Having just returned from a few days in Oporto, it was interesting to see how a Portuguese city seems to be leaving its Galician counterparts behind in terms of trilingualism. The manner in which many Portuguese working in the public service sector can switch to English (and Spanish) at will is impressive.
This reinforced my belief that young Portuguese have better general levels of English, and most notably, infinitely superior pronunciation to that spoken in Spain. Their willingness and confidence in their ability to switch to English or indeed Spanish is striking. For me personally, this was not a great help as I was in Oporto with the intention of practising my Portuguese. However, I also learned that my own Portuguese seems to have been infiltrated by Spanish pronunciation traits, since on more than one occasion in cafes and hotels, I got a response in Spanish to my foreign accented and laboured Portuguese!
Never having taught there, I cannot comment too much on the role of English (or Spanish) in the Portuguese education system, but as I have said before I don’t think formal education is the main issue here. I am in no doubt that the heavy presence of English in its natural state (i.e. original version with subtitles whether for films, news reports or TV programmes) has had a huge impact.
Coincidentally, while travelling on the bus down to Oporto, I read an article in El País about this very subject by Fernando Galván (a professor of English philology and Rector of Alcalá University).
Here is a summary of the cultural, educational and linguistic reasons why Spaniards are struggling to master English:
1. Naturally speakers of Latin-based Romance languages are at a disadvantage to speakers of Germanic languages (Swedish, German, Dutch, etc.). English belongs to the latter linguistic grouping and therefore speakers of Germanic languages have a big head start in terms of grammar, vocabulary, syntax and so on.
True, but why is it that the Portuguese appear to speak better English than the Spanish?
2. The difference in the Portuguese vowel systems has to be taken into account. With only five vowel sounds, Spanish speakers are going to struggle to recognise and replicate the dozen vowel sounds (excluding diphthongs) of English. If in your native language you know the letter A is not always pronounced in the same way, it becomes easier to overcome this difficulty.
In my opinion, this is a minor factor. While studying Portuguese with Galicians, I felt the wider range of vowel sounds I was familiar with gave me an advantage in pronunciation that helped to make up a bit for the huge disadvantage I had in terms of vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Also it was easy for me to distinguish between the letters B and V or C and Z. However, Galicians have more vowel sounds at their disposal than Castilians yet their English pronunciation is not noticeably better.
The socio-cultural factor is key:
3. It has clearly been demonstrated that the socio-cultural environment, particularly having a wide range of audio-visual material around us, makes it much easier to learn a language. Why is it that after so many hours dedicated to study, Spaniards struggle to understand or communicate in English in daily life? The important factor is that, except in exceptional or limited cases, the majority of the population is hardly exposed to spoken English at all. When the student leaves the classroom, his or her exposure to oral English ends there. It is rarely heard on the radio, on television or in the cinema. In other countries like Portugal however, they don’t dub American TV series and films are shown in original version with subtitles. Franco ensured that all audio-visual materials from other countries were dubbed, allowing for the Hispanisation and linguistic unity of all foreign voices and accents. Spain has never really emerged from this bubble, while from a very early age, Polish, Swedish, Dutch or Portuguese students are accustomed to daily exposure to spoken English. At the end of the school day, they watch cartoons or other favourite TV series in English and barely notice they are still learning outside class.
Galván acknowledges that the situation regarding English in Spanish schools is gradually improving. However, in my view it still remains the case that young Spaniards are too heavily influenced by Spanish phonetics when trying to learn English, while young Portuguese might be reasonably familiar with the sounds of English before they are even capable of reading the subtitles. English pronunciation remains a major weakness in Spanish schools where there are too many teachers who do not have enough familiarity with spoken English and therefore cannot make it an integral part of classroom learning.
This brings me back to the question of trilingualism in Galician schools. Whether or not English can really make up a third of the system remains to be seen (it certainly seems a long way off to me). Whether it should is another matter. It's funny how imposition is rarely mentioned where English is concerned even though it's not the native language of anyone here other than a handful of immigrants like myself. But I feel the most forward-thinking step central and regional governments could take would be to look at what can be done to reduce dubbing and increase subtitling throughout Spanish media. People want to enjoy these programmes or films anyway, and it would just be a case of getting used to viewing them the way they were intended to be seen. Not that I’m holding my breath for this to happen, mind you. José Luis Cuerda, the Spanish film director, recently referred to dubbing an "una auténtica mierda" (a load of crap). From an artisitc point of view he is spot on but most of his compatriots would take some convincing. It is so deeply ingrained that many Spaniards seem to think it takes some kind of super-human effort to read subtitles even though their Iberian neighbours seem to get on just fine.
Showing posts with label galician language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label galician language. Show all posts
Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Strike in Schools
Many working in Galician education were on strike today. The strike was called by the Queremos Galego platform in response to the Xunta’s (Galician govt.) planned educational reforms which would see the role of Galician in compulsory education reduced from at least 50% of the syllabus to 33%. The PP (conservatives) Xunta, which took office last year, has proposed that Galician will be given equal status in the system to Spanish with the introduction of a third of subjects in English making up a trilingual system.
Although President Feijóo and his Xunta appeared to think the idea was a decent compromise, it has been attacked from almost all quarters, with other political parties, cultural groups including the Real Academia Galicia and teaching unions all queuing up to have a go.
One of the main criticisms has been the proposed role of English. Teachers in the General Workers Union (UGT) have said it is unworkable and will lead to chaos. The left-wing coalition Esquerda Unida described it as “utopian”.
I don’t think the policy has been thought through for a number of reasons. In future, the plan is to recruit teachers who are capable of teaching other subjects through English. While I recognise this as a form of CLIL, I wonder where they are going to find the teachers whose English is good enough to cope. My understanding from speaking to someone working within the Galician education system is that in future teachers will be required to have a B1 in English of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages .
