̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Language Centre

Opinion: Brexit and the importance of languages for Britain #3

ta385 — Thu, 13 Oct 2016 12:00:00 +0000

Just one of the motivations to vote ‘Leave’ in the UK’s recent EU Referendum was a desire to limit immigration, fuelled by a wide range of issues including strains on jobs and public services, but also by discomfort (verging on fear) about multiculturalism and multilingualism in ‘Anglophone’ Britain.

We heard that Nigel Farage disliked sharing trains with people speaking languages other than English, and shortly before the referendum it was reported that a Muslim woman on a bus had been berated for not speaking English to her son, when she was actually speaking Welsh.

Wales is a proudly bilingual nation which, through its Global Futures strategy is dedicated to promoting language learning and greater cross-cultural understanding. Scotland, meanwhile, has adopted the EU-wide goal of mastery of Mother Tongue plus two languages (where Mother Tongue might be English, Scots or another language). No such goals exist for the UK as a whole or for England, though the Department for Education’s statement of purpose for the teaching of languages in English schools opens with the assertion that “learning a foreign language is a liberation from insularity and provides an opening to other cultures”.

Since the referendum result, it has been distressing to hear from teachers that some pupils have already announced that they no longer need to attend their language classes because we will be leaving the EU. Yet the Government’s current policy is for 90% of pupils who started secondary school last year to take a language GCSE, within the EBacc suite of core academic subjects. ̽��ֱ��2015 figure was just 48%, including in languages not taught in mainstream schools but studied in the supplementary sector run by local communities. There is already a massive language teacher shortage and restrictions on movement of workforce from the EU could exacerbate this further.

Universities have a key role to play in promoting take-up as evidenced by the Routes into Languages programme. ̽��ֱ��impact evaluation of outreach events run by us at Cambridge shows a massive change in attitude towards future language learning, as reflected in a comment from Stefanie Green of Farlingaye High School after bringing pupils to our Year 10 and Sixth form events earlier this year: “Seeing how enthusiastic students are about language learning, and how it empowers them to make intellectual connections between subjects, and how it makes them more confident, is priceless. Learning languages now is more important than ever before.”

All too often, however, we hear that pupil opportunities to continue at school are stymied by other decision-makers determining which subjects they should take, or by reduction in the availability of languages in Sixth Forms. This then impacts on applications to study languages at university. It is only through these degrees that young people develop the higher levels of linguistic competence, cultural knowledge and insights, and cross-cultural agility of the ‘transnational graduate’ required by today’s global society. On a more positive note, universities are witnessing unprecedented demand for language learning (albeit frequently at low levels) alongside their degree subjects, with students expressing dismay that they withdrew (or were withdrawn) from languages earlier.

However effective we are at conveying the importance of multilingualism to future generations, we still find ourselves swimming against a culture which all too easily rejects languages other than English. In spite of advances in Wales and Scotland, the UK Government has to date failed to articulate the centrality of languages as essential skills to UK and global citizenship, not to mention trade, diplomacy, security, soft power and social cohesion. I call on it to do so within the wider context of the climate at home as well as the UK’s role in the world post Brexit.

This series also includes contributions by Professor Sarah Colvin and Dr Heather Inwood.

Jocelyn Wyburd has written more on this topic in ̽��ֱ��Linguist (Oct / Nov 2016), pp.11-13.

In the third of a new series of comment pieces written by linguists at Cambridge, Jocelyn Wyburd, Director of the ̽��ֱ��’s Language Centre and Chair of the ̽��ֱ�� Council for Modern Languages, argues that Brexit poses an additional threat to language learning in Britain which must be overcome.

Some pupils have already announced that they no longer need to attend their language classes because we will be leaving the EU.

Jocelyn Wyburd, Director of the ̽��ֱ��'s Language Centre

Who wants to talk?

Studying languages at Cambridge

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge offers undergraduate courses in Modern and Medieval Languages; History and Modern Languages; Asian and Middle Eastern Studies;Linguistics; Classics and Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic.

