Language learning in UK schools: what does the future hold?
Recent news that the numbers of pupils taking a modern foreign language to A-level in the UK have fallen dramatically did not come as a huge surprise to me. According to the latest A-level results, there has been a 9.9% fall in candidates taking French, and an even more depressing 11.1% fall in those taking German A level.
This trend has been coming along for quite some time now, but why?
First and foremost, the general attitude to language learning at a societal and educational level is very poor. To native English speakers, languages are often seen as a ‘waste of time’, as ‘everyone speaks English’. Well, allow me to dispel that notion! Although there are a lot of fantastic English speakers out there, only 22% of Spaniards, 39% of French people and 34% of Italians (for example) can speak English to a conversational level. The rates are higher in Scandinavian countries, but by no means everyone even has a basic command of English, let alone full fluency. The idea that it is ‘useless’ is even more ridiculous – even if other people do speak great English, that’s no excuse for being the person pointing at things mutely on holiday, let alone for UK politicians and businesspeople refusing to communicate with business partners and policial allies in their own tongue.
Secondly, languages are not taught well in many of our schools, and are not particularly encouraged. I was lucky enough to study French, German, Spanish and Japanese at GCSE, but there are many schools that only offer French, and even this is not compulsory. Languages are portrayed as difficult and often seen as being less necessary than maths, science etc. Whilst of course maths and science are vital, languages are essential to communication at every level, whether that is your holiday to France or a financial deal between Germany and the UK. Children also don’t start learning a language until they are around 12, when the best years for natural language absorption are coming to an end, and when teens often become self conscious about speaking a new language in front of school friends. I know I was very nervous about my oral exams at school, and still struggle to be very chatty in another language when I know I might make mistakes!
Here at EuroTalk we know that languages are not only essential but also loads of fun! So what’s the solution? Fortunately it seems that GCSE uptake of languages is on the increase, so maybe there is still hope. But from my perspective we need to introduce languages at a much earlier age in schools, offer a wider range of languages such as Mandarin and Arabic (both official UN languages), create a more open culture of chatting in another language without feeling embarrassed and worried about mistakes, and dispel the ridiculous notion that any other language than English is useless. Even if everyone else in the world learns English, we should be ashamed not to return the favour and at least have a go at saying ‘hi’ in their mother tongue.
Alex
Learning a new language will make you smarter
Today’s post was written by Tom, who’s just spent a year working at EuroTalk as part of his university degree course. He’s been doing some research on some of the less obvious – but just as important – benefits of learning a language.
Most people would agree that knowing more than one language in today’s increasingly connected and global world is a good thing. However, new reasearch suggests that it can make you smarter in other, less obvious ways.
Knowing more than one language seems to improve the brain’s executive functions, which include: planning, working memory, attention, problem solving, verbal reasoning, task switching and the initiation of tasks. That all seems very positive to me!
This means that bilingualism can improve your brain in a multitude of brilliant ways. The evidence for this concensus is not limited either; there are plenty of studies that suggest studying another language can make you smarter.
One study shows us that students of a foreign language score better in standardised tests – particularly in maths, reading and vocabulary.
Another by the psychologists Ellen Bialystok and Michelle Martin-Rhee shows us that bilingual children are better at solving certain mental puzzles. And research by psychologists at Penn State suggests that you build better multitasking skills.
These benefits can extend well into your later years. Neuropsychologists from the University of California, San Diego have discovered bilingual people are more resistant than others to the onset of dementia. This resistance is also related to the degree of bilingualism. Those with a better understanding of their second language are more likely to stave off the effects of the disease, so, we should all start learning today.
Many scientists are starting to compare the brain to a muscle in that it gets stronger with exercise. Learning a new language is certainly a workout and can improve your life in multiple ways. It can open your eyes to many more opportunities and experiences and the journey towards fluency can be incredibly rewarding.
If you can’t decide what new language you want to start learning, take a look at our list of 132 languages; you can start learning with us instantly.
Tom
Know Your Colour Code
Here at EuroTalk we love discovering interesting facts about the world around us, so from now on, on the third Wednesday of each month (or thereabouts!) we’ll be sharing some of these with you. The theme for this month is colours…
Be a man: be yellow
If you call someone ‘yellow’ in England, you’re calling them a coward. In Japan, the opposite is true; yellow is the colour of courage, and while Westerners usually see pink as a feminine colour, in Japan it’s very masculine; it conjures up the memory of fallen samurai.
Poisoned Pens
In China, writing someone’s name in red is unlucky and it usually means you want to cut them out of your life; just make sure you don’t have red ink on your hands if something bad happens to them!
Feeling blue? You’ll regret it in the morning…
In English it’s fairly common to say you’re ‘feeling blue’ if you feel sad. But in Germany, to be blue (‘blau sein’) is to be drunk.
White: it’s the new black
Weddings in the West are all decked out in white, but the same is not true of China, where white is the colour of mourning. Instead, brides wear red, as the colour symbolises good luck.
Purr-fect Opposites
In many cultures, a black cat is seen as lucky: in Japan, it’s believed to attract suitors, and in Scotland a cat arriving at your home is a sign of prosperity coming your way. But in America, the same animal is considered bad luck, particularly by gamblers on their way to the casino.
Colourful Confrontations
Useful information if you find yourself in a fight in Europe… In English, the result might be known as a ‘black eye’, whereas in Germany it’s blue (‘blaues Auge’), in Spain it’s purple (‘ojo morado’) and in France it’s known as an ‘oeil au beurre noir’ (literally ‘eye in black butter’)!
