L'ancien minsitre au Foreign Office Chris Bryant estime qu'on devrait apprendre aux élèves le mandarin ou l'arabe et pas le français. A lire:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7831007/Former-minister-Chris-Bryant-French-is-a-useless-language.html
Il ferait bien de lire cet article:
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Twelve-Most-Useful-Second-Languages-For-English-Speakers&id=690619
Let me spell it out for the former minister in a language he would understand: our children are far more likely to be using their foreign language in Europe than anywhere else. In addition French and German are still the most sought after languages in business. More importantly, our children are far more likely to use their language skills when on holiday and are more likely to holiday in mainland Europe than in China or the middle east. This creates a good case for Spanish which is also most useful in the Americas, of course. French remains a lingua franca with wider global coverage than Mandarin. Pupils may also value their language skills when appreciating foreign culture and this is much more likely to be French novels and movies than Chinese or Arabic.
Mr Bryant may also wish to consider the practicalities of teaching pupils languages which are even more difficult than European ones when there are few teachers available for the purpose.
People can be very naive about this issue and it is surprising to hear a former Foreign Office spout such drivel.
To "spout drivel" - j'ai trouvé:
raconter des salades, raconter des bêtises, débiter des inepties/des inanités, dire n'importe quoi, baver
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/7831007/Former-minister-Chris-Bryant-French-is-a-useless-language.html
Il ferait bien de lire cet article:
http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Twelve-Most-Useful-Second-Languages-For-English-Speakers&id=690619
Let me spell it out for the former minister in a language he would understand: our children are far more likely to be using their foreign language in Europe than anywhere else. In addition French and German are still the most sought after languages in business. More importantly, our children are far more likely to use their language skills when on holiday and are more likely to holiday in mainland Europe than in China or the middle east. This creates a good case for Spanish which is also most useful in the Americas, of course. French remains a lingua franca with wider global coverage than Mandarin. Pupils may also value their language skills when appreciating foreign culture and this is much more likely to be French novels and movies than Chinese or Arabic.
Mr Bryant may also wish to consider the practicalities of teaching pupils languages which are even more difficult than European ones when there are few teachers available for the purpose.
People can be very naive about this issue and it is surprising to hear a former Foreign Office spout such drivel.
To "spout drivel" - j'ai trouvé:
raconter des salades, raconter des bêtises, débiter des inepties/des inanités, dire n'importe quoi, baver
My view is that learning any language is worth doing, although life is simply too short to learn them all. Chris Bryant was right to ask which language we are teaching and why. However his suggestions have limited value. Learn Mandarin, and you’re tongue –tied in Japan. Learn Portuguese and you can’t even ask for a loaf of bread in Germany. Learn Arabic and you are reduced to miming in Russia. The obvious solution would be to make wider use of Esperanto.
ReplyDeleteEsperanto hasn't yet gained the recognition it deserves. However, all things considered, it has actually done amazingly well. In just over 120 years, it has managed to grow from a drawing-board project with just one speaker in one country to a complete and living natural language with around 2,000,000 speakers in over 120 countries and a rich literature and cosmopolitan culture, with little or no official backing and even bouts of persecution. It hasn't taken the world by storm - yet - but it's slowly but surely moving in that direction, with the Internet giving it a significant boost in recent years.
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ReplyDeleteHi Bill. I didn't realise thet Esperanto still had its followers and users. Are there really 2 million speakers? In what sense "speakers"? I cannot honestly say I would favour supporting a language rooted in no particular culture, though, and I tend to think English is de facto the world language. This gives us an advantage in business and cultural influence, but makes us lazy about learning other languages.
ReplyDeleteBut a growth in Esperanto? Why not? Do you have a personal interest in it?