so much during this Chritsmas!!!
Why don't you say that in another language?
– with Sierra Thompson, Harusan Takayanagi and Cecilia-Månsson Uffe-Christensson.


'click pic to enlarge)

Anyone to analyze all of this
and determine
- the most romantic language
- the different roots in Europe

Anyone to analyze all of this
and determine
- the most romantic language
- the different roots in Europe

Mutter (German). Mère (French). Majka (Serbian). Mat' (Russian). Madre (Spanish). Moder (Swedish). Máthair (Irish). Mataji (Hindi). Móðir (Icelandic).
Oh, and Mama (Chinese). Mama (Swahili). Mama (English).
All around the world, the word is almost always the "M" word.
A remarkable coincidence? Evidence of some great mythic, spiritual communion, a reminder that we are all our mother's children under the skin?
Not a chance.
The reason for the similarities are far more prosaic, experts say. Many of us, at around age 7 or 8 months, put our lips together, hum so that our larynxes buzz, and then open our mouths to unleash a sound: Ma.

-> Suzanne Talhouk: Don't kill your language
More and more, English is a global language; speaking it is perceived as a sign of being modern. But -- what do we lose when we leave behind our mother tongues? Suzanne Talhouk makes an impassioned case to love your own language, and to cherish what it can express that no other language can. In Arabic with subtitles. (Filmed at TEDxBeirut.)

Suzanne Talhouk is an advocate for the Arabic language as a tool of power, pride and unity