Inspiring events for prospective students for these subjects are run by the ̽��ֱ�� and the Cambridge Colleges throughout the year:

More information and advice for prospective students and teachers of Modern Languages and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Upcoming events organised by ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Language Centre are listed here

More information about Cambridge's Widening Participation programmes is available here

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Opinion: Brexit and the importance of languages for Britain #2

ta385 — Fri, 07 Oct 2016 08:00:00 +0000

Those of us who study and teach languages at university – particularly non-European ones like Chinese – get used to hearing the question “What led you to that subject?” and struggling to keep our answers sounding fresh. Still, it remains a question worth asking and one that has taken on extra significance at a time when the numbers of students choosing languages at school and university have been falling at an alarming rate.

Why is it important to encourage multilingualism in the UK when English is so widely spoken across much of the globe?

There are hundreds of urgent responses to this question that range from the ethical to the pragmatic to the idiosyncratic – indeed, for many people, it seems shocking that it needs to be asked at all. ̽��ֱ��shortest answer I can give for why I came to Cambridge in 1999 to read Chinese as an undergraduate was that I wanted to study a language that was intellectually challenging, completely unlike the French and German I had studied at school and, just as importantly for me, fun. It didn’t hurt that Mandarin happens to be the world’s most populous language, with close to a billion first-language speakers.

Some of the unexpected pleasures that have resulted from that decision include translating (and heavily editing) American rap lyrics for Chinese TV, making friends on long-distance train journeys across the Chinese countryside, interacting with readers on my Chinese blog, as well as the endless thrills of being able to read and understand Chinese popular fiction, the focus of my current research. Teaching Chinese literature and culture to new generations of students through my academic career in the US and UK has allowed me to experience again and again the discovery of both eye-opening differences and the commonalities that bind us together across linguistic and cultural divides.

From a national point of view, it is an unavoidable truth that in the post-EU referendum era, the UK desperately needs more, not fewer, internationally minded citizens who are competent in languages other than English. Much has been said about the potential for closer ties and trade relations with major economies such as those of China and Japan, based on the hope that the UK’s economic and cultural strengths mean that the UK will continue to attract business and investment from across the world even once we have left the EU. If this plan is to work (and there is a lot to figure out), the UK cannot fall back on other people’s willingness to learn English or a faith in the longstanding global reputation of British innovation and culture. We need more graduates who are not only fluent in languages like Mandarin but also possess the cultural and historical understanding that is essential for pursuing mutually beneficial relationships at home and abroad.

Finally, anyone contemplating a degree in languages should know that these subjects train you in skills that go far beyond language itself to encompass analytical thinking, intellectual curiosity, cultural adaptability and cognitive flexibility, all invaluable qualities in today’s rapidly changing and highly competitive world. Whether it be Chinese, Polish or ancient Greek, learning to feel at home in languages and cultures other than “our own” makes us and the communities in which we live stronger, kinder, more outward-looking and, ultimately, better placed to face the challenges that are going to shape all of our lives, no matter which unions we might be part of now or in the future.

Professor Sarah Colvin's view on the importance of languages for Britain is available here.

In the second of a new series of comment pieces written by linguists at Cambridge, Dr Heather Inwood, Lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Chinese Literature and Culture, argues that Britain needs to improve its language skills to build trade relations and break through cultural divides.

̽��ֱ��UK desperately needs more, not fewer, internationally minded citizens who are competent in languages other than English

Dr Heather Inwood

Who wants to talk?

Studying languages at Cambridge

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge offers undergraduate courses in Modern and Medieval Languages; History and Modern Languages; Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; Linguistics; Classics and Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic.

Inspiring events for prospective students for these subjects are run by the ̽��ֱ�� and the Cambridge Colleges throughout the year:

More information and advice for prospective students and teachers of Modern Languages and Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Upcoming events organised by ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Language Centre are listed here

More information about Cambridge's Widening Participation programmes is available here

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Opinion: Brexit and the importance of languages for Britain

ta385 — Mon, 26 Sep 2016 08:00:00 +0000

My four-year-old son’s favourite book, about a fox in a library, tells its readers that “books give you new ideas” – so the fox asks a chicken to teach him to read, rather than eating it. ̽��ֱ��same can be said about languages. There are concepts in other languages that don’t exist in English; the German words Schadenfreude and Kitsch are well-known examples. That means that another language inevitably opens up new possible thoughts and ideas.