Here’s what such a student is supposedly capable of: “Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.”
And here is the description in Galician: “Nivel B1: Se adquiere cuando el estudiante es capaz de comprender los puntos principales de textos claros y en lengua estándar si tratan sobre cuestiones que le son conocidas, ya sea en situaciones de trabajo, de estudio o de ocio; cuando sabe desenvolverse en la mayor parte de las situaciones que pueden surgir durante un viaje por zonas donde se utiliza la lengua; cuando es capaz de producir textos sencillos y coherentes sobre temas que le son familiares o en los que tiene un interés personal y cuando puede describir experiencias, acontecimientos, deseos y aspiraciones, así como justificar brevemente sus opiniones o explicar sus planes.”
I have highlighted in bold what I consider the main points. In my opinion, that kind of level is not nearly high enough to cope with presenting English in an educational setting, and what about student essays and homework? Are they to be corrected by teachers whose own English would need a lot of correcting? I would say they’d need at least a B2 level (upper intemediate) and continual assessment/improvement or more likely C1 (advanced English) simply in order to cope.
If few local teachers are up to the job (and I can’t imagine that they will be too happy that they cannot teach, say science, because their English isn’t good enough) then what are the alternatives? Bringing in a load of teachers from the UK or other countries? And will these teachers be able to handle the Galician and Spanish dimension that will inevitably arise in the classroom?
In short, the introduction of a third of the syllabus in English is not only some way down the line, as the government now ackowledges, but probably unworkable. However, there are already signs that the Xunta is backing down. But not before taking a potshot at what they see as nationalist extremists out to spoil their cosmopolitan initiative. According to reports, there were somewhere between 30-60,000on the march in Santiago today in protest. The evidence would suggest they came from all over the political spectrum.
The legality of the draft bill has also been questioned. The Spanish Constitution states that families are only allowed to intervene in educational policy on matters concerning religion or morals. This brings us back to the new Xunta’s claim that parents should be allowed to choose the language in which their children are to receive their core education.
Another criticism of the current system has been that Spanish-speaking children were having difficulties studying subjects in Galician. If that is the case then how are pupils going to cope with the introduction of a foreign language into subjects where they already have high failure rates?
Finally, it strikes me as odd that there has been much talk about the “imposition of Galician” and how this was eroding freedom, yet this same party wants to bring a non-official language (English) into the education system and give it the same classroom time as Spanish and Galician.
Although President Feijóo and his Xunta appeared to think the idea was a decent compromise, it has been attacked from almost all quarters, with other political parties, cultural groups including the Real Academia Galicia and teaching unions all queuing up to have a go.
One of the main criticisms has been the proposed role of English. Teachers in the General Workers Union (UGT) have said it is unworkable and will lead to chaos. The left-wing coalition Esquerda Unida described it as “utopian”.
I don’t think the policy has been thought through for a number of reasons. In future, the plan is to recruit teachers who are capable of teaching other subjects through English. While I recognise this as a form of CLIL, I wonder where they are going to find the teachers whose English is good enough to cope. My understanding from speaking to someone working within the Galician education system is that in future teachers will be required to have a B1 in English of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages .
Here’s what such a student is supposedly capable of: “Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Can deal with most situations likely to arise whilst travelling in an area where the language is spoken. Can produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes & ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.”
And here is the description in Galician: “Nivel B1: Se adquiere cuando el estudiante es capaz de comprender los puntos principales de textos claros y en lengua estándar si tratan sobre cuestiones que le son conocidas, ya sea en situaciones de trabajo, de estudio o de ocio; cuando sabe desenvolverse en la mayor parte de las situaciones que pueden surgir durante un viaje por zonas donde se utiliza la lengua; cuando es capaz de producir textos sencillos y coherentes sobre temas que le son familiares o en los que tiene un interés personal y cuando puede describir experiencias, acontecimientos, deseos y aspiraciones, así como justificar brevemente sus opiniones o explicar sus planes.”
I have highlighted in bold what I consider the main points. In my opinion, that kind of level is not nearly high enough to cope with presenting English in an educational setting, and what about student essays and homework? Are they to be corrected by teachers whose own English would need a lot of correcting? I would say they’d need at least a B2 level (upper intemediate) and continual assessment/improvement or more likely C1 (advanced English) simply in order to cope.
If few local teachers are up to the job (and I can’t imagine that they will be too happy that they cannot teach, say science, because their English isn’t good enough) then what are the alternatives? Bringing in a load of teachers from the UK or other countries? And will these teachers be able to handle the Galician and Spanish dimension that will inevitably arise in the classroom?
In short, the introduction of a third of the syllabus in English is not only some way down the line, as the government now ackowledges, but probably unworkable. However, there are already signs that the Xunta is backing down. But not before taking a potshot at what they see as nationalist extremists out to spoil their cosmopolitan initiative. According to reports, there were somewhere between 30-60,000on the march in Santiago today in protest. The evidence would suggest they came from all over the political spectrum.
The legality of the draft bill has also been questioned. The Spanish Constitution states that families are only allowed to intervene in educational policy on matters concerning religion or morals. This brings us back to the new Xunta’s claim that parents should be allowed to choose the language in which their children are to receive their core education.
Another criticism of the current system has been that Spanish-speaking children were having difficulties studying subjects in Galician. If that is the case then how are pupils going to cope with the introduction of a foreign language into subjects where they already have high failure rates?
Finally, it strikes me as odd that there has been much talk about the “imposition of Galician” and how this was eroding freedom, yet this same party wants to bring a non-official language (English) into the education system and give it the same classroom time as Spanish and Galician.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
English under Threat in Scotland?
