European Day of Languages
September 26th is the European Day of Languages, a day of recognition begun by the European Union as a celebration of linguistic and cultural differences. The European Union recognizes 23 official languages spoken in the member countries and one would think many would make the effort to learn another language.
In Germany, as you probably know, students learn their second language in the third grade (usually either French or English) and their third language in the fifth grade (usually French/English or Latin). As this article indicates, however, this attention to learning other languages is not the norm. Most members of the EU do not know a second language spoken within the Union. Resorting to English seems to be a preferable alternative to most.
One of the results has been that speakers of minority languages are complaining about the relative lack of support for those wishing to learn their languages. According to the article, “Officially, the EU institutions’ working languages are French, English and German. But German is used infrequently, while English has slowly but surely nudged out French as the most common language spoken in Brussels.”
In the meantime, it appears that there are actually more variants of German being spoken within Germany itself. Spoken by various migrant workers and German youth, this so-called “ethnolect” boasts a simplified grammar and more contemporary vocabulary. While not a threat to replace standard Hochdeutsch, it does compete in certain areas of the larger cities.
Because this version of German is spoken largely by non-native German speakers, it has become subject to much ridicule in mainstream German culture, especially in the media. Stereotyping, always an issue in countries with significant immigrant/migrant populations, is on the uprise. It remains to be seen what the ultimate result will be. You can read more about this phenomenon here.
We in the U.S. might see parallels with the rising use of Spanish. Spanglish might be one possible analogy, but it’s not a perfect one.
(comic from http://www.excellentgerman.com)
September 30th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I think that this is probably a result of globalization, as are most things like this. At the same time however, it could be argued that if globalization is the reason, exactly the opposite would be happening. Obviously, I am not an expert on the subject, but globalization seems to result in more prominent cultures becoming yet more influential and the less prominent becoming less influential. In Europe [I would imagine] the German culture/language would be categorized as ‘more prominent.’ Therefore, it seems that it should be becoming more widespread, but certainly not losing ground (so to speak).
Globalization also causes cultures to merge. This scenario seems to better resemble what is happening. I honestly can’t see the German culture totally disappearing, at lease for quite awhile, but I don’t think that’s what the article is getting at. Smaller less significant languages and cultures could face a different outcome. Even vast civilizations die out over time and as sad as it may be, smaller cultures don’t have a prayer. As with many things… it is only a matter of time for them.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:06 pm
One of the factors that for me seems to tie together these two articles is economics. It seems as if people are aware of what is necessary for success in their wide-ranging worlds, and they are cultivating those skills which are necessary–such as learning English. People are not going to learn Basque unless they really like the language and can make a living with it some way or another. For the European Union to invest in the promotion of remote languages seems too ideal, even though I personally would find it admirable. Perhaps providing some sort of funding to schools that wished to offer the more rare languages to students might be feasible. I don’t know what kind of support of languages members of the European Parliament had in mind.
With regard to the “ethnolect,” it seems to me that the opposite is true. It is because of the language which a person speaks that he or she is worse off economically. As Heike Wiese and Sarmad Ahmad point out in the second article, there are many ethnolect speakers that never get the chance to learn the standard German. While this is problematic in a social sense (because mainstream society discriminates against these groups), it is also detrimental to the individuals’ professional opportunities.
October 2nd, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I agree with Michael- the high use of English in Europe is, in part, a direct result of globalization (in particular, I would guess business expansion and the universality of the internet contributes to this the most).
However, I disagree with his point that the German language is being spoken less; rather, it is only transforming; a result of meshing of many different cultures and languages via globalization.
I don’t think that many languages and cultures are in danger of dying. Rather, they are transforming, which inspires fear in many, who misinterpret it as the end of their culture. However, it is only change- something all cultures in all countries are going through, with increased intercommunication between countries. So, not only does globalization contribute to change in languages, but it also could serve to perpetuate certain aspects of these so-called “dying cultures” through globalization.
October 2nd, 2008 at 5:51 pm
I knew that many German students learn at least two languages in school, but I thought that was normal for most European countries. I was surprised to find out that is not the case. It isn’t surprising that many are choosing to learn English rather than another European language, but it seems like it would be benficial to learn the language of a country near theirs too.
With the “ethnolect,” it’ll be interesting to see how much it has grown in upcoming years. If it’s spoken by youth, will they just switch to Hochdeutsch when they’re older, or will they continue with “ethnolect”? If they make the switch, there shouldn’t be much change; if they continue with “ethnolect,” that could cause a large impact on German culture.
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:43 am
I agree with Dragana on the aspect that the economic/status reasons seem to be what motivates people to learn a new language. If we think about it, English, French and German are the languages spoken in the most developed countries in the EU so people from other countries are willing to learn them because they know that in order to be economically better off they have to learn the language. Me for example, I am learning German because I might want to work for BMW in the future and I believe that by speaking German that will increase my chances of getting hired because if I had to move to the headquarters in Germany, I would not have much problem adapting to the place.
As for English being the predominant common language in the EU, I think this is a matter of nationalism. Europeans are very nationalistic and by speaking English they feel that they are speaking a “neutral” language, a language that does not belong to any EU country.
Spanglish started because of immigrant workers who were forced to speak English in order to succeed economically in the U.S. When these workers have children, then they do not want their children to lose their Hispanic roots but they know the kids will need to speak English in order to succeed so they created a “hybrid” language that combines both.
