Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Warum? Pourquoi? ¿Por qué?
The Education Secretary intends to make it compulsory for schools to teach a foreign language to children from the age of 7. I have to declare an interest - I have always been fascinated by foreign languages and studied Latin, Greek, French and German at school. But even so, I have to ask - why? The fact is that there's a very good chance that any foreigner you come across will speak English better than you can speak their language. I wonder whether there is some sort of guilt trip going on here - are we embarrassed that English (or at least the American version) has become the world's lingua franca? Do we feel we ought to make the effort - however unnecessary - to be able to stumble through a few phrases in the language of whatever country we happen to be in? Can't help feeling that those children - like I was - who are interested in learning another language will need no coercion, while for the others, the time could be better spent on other subjects.
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Which language(s) should we be teaching our children. Learn Spanish and you’re at a loss In Germany, learn French and you’re illiterate in Russia, learn Chinese and you can’t ask for an ice cream in Portugal. So which language should we be teaching? I would respectfully suggest that we take another look at Esperanto, a relatively new language which is easy to learn and use.
Problem is Esperanto is little taught or spoken. It was a good idea in theory but never really caught on. I come back to my main point which is that - certainly in Europe - the people you meet are likely to speak English better than you can speak their language. I've only ever come across one situation where my (very basic) knowledge of Spanish helped me. I got a parking ticket in Majorca and was able (just about) to sort it out with a traffic warden who had no English. I would suggest Mandarin is perhaps the most useful language to learn these days, but I can't see the point in forcing kids to take a subject they perhaps have no interest in - both my granddaughters take French, they both hate it, so it's a waste of time and effort as far as they are concerned.
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