Carlos Callon’s recent article in Galicia Hoxe about the outlandish claims made by some that signposting in Galician cities is predominately in the Galician language led me to think about the situation in the UK and Ireland. There, you will hear some of the same kind of arguments about how much Gaelic or Welsh is around and about whether it is all a waste of time and money.
I’m going to focus on Scotland because that’s the place I know best. Recently I’ve heard a few claims that bilingual signs (Gaelic & English) are distracting drivers. Firstly, all we are talking about here is toponyms and street names. In other words, signs giving information about the distance to nearby towns, signs at the entrance to towns with the place name on it or street names in towns or cities. These will almost invariably include the English name as well as the Gaelic one, except in places which don’t have a separate English name, such as Drumnadrochit for instance. I’ve never seen or heard the village by Loch Ness referred to as Bridge of Drum, which is the literal meaning in English.
In the comments below a recent BBC article about The Death of Language, one Aberdonian claimed there was a “proliferation of bilingual signs (again in English and Gaelic) in Aberdeenshire. I will be on the lookout the next time I travel through the Grampian region. The poster must have a very different understanding of the word “proliferation” from me. I have never seen a traffic sign (Stop, Reduce Speed, etc) in Gaelic anywhere in Scotland and signposting in shops is conspicuous by its absence, at least outside of the Gaelic-speaking heartlands of the Western Isles and a few other places in the highlands. I haven’t been to those islands for some time but even then I’d confidently state its written presence is minimal in comparison with English. As for the Aberdeen area, I’ve spent plenty of time there, visited recently and can’t recall seeing any Gaelic signs at all!
I’ve seen a few Gaelic signs in and around government buildings in Edinburgh, and in a few places in Glasgow (traditionally the city most Gaelic-speaking highlanders move to for work or study). Glasgow Queen Street railway station is one place that comes to mind. The name of the station is clearly on view in Gaelic. It’s easy for me to remember this specific example as it’s very striking due to the lack of Gaelic in public places in Scotland’s major cities.
You are far more likely to see Gaelic in public places in the highland capital of Inverness or other smaller towns in the Highland region. Particularly in and around council buildings or cultural centres. Also, on street signs, although only in central parts of Inverness as I recall, and again it will always appear bilingually with English. When Gaelic information is given in cultural or tourist sites, it is common to find condensed versions of a more detailed English text. A token word or two of Gaelic at the door, such as “Fàilte” (Welcome) is often considered quite enough. But credit to B&Q for their efforts above as this is a rare site in commercial premises.
Although far more widely used throughout Scotland than Gaelic, the Scots language fares even worse due to its lack of official recognition. You will do well to notice its presence in public at all. It features in poems inscribed on the walls or pavement around the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh. But it’s more likely you will see it in the form of graffiti written by Scots-speakers! However, on the Scottish Parliament website information is available in Scots along with 13 other languages. This is just one example of the current Scottish Government starting to take Scots a bit more seriously as a language that can have a purpose beyond poetry or informal conversation.
Scots also features in place names or in street names (sometimes in monolingual form for the same reason as the Drumnadrochit case mentioned earlier). Some examples can be seen on the website of the Scots Language Centre. However, over the years there have also been many examples of Scottish street and place names being given an English makeover, such as the example of Baxter Wynd being changed to Baker Lane.
Even this minimal exposure to Scotland’s other languages is too much for some. They may tell you that Gaelic is a good thing but yet they are easily inconvenienced and don’t want it to affect their everyday lives in any noticeable way. For that reason, I would argue that some see Gaelic as a form of cultural decoration, something concrete that marks Scotland out from England, but that it must be kept firmly in its place. In other words, it must not interfere at all with the daily routine of a monolingual English speaker.
Another thing some people complain about is the cost of promoting the language. They seem to think that a language will continue to exist or even thrive without financial support and a place in the education system. It’s always easy not to care of course – provided it’s not your own native language that is at stake. That is why many monolingual speakers of a global language like English (or indeed a widespread international language like Spanish) fail to empathise – at the end of the day they know it is not their language that is under threat and so can’t identify with the situation.
I’m going to focus on Scotland because that’s the place I know best. Recently I’ve heard a few claims that bilingual signs (Gaelic & English) are distracting drivers. Firstly, all we are talking about here is toponyms and street names. In other words, signs giving information about the distance to nearby towns, signs at the entrance to towns with the place name on it or street names in towns or cities. These will almost invariably include the English name as well as the Gaelic one, except in places which don’t have a separate English name, such as Drumnadrochit for instance. I’ve never seen or heard the village by Loch Ness referred to as Bridge of Drum, which is the literal meaning in English.
In the comments below a recent BBC article about The Death of Language, one Aberdonian claimed there was a “proliferation of bilingual signs (again in English and Gaelic) in Aberdeenshire. I will be on the lookout the next time I travel through the Grampian region. The poster must have a very different understanding of the word “proliferation” from me. I have never seen a traffic sign (Stop, Reduce Speed, etc) in Gaelic anywhere in Scotland and signposting in shops is conspicuous by its absence, at least outside of the Gaelic-speaking heartlands of the Western Isles and a few other places in the highlands. I haven’t been to those islands for some time but even then I’d confidently state its written presence is minimal in comparison with English. As for the Aberdeen area, I’ve spent plenty of time there, visited recently and can’t recall seeing any Gaelic signs at all!
I’ve seen a few Gaelic signs in and around government buildings in Edinburgh, and in a few places in Glasgow (traditionally the city most Gaelic-speaking highlanders move to for work or study). Glasgow Queen Street railway station is one place that comes to mind. The name of the station is clearly on view in Gaelic. It’s easy for me to remember this specific example as it’s very striking due to the lack of Gaelic in public places in Scotland’s major cities.
