Education | The Global Connect

This is Language Connect – reporting from the front line for Business Language Champions

Language Connect recently took part in their first Business Language Champions workshop at the Convent for Jesus and Mary Language College in Willesden and I’m happy to report that it was a raging success. So much so, that now the panic I and my colleagues experienced at having to talk to a group of teenage girls has abated, I thought it would be good to let you know how it went and what we did.

Our task? To engage with sixteen native Polish speaking girls in Years 10 and 11 and demonstrate how their natural linguistic aptitude could put them on the career ladder after they finish school. Easy right?

Providing the facts about what Language Connect does was the easy part – it was the engaging with 16 teenagers that posed the most immediate problem. What if they thought we were boring and rubbish? What if they didn’t say anything? What if they didn’t want to join in?

We had a double lesson in which to perform – that’s 1 hour and 40 minutes for those whose school years are a nothing but a distant memory. We divided our time into three sections – a brief Language Connect presentation on interpreting and translation, a talk by real life interpreter Aleksandra and finally role plays (as written by the students themselves) that would be judged on content, fluency and creativity.

The first two thirds of the session were eerily quiet and my colleague Amy and I soon experienced what it’s like to die on stage at your first stand up gig. But then came the role plays and what a show! All of a sudden, the students who had previously been silent participants in the workshop became actresses and performers all. Following a brilliant example acted out by Amy, Iwona and Aleksandra (I was the director, natch) we handed the floor over to the students who had 15 minutes to write their own versions of situations either in the doctor’s surgery or a court of law.

Donning a judge’s wig or a doctor’s coat for authenticity and to help them get into character, the students acted out their scripts in groups of three with one person as the interpreter. The scripts were imaginative to say the least and we were regaled with tales of stolen one legged chickens and feisty old women going to the doctor just to put their feet up and have a chat. Whilst the drama was unfolding, the class teacher told me that she couldn’t believe what she was seeing – previously quiet and withdrawn students were literally coming out of their shells before her very eyes and she was thrilled.

It was decided that there were two clear winning groups and so duly presented with official Language Connect certificates it was almost time to go, but not before a quick fire Q and A session. Whereas before, you couldn’t squeeze a word out of the students, the questions were practically pouring forth – the most common being whether they could come and do work experience for us! An amazing result and such a worthwhile workshop – Business Language Champions is a fantastic scheme and one that Language Connect will continue to enjoy taking part in.

Foreign language learning takes a nosedive in secondary schools

I never thought I would become one of those people who laments on the good old days of their youth when life was so much harder, kids were tougher (in a non-hoodie violent kind of way) and cartoons were much better but unfortunately, the inevitable has happened and I found myself open-mouthed in disbelief the other day on reading an article in the Daily Mail – let’s gloss over that part, I normally just look at the pictures – explaining that the number of pupils studying a foreign language has plummeted to just four in 10.[i]

‘In my day,’’ I snorted derisively over my bowl of Coco Pops (still the best cereal in the world – fact) ‘you had to learn another language whether you liked it or not’.

Most of the time you didn’t like it, as you trawled over pluperfect and subjunctive clauses, whilst simultaneously learning how the French were purposefully out to get you with their ‘faux amis’ if you were desperate enough to make a few words up. You soon realised, however, that there was a point to it all when you went on your first French exchange and tried desperately to make friends with the delightfully moody Jean-Pierre or the wildly exotic Françoise.

Years later, with a language or two under your belt you would come to realise that many doors open to you if you have language skills. Multinational corporations, the travel industry, publishing houses and, of course, the language services industry are but a few sectors in which language graduates can be rewarded for their qualifications.

So, why then is the Government making languages an optional subject? Is learning French less valid than studying Science?

I was further shocked to find out that part of the reasoning behind all this madness boils down to school reputation. In 71 percent of comprehensives, fewer than half of 14-year-olds are learning a language as pupils are being steered towards ‘safe’ options that help their schools climb official league tables.

Another reason for the slump in uptake is down to the Government giving 14 year olds the choice to opt-out of foreign language learning. As everyone knows, if you give someone the option not to do something, they will invariably make the decision not to do it. My inner 13 year old self screams ‘It’s just so unfair; we were never allowed to opt out’.

