Applied Languages

The study of modern languages could die out within the next 20 years because of the government’s focus on science subjects, leading academics have warned. A group of 14 influential figures, including leading academics and influential figures in the arts, has issued the warning in response to higher-education funding cuts.

Lord Mandleson, the business secretary, has ordered a £600 million budget reduction by 2013 while calling for stronger links between universities and business. The group, including four university vice chancellors, states in a letter to the Observer that these are “worrying times” for the arts and humanities.

Among them is Professor Colin Riordan, an expert in post war German literature and culture at the University of Essex, who fears that modern languages could “die out in the next 20 years at university if we are not careful”. The group believes urgent action is needed to prevent the country’s intellectual heritage being eroded, with a third of the world’s research into arts and humanities taking place in Britain.

There is concern that the Government’s decision last year to ring-fence funding for science-related subjects means that other courses face huge cuts if this is repeated.

The signatories to the letter, who include Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery, and Sir Nicholas Kenyon, the Barbican’s managing director, argue that the importance of the arts and humanities should not be overlooked. They say: “There seems to be a belief in government and in much of business that knowledge can be cut into discrete blocks and that the ones that matter most are those of science, technology, engineering and maths.

“The challenges facing the country and the world cannot be addressed without the arts and humanities. People’s complexity comes from their language, identities, histories, faith and culture.

“Without understanding that complexity we cannot address these challenges. Subjects such as literature, philosophy and history teach students to look at the world from a different perspective, to challenge ideas and to communicate effectively, to bring the flexibility and imagination that employers need and welcome.”

Lord Mandleson has denied creating a situation where universities would become production lines delivering graduates to fulfil industry’s needs. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said in a statement that it was committed to funding “research excellence” wherever it was found and had invested record levels in higher education.

Read more: The Telegraph

If you thought that English is the language of the 21st century, think again. In Europe, the future could be Latin. “It’s not practical if you have to translate the name of an EU programme into 23 languages, so if you have a Latin word which can be pronounced in all 23 and means something at the same time, it’s practical,” European Commission translator and classical linguist Wolfgang Jenniges said.

In the EU, languages are big political business. Each member state fights fiercely for its national tongue, with EU texts routinely translated into all 23 of the bloc’s official languages. As long as the EU has enough computer memory and printer paper to handle 23 versions of every text, it is a perfect political solution.

But trouble starts when there is only room to use one word from one language – such as when creating an internet domain name. English, the EU’s most widespread language, might seem to have the advantage in such questions. But other member states fear that too much English use would cement it as the EU’s unofficial working tongue, a politically impossible position. “English has become the lingua franca, but we are not allowed to say so,” one EU linguist commented.

The EU’s solution has been to find a politically neutral language in the only place it could realistically look: European history. “The fact that Latin doesn’t belong to any one nation makes things easier,” Jenniges said.

With Latin at the root of many of the technical, scientific, religious and legal terms in Europe, Virgil’s language is perfectly placed to become the EU’s virtual language. “There is a dose of Latin in all 23 EU languages: the dosage varies, but it’s always there,” the linguist pointed out.

In a striking blend of ancient and modern, the EU has therefore adopted Latin titles for some of its top internet addresses. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg has the domain name “curia” – Latin for “court.” The council of EU member states uses the domain name “consilium,” Latin for “council.” Both those names are sub-addresses of the EU’s web domain, “europa” – the Latin name for Europe.

EU projects are also being given Latin names. A recent translation contest was called “juvenes translatores” (“young translators”), while the EU has a “Tempus” (“time”) project for upgrading universities outside the bloc.

Classical names are even coming back into fashion for EU military missions. In recent years, the bloc has run operations named Althea, Artemis, Themis and Concordia – the goddesses of healing, hunting, justice and reconciliation.

The tradition was reinforced in December, when the EU sent a fleet of warships to fight Somali pirates under the codename “Atalanta” – in Greek myth, the only woman to sail on the quest of the Golden Fleece. Those names “transcend modern cultural and historical references of a national nature, as well as linguistic considerations,” an EU official said.

Admittedly, EU-watchers are not likely to have to reach for their Latin dictionaries any time soon. Any decision to extend the use of Latin on a larger scale would be “eminently political,” and would have to be preceded by “the renewal of Latin teaching in schools and universities almost from scratch,” Jenniges pointed out.

But with political sensitivities showing no sign of fading, the EU may well find that the simplest way of avoiding fights between living languages is to look for more and more names in a dead one.