You are far more likely to see Gaelic in public places in the highland capital of Inverness or other smaller towns in the Highland region. Particularly in and around council buildings or cultural centres. Also, on street signs, although only in central parts of Inverness as I recall, and again it will always appear bilingually with English. When Gaelic information is given in cultural or tourist sites, it is common to find condensed versions of a more detailed English text. A token word or two of Gaelic at the door, such as “Fàilte” (Welcome) is often considered quite enough. But credit to B&Q for their efforts above as this is a rare site in commercial premises.
Although far more widely used throughout Scotland than Gaelic, the Scots language fares even worse due to its lack of official recognition. You will do well to notice its presence in public at all. It features in poems inscribed on the walls or pavement around the Scottish Parliament Building in Edinburgh. But it’s more likely you will see it in the form of graffiti written by Scots-speakers! However, on the Scottish Parliament website information is available in Scots along with 13 other languages. This is just one example of the current Scottish Government starting to take Scots a bit more seriously as a language that can have a purpose beyond poetry or informal conversation.
Scots also features in place names or in street names (sometimes in monolingual form for the same reason as the Drumnadrochit case mentioned earlier). Some examples can be seen on the website of the Scots Language Centre. However, over the years there have also been many examples of Scottish street and place names being given an English makeover, such as the example of Baxter Wynd being changed to Baker Lane.
Even this minimal exposure to Scotland’s other languages is too much for some. They may tell you that Gaelic is a good thing but yet they are easily inconvenienced and don’t want it to affect their everyday lives in any noticeable way. For that reason, I would argue that some see Gaelic as a form of cultural decoration, something concrete that marks Scotland out from England, but that it must be kept firmly in its place. In other words, it must not interfere at all with the daily routine of a monolingual English speaker.
Another thing some people complain about is the cost of promoting the language. They seem to think that a language will continue to exist or even thrive without financial support and a place in the education system. It’s always easy not to care of course – provided it’s not your own native language that is at stake. That is why many monolingual speakers of a global language like English (or indeed a widespread international language like Spanish) fail to empathise – at the end of the day they know it is not their language that is under threat and so can’t identify with the situation.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Gali-Cat United
A number of Galician and Catalan collectives have united in a bid to safeguard their languages. This week, the vice-president of the Galician Standardisation Board, Fran Rei, spoke about the linguistic situation in Galicia at a conference at a Catalan university. Meanwhile, the leader of the Catalan party ERC, Joan Puigcercós was invited to Santiago by the BNG (Galician Nationalist Party) and participated in a talk about "language as a harmonising factor".
Parallels between the languages were discussed in Barcelona but Fran Rei said that the differences also stood out. He told the Xornal de Galicia: "The situation regarding Catalan in the education sytem is very different and the use of Catalan in everyday life is more visible than it is here. Those at the conference stressed that Catalan is used in all walks of life. It is common in the cities. This is not the case in Galicia where Galician has practically disappeared from the major cities."
My own view on the last point is that although there is a lot of truth in the statement, exaggerating the situation does nothing to help and only adds fuel to the claim that nobody speaks or wants Galician in the cities. Recent estimates (which were considered bleak by Galician language supporters) were suggesting a figure of around 15-20% using Galician as their first language in Vigo and A Coruña, so I would disagree that it has practically disappeared from the major cities. Obviously its situation is not so healthy there but it's all relative. It is not the case that Galician has virtually died out in urban areas. I hear the language used in private coversations on the street at some point every other day and surely one or two in ten is not an insignificant number.
Parallels between the languages were discussed in Barcelona but Fran Rei said that the differences also stood out. He told the Xornal de Galicia: "The situation regarding Catalan in the education sytem is very different and the use of Catalan in everyday life is more visible than it is here. Those at the conference stressed that Catalan is used in all walks of life. It is common in the cities. This is not the case in Galicia where Galician has practically disappeared from the major cities."
My own view on the last point is that although there is a lot of truth in the statement, exaggerating the situation does nothing to help and only adds fuel to the claim that nobody speaks or wants Galician in the cities. Recent estimates (which were considered bleak by Galician language supporters) were suggesting a figure of around 15-20% using Galician as their first language in Vigo and A Coruña, so I would disagree that it has practically disappeared from the major cities. Obviously its situation is not so healthy there but it's all relative. It is not the case that Galician has virtually died out in urban areas. I hear the language used in private coversations on the street at some point every other day and surely one or two in ten is not an insignificant number.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Trilingual Obsessions
I read an interesting article by María Reímondez in the Xornal de Galicia today. It deals with what she describes as “our government’s* obsession with learning English”. Reímondez thinks that (I am paraphrasing here, hopefully not too much) more people around her would benefit from learning or improving their Galician rather than English because they’d get more chance to use it.
This seems to me a reasonable observation. From a selfish point of view, the “obsession with English” has served me well because it has provided me with an opportunity to make a living and with opportunities to live and work all over the world if I so wish.
I do sometimes wonder why some students are taking English classes. Some reach a peak and fail to progress. English plays little part in their everyday lives and rarely even features on TV due to dubbing. Furthermore, the amount of English needed to communicate with customers in the average Galician workplace is not high and little English is needed to communicate on a superficial level in order to get by on holiday abroad. Certainly nothing like the level of English that is required to benefit from the kind of trilingual education system that is being talked up.