This combination of factors means that hundreds of thousands of pupils are potentially missing out on high-flying careers with multinational companies because they lack proficiency in at least one other language.

If the Government and education system continue to discourage language learning in schools we will only be working to perpetuate the age old myth that the English don’t try as hard as our European cousins to speak another language. More importantly our graduates of the future will be less equipped than those of today to handle an increasingly more multi-cultural, multi-lingual workplace. Can the UK economy really afford to opt-out of language education?

[i] Statistics quoted in the Daily Mail article have been taken from a study performed by the National Centre for Languages (CILT)

European Commission launches “European Master’s in Translation ” network

Today, the European Commission has published the list of university programmes that have been selected to join the “European Master’s in Translation ” (EMT) network, following a call in March this year.

The Commission’s initiative has been warmly welcomed by the academic community. No fewer than 93 Master’s level translation programmes from 24 Member States and three non-EU countries participated in the call, and 34 of these have been selected to be members of the EMT network for an initial period of four years.

A further call will be launched in 2010. The network will help promote the exchange of best practice between participating universities and, ultimately, enhance teaching standards and foster the creation of a truly European market for skilled translators.

“Europe needs high-quality university training for translators in all languages to secure a supply of skilled professionals. Multilingual communication, in a broader sense, needs them to blossom ”, said Leonard Orban, the European Commissioner for Multilingualism. He added “The EMT network will contribute to raising the standards of translator training in the EU and fostering cooperation and exchanges between universities offering translation courses ”.

The call to join the EMT network was open to all EU higher education institutions offering translation programmes at Master’s level. It was published in March this year with a 31 May deadline. All proposals were assessed by a group of academic experts. Initial membership is limited to four years during which time, the successful programmes will be entitled to use the label “member of the EMT Network ”. A second call for applications is scheduled for the end of 2010.

EMT is intended to become a quality label for translator training by higher education institutions.

The EMT project was launched in 2005 at the initiative of the Directorate-General for Translation of the European Commission, and has been developed in close co-operation with recognised translation experts from the academic world. In order to foster the exchange of teaching methods and experiences, all those who participated in the call, whether successful or not, will be invited to a first meeting of the EMT network in Brussels in December 2009. This event will constitute the inaugural meeting of the network.

The list of the successful translation programmes is available on:

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/translation/programmes/emt/network/index_en.htm.

The Gov Monitor

New alliance to push Asian languages and study

A powerful alliance of business groups, unions and corporations is calling for a greater educational focus on Asia.

“Once we come out of this economic downturn Australia will look to Asia as a core driver of our own recovery,” Australian Industry Group head Heather Ridout said. “Understanding Asia, knowing the languages, cultures and traditions and teaching our children about our near neighbours is essential for future prosperity.”

The Business Alliance for Asia Literacy is a coalition of 60 associations and corporations

Only 3 per cent of students are studying an Asian language at university. Just 12 per cent of year 12 students study a foreign language, and only half of those choose an Asian language.

The alliance has called on schools and state and federal governments to ensure that education in Asian knowledge and languages is core to the Australian curriculum, and it launches its message at the Asia Education Foundation national summit in Melbourne today.

“If we don’t focus on Asia literacy, both language and cultural awareness, we’re going to get left behind,” says Kathe Kirby, executive director of Asialink and the Asia Education Foundation.

In the past decade, the number of languages offered at universities dropped from 66 to 29, according to a recent Group of Eight universities report.

Earlier this year Education Minister Julia Gillard launched an “Asia literacy” strategy to double the numbers studying an Asian language by 2015, with funding of $15.6 million a year over four years. But Melbourne University Asian Law Centre director Professor Tim Lindsey said the money, while welcome, was insufficient.

The Age

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This is Language Connect – reporting from the front line for Business Language Champions

Foreign language learning takes a nosedive in secondary schools

European Commission launches “European Master’s in Translation ” network

New alliance to push Asian languages and study

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This is Language Connect – reporting from the front line for Business Language Champions

Foreign language learning takes a nosedive in secondary schools

European Commission launches “European Master’s in Translation ” network

New alliance to push Asian languages and study

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