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I find it interesting that there are over 20 languages recognized, and yet english still dominates most countries as a second language. I have heard people say: “Most of the world can speak english anyways, everyone should just learn it. It would make life and international relations so much easier.” I, however, find this a sad statement. While it would make certain aspects of communication easier, it would be a loss of so much history, and culture.
Something else i find interesting is that almost all other countries require children to take at least two languages. America on the other hand, typically offers another language, usually only in high school and college. And student take two or three years so that they can get into college, or learn enough to get by, but never bother to learn the full language. If we were to teach our children a foreign language earlier in life, so they were bilingual before high school age, i think they would have a better understanding/appreciation for things that seem odd to them (ie. foreign cultures/traditions).
So while, having a “world” language might make things more convenient, the cost of what we would be loosing, is far too high a price to pay.
October 5th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
“My impression is that minority languages are not adequately protected;” she said. “They need to be cultivated. The EU needs to protect European cultures and culture is expressed in music, cuisine — and languages.” – Anna Zaborska
When first reading about this issue, I did not necessarily see the harm in having less languages/translators. But, Zaborska’s quote reminded me that culture is compromised when a language is filtered. So from a cultural standpoint, having several languages makes much more sense. By having everyone conform to a single language, different music, culture, and cuisine are lost. Tokio Hotel’s switch to singing in English is a perfect example of what is wrong with this. Because of the want for higher sales they switched from German to English. And I’m sure (though I do not listen to em) that they lost a sense of their native appeal in the process. Switching should not be absolutely necessary, but rather an option to make things more convenient. Hopefully this Euro. Day of Languages will actually do its job and promote the vastly different but equally interesting languages.
October 5th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
I find this combining of languages so interesting, whether it’s America’s “Spanglish” or European immigrants utilizing words from their native language in their second language. On the informal socializing level, it can really be rather beneficial. People can get their points and thoughts across by adapting to a new language, yet still using their native tongue. On the academic level, this use of language suffers. In the example of the German “ethnolect,” the omission of prepositions or other “small” words seems lazy, improper, and not at all professional. If this is how young people learn languages from one another, the understanding of differences between other languages and cultures will suffer, and I think the European recognition of differences will just melt into some sort of cultural blob where there are no distinct lines between others. On one hand, perhaps people will become more tolerant of one another if, for example, being German is not so different from being Polish, French, or Dutch. However, cultural traditions and identities will disappear, and it seems difficult to say good-bye to that.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I am a bit bothered by the fact that English is more commonly spoken in Brussels than French. Even though English and other languages like Chinese are the languages to know as a result of economics then I guess just in my opinion the hub of the European Union should have been placed in Great Britain in the first place but instead it was established in Brussels where French is one of the two national languages of Belgium so it’s almost like economics is altering Belgium’s culture, which is what is bothersome to me.
I think the European Union is smart to start teaching their youth languages very early on because it is easier to adapt to new languages if they start to learn them at a younger age. The European Union should also continue to stress learning more than one language. Of course that comes with some difficulty…if they are able to find some way to do so it would almost be smart to enforce some of the minority languages into schools so that sometime down the road many of the minority languages are not lost.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
It is hard to imagine living in an area that contains so many languages. Because of this, the EU would undoubtedly have a difficult time creating legislature. From a political standpoint, using three languages exclusively is a good idea. However, from a cultural standpoint, the thought of trying to limit official languages for the sake of ease would not outweigh the cultural benefits. My question though is: would majority languages have occurred naturally without the EU? In the past, an overarching government has often created a vacuum for some languages and attempted to increase the use of the ruling language. Following this thought process, it would make sense that the “big three” would over power the minority languages because of the status of Germany, Britain, and France. I feel this unfortunate domination of language is a sad but unstoppable occurrence. With technology spreading information faster, many minority languages are going extinct. This is probably a historic occurrence, but one that is more documented now and occurs at a faster rate. By no means do I support this trend, but I wonder if it can be reversed.
October 12th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I think that those born in Germany are very lucky that they have the opportunity (even if they may not recognize it as such at the time) to learn a second or even third language in school while they are young. I’m envious and wish I had begun to learn German earlier and would be working on my third or fourth language now. I think that in this way, Germany is setting a good example for the world. It is very important to be able to communicate with others outside of our own country. I feel that America is often very ethnocentric, which is why not as many Americans who speak other languages as there are Germans.
Also, I think that this phenomenon of “ethnolect” will eventually end up changing the country of Germany and the language as a whole. I based my opinion on the affect Spanish has had on our country. As much as some want to deny it, the amount of Spanish-speakers in America has changed the way our society works. From calling hotlines where you can press 2 for Spanish, to the television channel Univision that draws a larger audience than all English language networks. Just as America has changed in huge ways, I believe that Germany will change too. Because of the number of people who have this “ethnolect”, Germans will need to learn to understand and possibly even speak this new dialect. If the trend continues to grow with the generation and those thereafter, the way the country works will have to change in order to address it’s new audience in its new language. If the trend continues I believe it could affect the country economically as well.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I think it is great that lot of European youth is learning more than one language no matter what the language is. I think it is very important to be able to communicate efficiently with others, and this can be achieved by learning more than one language. I wish that in America we started learning out second language in third grade and then a third language in fifth grade. I think that should be something all countries do in the world and would only benefit the world as a whole. it does seem accurate that English is expanding in other countries because of globalization.