In my opinion, the general levels of English in schools are not nearly good enough at the moment to cope with that. If pupils are struggling to learn in Galician (as some claim) then how on earth are they going to manage in a language as different as English? The English levels of teachers is another important factor that I don’t think has been properly thought out. Basically, both Spanish and autonomous governments are talking a good game but it amounts to little more than that. Of course, English is useful in many countries but it is also “cool” and prestigious so it sounds good to talk up these possibilities in order to appear less insular and more cosmopolitan. Yet, few of these politicians appear able to speak English to any decent level and it doesn't hold them back too much.
I have my doubts about the sincerity of these targets. The attempt to deflect the current debate away from Galician by using English as a smokescreen may have a lot to do with it.
Reímondez correctly points out that it is normally speakers of major international languages that think the rest of the world has to conform to their way of speaking. This may well be alluding to Spanish speakers as well but she cites the example of a BBC journalist who wanted a German politician to answer him in English even though they were in Germany. She also says (again with some validity) that these speakers of international languages are the ones who struggle most to learn other languages. In my view, this has a lot to do with both necessity and political power.
The article goes on to claim that it would be a lot easier for Galicians to learn another international language – Portuguese. There is little doubt about that due to the amount of shared vocabulary, grammar, etc. Not to mention the fact that it might be more practical due to geographical location – Galicians could go to Portugal and use the language well, do more business there, etc. In fact, they already know a lot of Portuguese and it is largely a question of exposure and adapting to different pronunciation.
In terms of moving, emigrating or working abroad, how useful is English for them? Well, it depends where they go. Very useful in some places but not especially in other parts of Spain or Latin America. Nobody would deny that it is more important to know Spanish than English in these places so why does the same not equally apply to Galician in Galicia? English may be useful to a degree in Switzerland but French or German would be a better option I suspect.
In short, I come back to this thought. The usefulness of a language depends on personal circumstances and geography rather than the numbers of speakers a language has. From time to time, I hear people say things like “Chinese is more useful than Galician, Catalan, Basque, etc." That may be true if you want to go to China or wish to hang out with the local Chinese community but surely not if you live in one of the aforementioned territories.
*I think this is a reference to the Xunta (Galician government) but it could apply to the Spanish government as well to some extent.
This seems to me a reasonable observation. From a selfish point of view, the “obsession with English” has served me well because it has provided me with an opportunity to make a living and with opportunities to live and work all over the world if I so wish.
I do sometimes wonder why some students are taking English classes. Some reach a peak and fail to progress. English plays little part in their everyday lives and rarely even features on TV due to dubbing. Furthermore, the amount of English needed to communicate with customers in the average Galician workplace is not high and little English is needed to communicate on a superficial level in order to get by on holiday abroad. Certainly nothing like the level of English that is required to benefit from the kind of trilingual education system that is being talked up.
In my opinion, the general levels of English in schools are not nearly good enough at the moment to cope with that. If pupils are struggling to learn in Galician (as some claim) then how on earth are they going to manage in a language as different as English? The English levels of teachers is another important factor that I don’t think has been properly thought out. Basically, both Spanish and autonomous governments are talking a good game but it amounts to little more than that. Of course, English is useful in many countries but it is also “cool” and prestigious so it sounds good to talk up these possibilities in order to appear less insular and more cosmopolitan. Yet, few of these politicians appear able to speak English to any decent level and it doesn't hold them back too much.
I have my doubts about the sincerity of these targets. The attempt to deflect the current debate away from Galician by using English as a smokescreen may have a lot to do with it.
Reímondez correctly points out that it is normally speakers of major international languages that think the rest of the world has to conform to their way of speaking. This may well be alluding to Spanish speakers as well but she cites the example of a BBC journalist who wanted a German politician to answer him in English even though they were in Germany. She also says (again with some validity) that these speakers of international languages are the ones who struggle most to learn other languages. In my view, this has a lot to do with both necessity and political power.
The article goes on to claim that it would be a lot easier for Galicians to learn another international language – Portuguese. There is little doubt about that due to the amount of shared vocabulary, grammar, etc. Not to mention the fact that it might be more practical due to geographical location – Galicians could go to Portugal and use the language well, do more business there, etc. In fact, they already know a lot of Portuguese and it is largely a question of exposure and adapting to different pronunciation.
In terms of moving, emigrating or working abroad, how useful is English for them? Well, it depends where they go. Very useful in some places but not especially in other parts of Spain or Latin America. Nobody would deny that it is more important to know Spanish than English in these places so why does the same not equally apply to Galician in Galicia? English may be useful to a degree in Switzerland but French or German would be a better option I suspect.
In short, I come back to this thought. The usefulness of a language depends on personal circumstances and geography rather than the numbers of speakers a language has. From time to time, I hear people say things like “Chinese is more useful than Galician, Catalan, Basque, etc." That may be true if you want to go to China or wish to hang out with the local Chinese community but surely not if you live in one of the aforementioned territories.
*I think this is a reference to the Xunta (Galician government) but it could apply to the Spanish government as well to some extent.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Fishing for Prepositions
The World Fishing Exhibition took place in Vigo a couple of weeks ago. To celebrate the event, the Xornal de Galicia took the step of publishing some English translations of the World Fishing content within its pages.
The editorial headline “Fishing the future” sounded strange to the English ear, basically lacking a preposition as well as a capital letter. In other words, “Fishing for the Future” would have sounded much better. Sadly, the articles in English got worse as I read on. I don’t know whether the translations were done by non-natives, translation tools or English speakers with little experience of translation.
In any case, it would appear that the Xornal had fallen into the common trap of presenting English for marketing purposes while hoping that the poor quality of the translations would not be noticed. Many native speakers will pick up on this, as well as others proficient in the given language.
