French – champion of the language learning world?
I remember the moment when we knew we were officially grown up in primary school – during French lessons with the headmaster.
MFL lessons are the norm nowadays but back in my time, French lessons were a weekly highlight, as they meant me and about a dozen classmates spent half an hour learning something the rest of the school did not already know.
As I moved onto secondary school, languages were eventually deemed ‘uncool’ and those who took French or Spanish past GCSE – myself included – were thought to be insane by their peers.
When I think about it, only French got a shoo-in at primary school. Spanish was introduced in the first year of secondary school but even then, all efforts were concentrated on learning and teaching French.
No-one seemed to care about German or Italian and everyone thought Mandarin was a fruit.
This makes me wonder – when did French become the ‘go-to’ foreign language at school?
Learning French is a current requirement in UK primary schools and the possibilities of school trips, exchanges and overseas partnerships are endless, but knowing how to speak it may not be as impressive as learning more obscure languages such as Swedish, Polish or Japanese.
The number of people learning a language nowadays relies on how influential it is in popular culture – just look at how many people have started to learn Na’vi, just because it was featured in James Cameron’s 2009 epic Avatar – and this can only be aimed at the younger generation, when ‘cool’ is key.
This is the aim of our annual language competition for primary schools, the Junior Language Challenge. Parents have commented that the competition has fuelled their children’s passion for learning new languages and has inspired them to take up different ones as options for GCSE.
I am hopeful that more unusual languages will be featured in the National Curriculum, but unless Justin Bieber turns around and starts learning Mandarin, whether pre-teens take language learning to the next step is debatable.
Where do you think today’s language learning is going? Where can there be room for improvement? And ask yourselves, in ten years or so, will French reign supreme or can Spanish or Mandarin take the crown as Most Popular Foreign Language to Learn at Primary School?
Katie
There’s something different about this one…
I see myself as a moderately well-travelled person, having visited most of Europe, Hong Kong, Japan and the southern states in the USA. Many memories are made on each trip, whether they are about trying strange food, meeting friendly locals or even having the odd moment of hilarity – but one thing I always find is that confusion crops up about my ethnic appearance. I’m not even sure if it’s in a good or bad way.
I’m a British Born Chinese, speak English fluently and studied Spanish at university, so I am pretty comfortable with visiting most parts of the world. I don’t have any qualms about learning even more languages, if it helps me get by. But my appearance seems to evoke different…. responses.
For instance, a short conversation while getting coffee at a gas-stop in New Mexico left a cashier confused when she said I (apparently) spoke like the Queen. Flip side to this: during a night out in Acuña, Mexico, a bartender was surprised to be able to talk to me in great detail about how film director Robert Rodriguez used his tavern to film a part of his feature Desperado, as I was the only one who could speak and understand Spanish – something that also helped make a complaint about a dirty and unmade hotel room in Las Vegas.
A weird occurrence was when a tourist wanted a picture taken with me during a visit with friends to the Carlsberg Museum in Copenhagen. The reason? He had never seen a Chinese person before.
Multiculturalism is growing everyday and so more people are becoming accustomed to different ways of life. But there are parts of the world that are not so used to ethnic diversity, and particularly given Asians’ distinctive appearance, seeing someone different walk through the door will always have that element of surprise. Even more so if that person can talk and understand you – that always raises a smile… or perhaps a furrowed brow.
Do you find yourself surprising people on your travels with your linguistic abilities? Or have you met someone who catches you unawares by conversing in your native tongue?
Katie
You look the same – you talk the same?
There is a never-ending stream of book-to-film adaptations. Those that quickly come to mind include The Shawshank Redemption, the Harry Potter series and the Twilight series.
One film that struck a chord is the 2005 film Memoirs of a Geisha. Based on the book of the same name by Arthur Golden, it depicts the tale of a young girl who grows up to be one of the most prominent geisha in Kyoto.
As a big fan of the book, I was curious as to how it was going to be made. However, I ended up being disappointed. I was confronted by a feature with three distinguished Chinese actresses in the lead roles, speaking English. The only Japanese native speakers had secondary roles, yet they were also speaking English.
From the initial news on its production, I envisioned the film to be a celebration of Japan – from its language to its culture. There was an opportunity to use undiscovered talent speaking Japanese, taking pride in a film about one of the most culturally significant aspects of their country.
The use of English may have increased the appeal and accessibility of the film but the fact that they used Chinese actresses to represent Japanese characters with English dialogue lacks originality. It is like a McDonalds film – it appeals to the masses with very little taste.
For this reason, I enjoyed Lost in Translation. You learn about different aspects of Japan – the culture, the country, the people – and most importantly, Japanese actors speak Japanese. So what if you do get lost in translation? That’s all part of the fun 🙂
So everyone, how do you feel about films with clashing cultures? Do culturally relevant films need English? Thoughts on a postcard (or in the comments!) please…
Katie
The World on Film – well, part of it
I spent nine months studying translation in Barcelona in 2003, so the other night, I watched the film Pot Luck (the original title: L’Auberge Espagnole) for nostalgic reasons. Alongside the memories, another thing that struck me about this film was the variety of languages that were spoken.
You had English, French, Spanish and Danish – to name but a few – all by native actors in their own voice.
This made me wonder about the lack of cultural diversity, in terms of languages, in films in recent years.
It seems that most foreign films concentrate on languages from their home country; French films are now including Corsican and Provençal and Chinese films can blend Shanghaiese, Cantonese and Mandarin-speaking actors.
Even though world cinema celebrates the diversity of their home country, not many filmmakers dare to mix Eastern and Western cultures. Surely, a tale about an Asian tourist backpacking in Europe or a Swedish woman finding herself in the temples of Japan would be just as enjoyable?
People criticise, laugh at and sometimes mock those who do not seem to be open to other cultures – but surely, films nowadays are only reinforcing this fact.
Are there any films that feature more than one language (these should not be from the same country, so various regional dialects do not count) and if so, what did you think of it? Any excuse to add more films to rent 🙂
Katie