Samuel Beckett, whose mother tongue was English, chose to write in French because, he said, it enabled him to think differently. Anna-Kazumi Stahl, a novelist of Japanese and German-American descent, writes in Spanish because, she says, the foreign language puts her in touch with another way of thinking, and allows her to see things she would otherwise have overlooked.

Emine Sevgi Özdamar, a contemporary Turkish-German novelist and playwright, writes a form of German that is deliberately inflected by Turkish, and describes herself as living between the worlds of the two languages. Turkish-German, for Özdamar, is not just a hybrid or mix of two languages, but a third space in which she can access ideas that neither language could provide in isolation.

The research of the linguists Jean-Marc Dewaele and Aneta Pavlenko suggests that many speakers of more than one language experience themselves as a different kind of person in different languages. Languages give you new ideas because they offer you the capacity to see and explore issues that might otherwise never have become apparent.

I have just completed a research project called Reading Violent Politics, which examined political extremism in Germany since 1968. On the back of that project I am preparing to edit a book about how women experienced the social movements around that time, in Germany, the USA, Japan and other countries, as well as writing a piece, with a colleague from Hamburg ̽��ֱ��, on how young men who get involved in right-wing violence or in Jihadi groups use language (or narratives) to justify their decisions and actions. I am also just finishing a book about the stories German prisoners tell about Germany as a nation state.

Each of these projects has opened up for me new ways of thinking about violence, crime and justice in a particular national context that is also shedding light on other national contexts – including my own, the UK, but also, more broadly, on the kind of language available to violent offenders and to the nation states that incarcerate convicted and suspected terrorists.

̽��ֱ��Fox in the Library (which was originally published in German) is a children’s book, but the story makes clear that learning to read – another language, another culture – is a possible alternative to violence. In what is increasingly and inevitably a globalised world, not being able to “read” the ideas or national narratives that shape other people’s thinking in their own languages – regardless of whether those people also speak English – limits our capacity to understand individuals and their contexts. That could be risky.

In the first of a new series of comment pieces written by linguists at Cambridge, Sarah Colvin, Schröder Professor of German and Head of the Department of German and Dutch, argues that learning languages is key to understanding how people think and plays a major role in social cohesion.

There are concepts in other languages that don't exist in English ... another language opens up new possible thoughts and ideas.

Professor Sarah Colvin

Who wants to talk?

Studying languages at Cambridge

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge offers undergraduate courses in Modern and Medieval Languages; History and Modern Languages; Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; Linguistics; Classics and Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic.

Inspiring events for prospective students for these subjects are run by the ̽��ֱ�� and the Cambridge Colleges throughout the year:

Information and advice for prospective students and teachers of Modern Languages can be found here.

On 21st October 2016, Girton College at Cambridge will hold its second Modern Languages Taster Day.

Upcoming events organised by ̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Language Centre are listed here.

More information about Cambridge's Widening Participation programmes is available here.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Gift to support Sri Lankan Language scheme and public health project

th288 — Mon, 08 Feb 2016 13:04:32 +0000

LycaHealth’s donation will support two different projects to be undertaken by Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� as part of the Lyca Group’s mission, to bring together people from all different backgrounds and be a part of the fabric of communities in which they have a presence.

̽��ֱ��donation will be split in two ways: £50,000 will go towards the “Sri Lankan Language Fund” enabling the ̽��ֱ�� to establish a dedicated Sri Lankan language scheme for a period of five years. ̽��ֱ��donation cost will cover intensive full-time summer courses, or part-time ‘in-sessional’ programmes at the university.

A further £100,000 will be used to improve public health in Sri Lanka through a pre-pilot project, run by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge to extend the expertise of the Sri Lankan Heart Infarction and Neurological Event Study (SHINES). Building on the ̽��ֱ��’s exceptional record of public health support in Pakistan and Bangladesh the donation will cover local medical staffing costs, laboratory supplies and equipment, travel and training expenses. ̽��ֱ��seed donation will mean that within 3-5 years, SHINES will have gained a sufficient evidence base to secure long-term funding from larger medical bodies.