The translation business is no different from any other in that if you take the cheap option, you are likely to end up with a sub-standard product. Incidentally, I am not the type who spends a lot of time complaining about bad translations, let’s face it they are everywhere so it would be very time consuming. But I expected better from the Xornal of Galicia as it is a newspaper which normally takes the topic of language very seriously.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
No Problem for Noll
Excerpt from interview with Brazilian author, João Giberto Noll in the Xornal de Galicia (29th Sept. 2009).
Interviewer: Will we have difficulty understanding each other?
JGN: None at all. I’m very impresed with the similarities between Galician and Portuguese. Of course, I know about the existence of this language in Spain and of its historical and theoretical relationship with ours (Portuguese). But I didn’t realise the extent to which there is massive identification between the two. This is great because it allows you to understand and be understood in another country, as we saw yesterday in the group interview. It’s wonderful.
Interviewer: Will we have difficulty understanding each other?
JGN: None at all. I’m very impresed with the similarities between Galician and Portuguese. Of course, I know about the existence of this language in Spain and of its historical and theoretical relationship with ours (Portuguese). But I didn’t realise the extent to which there is massive identification between the two. This is great because it allows you to understand and be understood in another country, as we saw yesterday in the group interview. It’s wonderful.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Imposición!?
An example of my own today rather than from the press...
I was down at the EOI in A Coruña earlier today. There were two people in front of me in the queue. The first spoke Galician and was there for about ten minutes asking many questions. The admin clerk at the desk spoke in Spanish the whole time and at one point in the coversation the girl also switched to Spanish for a while before later reverting to Galician again. It was quite clear that Galician was her language of choice. Then she left. The guy in front of me also spoke in Galician but again was attended in Spanish. The clerk did not speak a word of Galician the whole time I was waiting (around fifteen minutes), despite dealing with Galician speakers. Either the clerk did not have the will or the ability to do so. Clearly she is not one of the alleged 90% of civil servants who is bilingual in Spanish and Galician (see my June 30th post). Some might argue that this passive bilingualism is no bad thing and that everyone understood each other. But it also occurred to me that if this situation happened in reverse, you could easily imagine word getting out and we'd have the cries of "Imposición!" from the usual suspects.
I was down at the EOI in A Coruña earlier today. There were two people in front of me in the queue. The first spoke Galician and was there for about ten minutes asking many questions. The admin clerk at the desk spoke in Spanish the whole time and at one point in the coversation the girl also switched to Spanish for a while before later reverting to Galician again. It was quite clear that Galician was her language of choice. Then she left. The guy in front of me also spoke in Galician but again was attended in Spanish. The clerk did not speak a word of Galician the whole time I was waiting (around fifteen minutes), despite dealing with Galician speakers. Either the clerk did not have the will or the ability to do so. Clearly she is not one of the alleged 90% of civil servants who is bilingual in Spanish and Galician (see my June 30th post). Some might argue that this passive bilingualism is no bad thing and that everyone understood each other. But it also occurred to me that if this situation happened in reverse, you could easily imagine word getting out and we'd have the cries of "Imposición!" from the usual suspects.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
A Tower of Strength
A few letters along the following lines appeared in the press in the week that the Tower of Hercules was awarded World Heritage status. This one is from the Xornal de Galicia:Congratulations to the people of a Coruña and Galicia now that we have another World Heritage Site. It's about time our language had World Heritage status so that Feijóo does not appear on the scene to destroy it. Every attack he makes on our language is like removing a brick from our tower, our city walls or cathedral.
Pic.Galidonia©2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Another View from Galicia
The problem is that a child who studies only Spanish won't know Galician, but one that studies in Galician will know Spanish in any case. As studies show, the omnipresence of Spanish ensures children learn that language, while the scarcity of Galician means the same cannot be said in reverse. The aim is for children to acquire equal skills in both languages and this will not happen if a child is prevented from studying Galician. If some people are genuinely concerned about imposition, then they also need to talk to businesses, the media, etc., as they demand a bilingual system which respects everyone. They also need to talk to Galician speakers who are forced to consume almost all their products in Spanish.* Is this not imposition? But this is not a concern of course. Some just want to be free of Galician. I know of people who are pulled up at work for talking Galician, but I don't know of anybody who is reprimanded for talking Spanish at work.
P.A. A Coruña (letter to the Xornal, 17th June)
* I imagine this is a reference to food labelling, etc. which is mostly in Spanish. Although the supermarket chain Eroski, for instance, labels its own products in all four of Spain's official languages.
P.A. A Coruña (letter to the Xornal, 17th June)
* I imagine this is a reference to food labelling, etc. which is mostly in Spanish. Although the supermarket chain Eroski, for instance, labels its own products in all four of Spain's official languages.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Inarticulate in Galician and Illiterate in Spanish?
This week I will be translating a series of letters that have appeared in the press recently about Galician. Today, two very contrasting viewpoints about young people and the education system….
Excerpt from letter to the Xornal de Galicia, 24th June
…I speak of my experiences as a teacher in Corunna city. In my high school at the moment, about 40-50% of studying is done in Galician with the remainder in Spanish. While dealing with the students on a daily basis, it concerns me that they are unable to string a few sentences in Galician together. They begin the sentence, stop short, think about it and then begin speaking again. They lack fluency and spontaneity while having no problem in Spanish. Furthermore, every single sentence of the little Galician they speak is badly articulated. If it’s not throwing in Spanish words (“ayer”, “bueno”, dibujo”) then it’s bad collocation of pronouns or use of compound tenses, e.g. habíamos feito instead of fixemos (note: compound tenses like the former are not used in Galician). If this happens in a school where 40% of content is in Galician, I shudder to think what it’s like in schools where less Galician is used, nor do I wish to dwell on what the future will be like under the newly proposed decree…
L.S. A Coruña
Galidonia comment: The writer goes on to say that for this reason more Galician rather than less needs to be taught in schools.