Read more: EarthTimes

From August this year, civil servants under the age of 50 in Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province, have been told to attend training in five foreign languages, as well as common spoken Chinese and computer skills. The foreign language courses were the most noticeable part of the training program. The aim is that by the end of 2010, all civil servants in the city will have to grasp at least 300 daily expressions in English and 100 daily expressions respectively in Lao, Burmese, Thai and Vietnamese, which are used in countries bordering Yunnan. The civil servants’ proficiency in these five foreign languages will influence their future promotion prospects.

Kunming is a famous tourism destination, which borders several Southeast Asian countries. Recent years have seen a sharp increase in foreign trade there, resulting in a huge lack of professionals with foreign language skills. Kunming trains at most 200 professionals in uncommon foreign languages. This does not match Kunming’s status as China’s “bridge” connecting countries in Southeast and South Asia. Therefore, the Kunming Municipal Government decided that local civil servants should take foreign language training.

What the public is most interested in is whether it’s necessary for so many civil servants to take foreign language training almost at the same time. Besides, is it possible for the civil servants to improve their foreign language proficiency within this limited time? They are worried that this will become just another vanity project.

Some supporters of this training program also point out that to learn 100 daily expressions of a certain language does not necessarily mean that someone has mastered the language, but that the expressions will be helpful in daily communication with foreigners. Civil servants capable of these expressions could be able to avoid many misunderstandings in communication with foreigners.

Read more: Alibaba

Police are in line for a baffling language award for writing a 102-word sentence which “defies understanding”. The comment, from the Association of Chief Police Officers, was so ridiculous it has now been put forward for the Golden Bull awards run by the Plain English Campaign.

Without allowing the reader to pause for breath, it contains language such as “centrally engineered one size fits all initiatives”, “amorphous challenges of managing cross force harms” and “authentic answerability”.  The passage was in a formal response to the Government’s Green Paper on policing, and signed off by Sir Ken Jones, the President of ACPO, but the critics said whoever drafted it should hang their head in shame.

The full sentence read: “The promise of reform which the Green Paper heralds holds much for the public and Service alike; local policing, customized to local need with authentic answerability, strengthened accountabilities at force level through reforms to police authorities and HMIC, performance management at the service of localities with targets and plans tailored to local needs, the end of centrally engineered one size fits all initiatives, an intelligent approach to cutting red tape through redesign of processes and cultures, a renewed emphasis on strategic development so as to better equip our service to meet the amorphous challenges of managing cross force harms, risks and opportunities.”

Marie Claire, spokeswoman for the Plain English campaign, which lobbies for better and clearer use of words, said: “What excuse is there for this single sentence? It is 102 words long. I fell asleep halfway through and consequently did not have cause to ponder upon the meanings of “centrally engineered one size fits all initiatives” or “amorphous challenges” – that is wrestling with a jellyfish, right?”

The last police winners of a Golden Bull Award were in 1999 after the Strathclyde Joint Police Board was asked how much it would cost the taxpayer to police a protest.

The board’s ‘winning’ response was: “Making reference to the costs of a single operation is essentially an exercise in a vacuum which would divorce from the reality of the strategic approach to policing operations throughout the entire police area. Therefore an actual figure was not provided.”

Sussex Police have been criticised for calling a tent a portable inflatable building. The force even bragged the tent, used by the neighbourhood policing team at crime prevention roadshows, was “also designed to shelter people from the weather”.

Read more: Telegraph

During the recent economic downturn, job seekers are learning another language to make themselves more competitive against other applicants submitting for the same positions. In a recent survey of 300 respondents, 71% of US workers have begun learning another language to give them an edge against competing applicants. Additionally, 94% believe bilingual or multilingual skills will make an employment application more competitive and can positively impact earning potential.

As companies expand and grow their international relations, bilingual and multilingual candidates are increasingly in demand by employers. According to the survey, 67% of respondents communicate regularly with someone who predominantly speaks another language in their current or most recent position. Additionally, 59% applied for jobs in the past year that required a moderate knowledge of another language.

Language learning continues to be a growing market, as evidenced by recent findings from executive recruiting firm Korn/Ferry International, which cites that 31% of executives speak two languages and 20% speak three. Success Magazine also reports that bilingual workers earn $5,000 – $7,000 more in salary a year than solely English-speaking employees.

The survey was conducted by Auralog, the pioneer of integrating advanced speech recognition technology with language learning. Auralog’s award-winning TELL ME MORE® language-learning solution offers an engaging, culturally-immersive learning experience.

“As the world gets flatter, companies grow more global and span numerous cultures and languages,” said Christophe Pralong, Auralog’s North American vice president. “Job seekers need bilingual and multilingual skills to be competitive and succeed in this new business environment.”

Read more: Marketwire