Jocelyn Wyburd, Director of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Language Centre said:

"I was fortunate enough to have the chance to visit Sri Lanka on holiday last summer for the first time and loved it! I'm therefore all the more excited about this relationship with LycaHealth and to have the chance to promote Sri Lanka's languages and an interest in the country to others."

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ��'s Language Centre provides resources and courses to support language learning by all members of the ̽��ֱ�� community. It stocks learning resources in some 170 languages, including in the major two Sri Lankan languages (Tamil and Sinhala) and are able to offer supported self-study of these languages as individuals might require. ̽��ֱ��Sri Lankan language fund will enable the Centre to expand this provision, promoting the learning of Sri Lankan languages, not least to those who might be engaged in fieldwork in Sri Lanka as part of the accompanying public health initiative.

Jocelyn Wyburd added: “We will engage further with Sri Lankan students in the ̽��ֱ�� to support learners face to face and to help us to develop supplementary online learning resources. We will also be able to provide financial support to Sri Lankan students who wish to develop further their academic skills in English to support their studies in the ̽��ֱ��."

Prema Subaskaran, Chairperson of LycaHealth, said: “We are delighted to be making the donations to such a reputable ̽��ֱ�� as Cambridge, to implement study on these worth-while causes. ̽��ֱ��investment mirrors our ethos of expanding the importance of healthcare across the globe whilst bringing together people from all types of backgrounds.”

̽��ֱ��donation comes soon after LycaHealth’s first centre was opened in London. ̽��ֱ��centre, located in Canary Wharf was opened by Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London. ̽��ֱ��Canary Wharf centre is the first step in LycaHealth’s growth plans, with further centres planned to open around the UK, South Asia and eventually Africa over the next five years.

Cambridge’s current £2 billion fundraising campaign for the ̽��ֱ�� and Colleges focuses on Cambridge’s impact on the world. Cambridge will be working with philanthropists to address major global problems, as it has done throughout the course of its history. More than £590 million has already been raised, including the gift from LycaHealth, and 30,000 donors have already given to the campaign.

Photographed L - R

Dr Manpreet Gulati, CEO of LycaHealth; Prema Subaskaran, Chairperson of LycaHealth; Subaskaran Allirajah, Chairman of Lyca Group.

Dr Emanuele Di Angelantonio , Director, ̽��ֱ�� Department of Public Health and Primary Care; Jocelyn Wyburd, Director, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge Language Centre; Chris Chaney, Director of Major Gifts, ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge

LycaHealth, the new healthcare brand, have presented a donation of £150,000 to Cambridge ̽��ֱ�� to support Sri Lankan students and improve public health in Sri Lanka.

We are delighted to be making the donations to such a reputable ̽��ֱ�� as Cambridge, to implement study on these worth-while causes.

Prema Subaskaran

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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Languages are fighting back

ta385 — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 12:20:12 +0000

Only five per cent of the world’s population speak English as a first language. Three quarters of humanity cannot speak English at all. And the UK economy is losing billions of pounds every year through a lack of language skills.

Despite this, the proportion of UK students taking GCSE languages fell from 78 per cent in 2001 to just 40 per cent in 2011. Meanwhile, A-Level language entries have declined by 28 per cent (1996 to 2014). Take-up of languages is particularly low in state schools which accounted for only half of A-level entries in 2014.

As a global ̽��ֱ�� which provides teaching and resources in more than 170 languages, Cambridge is committed to inspiring young people, particularly those studying in state schools, to embrace languages.

Every year, around 200,000 individuals take part in access initiatives run by the ̽��ֱ�� and its Colleges. This programme includes an increasing number of events organised by and with the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages (MML), the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (AMES) and the Language Centre, which supports the teaching and learning of languages throughout the ̽��ֱ��.

Recent events have included

Girton College’s first MML inspiration day for GCSE students

Languages may be suffering at many schools but Girton received an overwhelming response from teachers when it proposed a packed programme of multilingual talks and workshops.