If anyone has any other examples of colour-related facts, we’d love to hear them!
Pure and simple?
Recently, Alex wrote about the way languages borrow words from each other. She pointed out that in English, we’re always using words from other languages, sometimes without even realising it, with déjà vu, karate and Zeitgeist being just a few examples.
But is this mixing of languages a good thing, or should languages remain ‘pure’?
Hoji Takahashi, a 71-year-old man from Japan, hit the headlines a few weeks ago when he sued the country’s public TV station, NHK, for the mental distress he’s suffered as a result of them using too many words derived from English. A couple of the examples given were toraburu (trouble) and shisutemu (system).
He’s not alone – many elderly Japanese people have trouble understanding these ‘loan words’, and the government has apparently been under pressure for over ten years to try and do something about the dominance of American English in Japan, which has been growing ever since World War II.
The lawsuit is quite controversial, with some dismissing it as ridiculous and others giving Mr Takahashi their full support. But whatever your view, it does raise an interesting question – one that we at EuroTalk often face when translating the vocabulary for our software. Should we go with the word that people most often use, or the one that’s technically correct in the original language?
It’s a difficult decision, particularly when translating for people who want to learn a language, because we know that we have a responsibility to get it right; language learners are putting their faith in us to teach them the correct words, so they’ll be able to speak to people and won’t be embarrassed by saying the wrong thing. But at the same time, the ‘correct’ word might not be the one that they’ll actually need when they get to wherever they’re going. This is particularly the case with African languages, where many words are adapted from French, and indigenous South American languages, where the Spanish influence is very clear. And it can be frustrating for someone who’s just starting to learn a new language to find that half the words are not actually in that language at all.
A few examples:
– In Maltese, the correct word for ‘airport’ is ‘mitjar’, but everyone says ‘arjuport’.
– In Swahili, although ‘tomato’ is ‘nyanya’, ‘tomato ketchup’ is known as ‘tomato’, although the technically correct translation is ‘kechapu ya nyanya’.
– In Tumbuka, when counting to 20, Tumbuka numbers are used, but beyond 20 the numbers revert to English.
There are many more examples, as we’ve discovered over the years and particularly when working on the translations for the new uTalk app. Each new translation is carefully considered and discussed to decide on the best choice from a practical point of view, selecting the word most people would actually use in real life – even if this means some people, like Mr Takahashi, don’t agree with the final result.
What do you think? Should language learning software teach a language in its purest form, or is it better to learn the words that are most commonly used, even if they’re borrowed from another language?
Liz
What’s in a name?
Today’s post is written by Simona, who’s from the Czech Republic and working with us here at EuroTalk on the translation and recording of the maths apps. Read on to discover how the Czech language names the months of the year, and to find out how you can win a free EuroTalk download or uTalk app…
Most learners of foreign languages encounter months of the year soon after they start studying. If you have ever tried to learn months of the year in German, French, Italian, Spanish or Russian, you probably found it simple because they are quite similar to the English ones. The reason is those words were derived from Latin. This is not the case with Czech and Polish (with the exceptions of marzec [March] and maj [May] in Polish). But as a native speaker of Czech, I will focus in this post on the Czech names for months. Our terms are derived from words connected with weather, cycles in nature and land cultivation. Let us have a look at what the Czechs call months of the year and what the words mean:
January = leden: led means ice in Czech; weather in the Czech Republic in January is severe with average temperatures below zero.
February = únor: in Old Czech a verb unořit se means that frozen land starts to thaw, which usually happens in February.
March = březen: this word was probably derived from an adjective březí which means gravid (used solely with animals) or from bříza, a birch which begins to sprout in the Czech Republic in March.
April = duben: dub is a Czech word for an oak which begins to sprout in April.
June = červen + July = červenec: červený means red: during those two months all the summer fruits, such as cherries, sour cherries, peaches, strawberries and raspberries turn red.
August = srpen: srp is a sickle used mostly in September to harvest crops.
September = září: zářit means to shine and the verb is often used in the context of sunshine.
October = říjen: říje is a word for the rutting season of deer.
November = listopad: listopad is a compound word which consists of list – a leaf – and pád – a fall. November is the month when trees lose their leaves.
December = prosinec: the word is derived from proso, which means millet. Historically, December was a harsh month for people in my country. They had to rely on their food supplies, which were limited, and therefore usually ate simple meals. One of the commonest was millet mash.
It is noteworthy that although the Czechs and Slovaks were one nation for so long and the Czech and Slovak languages are like two peas in a pod, the Slovaks call months Január, Február, Marec, Apríl and so on, following the Latin model.
Working for EuroTalk has brought me a lot of experience – not just the professional one for my budding translation career, but it also helps me to get some distance from my mother tongue and realise that what we sometimes consider natural and pretty obvious in our language, others from different cultural backgrounds may find interesting. A stay abroad and communication in a foreign language make you look at things with new eyes.
Simona
Do you want to win a free EuroTalk download or uTalk app? Here’s your chance…
In your language, are the months named according to the Latin model? If so, can you come up with some more exciting names for them? We’re offering a free EuroTalk download or uTalk app for the most original suggestion (chosen by us!). Post your ideas in the comments below – with explanations – before 19th August to be in with a chance to win 🙂