A Very Different Point of View, Letter from El País, 30th June
I think identifying members of Galicia Bilingüe with the right wing is totally inaccurate. I am an activist with a (non-nationalist) left wing party and agree with GB’s stance. I agree that our youngsters arrive at university barely knowing how to write in Spanish. Also I agree that in secondary education they teach how the Golden Age, the era of Lope de Vega and Quevedo, constitutes a dark chapter in Galician history. Furthermore I agree that diglossia exists and that Spanish will have to disappear so that this phenomenon does not occur. Of course the Galician language must be protected, and it is because a school subject with this name already exists and is compulsory in the final evaluation. But the idea of teaching all subjects in Galician, except the subject of Spanish, is going to lead to an abyss of unpredictable consequences which concerns parents of children of school age in Galicia regardless of our political views.
L.H.R. Pontevedra
Galidonia comment: If you were to take both letters at face value, you would be left with the impression that Galicia is producing a generation who are unable to speak Galician and are virtually illiterate in Spanish! I know some intelligent and literate young Galicians who are also very articulate in English, so can things really be half as bad as they are depicted here?
Excerpt from letter to the Xornal de Galicia, 24th June
…I speak of my experiences as a teacher in Corunna city. In my high school at the moment, about 40-50% of studying is done in Galician with the remainder in Spanish. While dealing with the students on a daily basis, it concerns me that they are unable to string a few sentences in Galician together. They begin the sentence, stop short, think about it and then begin speaking again. They lack fluency and spontaneity while having no problem in Spanish. Furthermore, every single sentence of the little Galician they speak is badly articulated. If it’s not throwing in Spanish words (“ayer”, “bueno”, dibujo”) then it’s bad collocation of pronouns or use of compound tenses, e.g. habíamos feito instead of fixemos (note: compound tenses like the former are not used in Galician). If this happens in a school where 40% of content is in Galician, I shudder to think what it’s like in schools where less Galician is used, nor do I wish to dwell on what the future will be like under the newly proposed decree…
L.S. A Coruña
Galidonia comment: The writer goes on to say that for this reason more Galician rather than less needs to be taught in schools.
A Very Different Point of View, Letter from El País, 30th June
I think identifying members of Galicia Bilingüe with the right wing is totally inaccurate. I am an activist with a (non-nationalist) left wing party and agree with GB’s stance. I agree that our youngsters arrive at university barely knowing how to write in Spanish. Also I agree that in secondary education they teach how the Golden Age, the era of Lope de Vega and Quevedo, constitutes a dark chapter in Galician history. Furthermore I agree that diglossia exists and that Spanish will have to disappear so that this phenomenon does not occur. Of course the Galician language must be protected, and it is because a school subject with this name already exists and is compulsory in the final evaluation. But the idea of teaching all subjects in Galician, except the subject of Spanish, is going to lead to an abyss of unpredictable consequences which concerns parents of children of school age in Galicia regardless of our political views.
L.H.R. Pontevedra
Galidonia comment: If you were to take both letters at face value, you would be left with the impression that Galicia is producing a generation who are unable to speak Galician and are virtually illiterate in Spanish! I know some intelligent and literate young Galicians who are also very articulate in English, so can things really be half as bad as they are depicted here?
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Linguistic Success in Galicia?
Linguistic Success in Galicia?
According to a report in El País today (30th June), 90% of civil servants working for the Administración General del Estado (AGE) are bilingual in Galicia and Catalonia, compared to around 70% in Valencia, the Balearics and the Basque Country.
These are the conclusions of a report carried out by the AGE’s department for official languages itself. However, the Council of Europe is not entirely satisfied with those figures, and in a separate report last December, demanded that the AGE give more support to co-official languages, claiming there were weak areas in legal circles, postal and train services (RENFE).
The Age report admits that the security forces are the area most wanting, “well below 50%” due to their mobility. According to the AGE report “practically 100% of personnel in AGE services speak Galician (with only 40% of them defined as primarily Galician native speakers), compared to the second most successful area in this respect – Catalonia – where the figure is again said to be close to 100% in Girona and Lleida and around 85% in Barcelona and Tarragona.
I’m sure these statistics will be seriously questioned by Galician and Catalan language activists. From my point of view, this raises the question of what it actually means to speak Galician (or any other language for that matter) or to be bilingual. Are we talking about an ability and willingness to switch between both languages without any difficulty or is it something much more basic than that?
For instance, I could claim to speak French, Italian or Scottish Gaelic. I wouldn’t be lying as I have taken courses in these languages. However, this does not mean that I could comfortably hold a conversation with a native speaker in any of these languages. Far from it if the truth be told. In other words, it is very easy to say you speak a language or tick a box saying that you do but what this means is very subjective. I would seriously question the claim that close to 100% of civil servants in Galicia are bilingual in Galician as I think there are many who lack either/both the ability and willingness to do so.
Willingness to speak the language without reservations or feelings of superiority or inferiority issues is a major factor in my opinion – it is easy to say you can speak a language but if you have reservations about doing so, can you genuinely claim to be bilingual, proficient or even comfortable about speaking the said language in public or everyday situations?
In my experience, many people living in Galicia see Galician as inferior or at least secondary in terms of importance to Spanish; not to mention the view and general attitudes towards other languages of the State in monolingual parts of Spain.
With regard to printed material, the AGE claims “practically all” printed forms are bilingual (presumably meaning available in both languages?) in Galicia and the Basque Country, dropping to around 65% in Catalonia and Valencia. The Balearics figure is somewhere between the Catalan and Galician/Basque ones.
In terms of signposting, Galicia and the Basque Country again come out tops while ‘some deficiencies’ remain in Catalonia and the Balearics. Finally, Galician civil servants in the Tax Office and Social Security again come top of the table with “close to 100% being bilingual”.
As I’ve alluded to, from the point of view of living in A Coruña, I find many of these figures surprising and basically hard to believe. I also spent a few years living in northern areas of Catalonia. In my experience, I encountered more confident attitudes in terms of both the importance/prestige of Catalan and ability to speak it, particularly among younger natives. However, I am not blind to the fact that I may well have a totally different perspective had I lived in L'Hospitalet and Padrón rather than Vic, Girona and A Coruña.
What do readers of this blog think? Comments are welcome in English, Galician, Catalan or Spanish. (I would include Basque if I could read/translate it. Sorry!)
According to a report in El País today (30th June), 90% of civil servants working for the Administración General del Estado (AGE) are bilingual in Galicia and Catalonia, compared to around 70% in Valencia, the Balearics and the Basque Country.
These are the conclusions of a report carried out by the AGE’s department for official languages itself. However, the Council of Europe is not entirely satisfied with those figures, and in a separate report last December, demanded that the AGE give more support to co-official languages, claiming there were weak areas in legal circles, postal and train services (RENFE).
The Age report admits that the security forces are the area most wanting, “well below 50%” due to their mobility. According to the AGE report “practically 100% of personnel in AGE services speak Galician (with only 40% of them defined as primarily Galician native speakers), compared to the second most successful area in this respect – Catalonia – where the figure is again said to be close to 100% in Girona and Lleida and around 85% in Barcelona and Tarragona.
I’m sure these statistics will be seriously questioned by Galician and Catalan language activists. From my point of view, this raises the question of what it actually means to speak Galician (or any other language for that matter) or to be bilingual. Are we talking about an ability and willingness to switch between both languages without any difficulty or is it something much more basic than that?
For instance, I could claim to speak French, Italian or Scottish Gaelic. I wouldn’t be lying as I have taken courses in these languages. However, this does not mean that I could comfortably hold a conversation with a native speaker in any of these languages. Far from it if the truth be told. In other words, it is very easy to say you speak a language or tick a box saying that you do but what this means is very subjective. I would seriously question the claim that close to 100% of civil servants in Galicia are bilingual in Galician as I think there are many who lack either/both the ability and willingness to do so.
Willingness to speak the language without reservations or feelings of superiority or inferiority issues is a major factor in my opinion – it is easy to say you can speak a language but if you have reservations about doing so, can you genuinely claim to be bilingual, proficient or even comfortable about speaking the said language in public or everyday situations?
In my experience, many people living in Galicia see Galician as inferior or at least secondary in terms of importance to Spanish; not to mention the view and general attitudes towards other languages of the State in monolingual parts of Spain.
With regard to printed material, the AGE claims “practically all” printed forms are bilingual (presumably meaning available in both languages?) in Galicia and the Basque Country, dropping to around 65% in Catalonia and Valencia. The Balearics figure is somewhere between the Catalan and Galician/Basque ones.
In terms of signposting, Galicia and the Basque Country again come out tops while ‘some deficiencies’ remain in Catalonia and the Balearics. Finally, Galician civil servants in the Tax Office and Social Security again come top of the table with “close to 100% being bilingual”.
As I’ve alluded to, from the point of view of living in A Coruña, I find many of these figures surprising and basically hard to believe. I also spent a few years living in northern areas of Catalonia. In my experience, I encountered more confident attitudes in terms of both the importance/prestige of Catalan and ability to speak it, particularly among younger natives. However, I am not blind to the fact that I may well have a totally different perspective had I lived in L'Hospitalet and Padrón rather than Vic, Girona and A Coruña.
What do readers of this blog think? Comments are welcome in English, Galician, Catalan or Spanish. (I would include Basque if I could read/translate it. Sorry!)
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Language, Social Conflict & War
The Galician language departments at A Coruña, Vigo and Santiago Universities have written to the president of the Xunta expressing their concern at the linguistic measures taken by Feijóo's government. They accuse the Executive of legislating against the country's language without even bothering to consult powers that be outside Galicia.
A Coruña's language department (of Galician, Portuguese and French) claims Feijóo's Xunta is "giving citizens the impression that the Galician language is neither necessary nor useful", adding that "the Xunta has created a new social conflict with measures that are bound to lead to an increase in those lacking competence in Galician".
Source of the above - Galician Supplement in El País
Meanwhile, Anxo Lorenzo, the General Secretary of Linguistic Policy, has stated that, "there is not, and never has been, a 'linguistic war', no matter much radicals and extremists of one type or another want to claim this is the case".
A Coruña's language department (of Galician, Portuguese and French) claims Feijóo's Xunta is "giving citizens the impression that the Galician language is neither necessary nor useful", adding that "the Xunta has created a new social conflict with measures that are bound to lead to an increase in those lacking competence in Galician".
Source of the above - Galician Supplement in El País
Meanwhile, Anxo Lorenzo, the General Secretary of Linguistic Policy, has stated that, "there is not, and never has been, a 'linguistic war', no matter much radicals and extremists of one type or another want to claim this is the case".
Thursday, June 18, 2009
What's in a Word?
Under the new PP administration there will be no "Galescolas" (Galician nursery schools) and no "national library" at Monte Gaiás. It is interesting that many (often on the political right) are quick to condemn name changes as "political correctness" (something I actually begin to doubt the existence of but that's another story). Yet, they seem just as willing to do the same when it suits their agenda. What next? Patacas do país to be renamed "regional potatoes" perhaps?
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