Supported by the Faculty, Girton was able to welcome seventy Years 10 and 11 students from non-selective state schools from across the country. Teachers were asked to nominate up to two students based on who they thought would benefit most from the experience.

̽��ֱ��event was the brainchild of two Girton Fellows, Dr Claudia Domenici (Dept. of Italian) and Dr Stuart Davis (Dept. of Spanish & Portuguese).

Claudia commented

“When the pace of globalization is continually accelerating it is more important than ever for students to be aware of the advantages that the study of other languages and cultures offer. For me, learning Italian is about tapping into the very heart of Western identity, and what a wonderful privilege that is.”

Stuart added

“I’ve been delighted to see interest in Spanish, my specialist language, growing in recent years. But it has been so disheartening to see a general decline in take-up for GCSE and A-level languages.

“ ̽��ֱ��intellectual challenge of studying languages is in itself hugely enjoyable but our graduates are also highly employable. Modern language degrees open so many doors to so many wonderful places but they also allow you to reflect on your own culture and to understand its place in the world.”

̽��ֱ��event began with an inspiring welcome from Jocelyn Wyburd, Director of the Language Centre. Jocelyn combined sobering warnings about the risks of monolingualism – “In a global job market, your competitors include people from all over the world who speak two or more languages” – with examples of the exciting careers which languages can lead to.

“Mastering languages and studying abroad can change who you are in wonderful ways. Research has shown that learning languages strengthens cognitive skills, including problem solving and mental flexibility, while studying abroad also builds independence and confidence.”

̽��ֱ��next speaker, Dr Hannah Scott, provided a case in point. Hannah studied languages as an undergraduate at Cambridge and is now a Fellow and Teaching Officer in French at Girton. As part of her degree, Hannah learnt Spanish from scratch and said “Cambridge can take you from zero knowledge of a language to AS Level standard in three months.” This prompted gasps of amazement from the audience.

Hannah enthused about the variety and flexibility of Cambridge’s language courses as well as their culturally immersive nature. At Cambridge, students master languages by exploring the societies and cultures which they serve. A crucial part of this process is the Year Abroad, a life-changing opportunity in the penultimate (third) year of degree courses in both MML and AMES, to study, work and/or volunteer in another country (and language).

Hannah provided a few tantalising examples of what current students are doing "right now"-

“Jess is learning Swedish through German at Humboldt ̽��ֱ�� in Berlin … Iona is volunteering in Nicaragua, teaching English and music at a children’s centre next to the city rubbish dump … Oli is working for a leading financial advisory firm in Paris … And Verity is studying Arabic in Morocco before volunteering for a child protection charity.”

̽��ֱ��Faculty’s portfolio of Years Abroad undertaken by its students would turn Phileas Fogg green with envy.

At this point, Girton invited its visitors to join one of four culture workshops, each led by a specialist at Cambridge. Stuart Davis spoke about the Spanish Civil War, Hannah Scott about hidden secrets in French Impressionist Art; J D Rhodes on Neo-Realism in Italian cinema and Giuseppina Siverstri on linguistics.

This was followed by an opportunity to take part in one of four language workshops: Italian with Claudia Domenici, French with Christopher Gagne; Spanish with Alicia Pena-Calvo, Portuguese with Felipe Schuery or Hebrew with Ben Outhwaite. Ben explained the fascinating mechanics of Hebrew, an unfamiliar language to most of his group. Christopher gave his students a crash course in French slang and invited them to discuss the diverse use of language by different generations. Despite most of his students being new to Portuguese, Filipe spoke entirely in the language, using hand gestures to help translate.

At the end of the day, Girton’s Schools Liaison Officer, Erin Charles, provided advice about A-Level choices and aiming for university. This was followed by an opportunity to quiz current students about A-Levels, starting at Cambridge, Years Abroad, what they intend to do when they leave Cambridge and how they think a language degree will help them.

̽��ֱ��MML Faculty and Cambridge Colleges offer regular language-inspired access events to schools and sixth form colleges throughout the year.

Student-led MML access event

On 5 November, undergraduate contributors to the MML magazine Polyglossia welcomed 37 sixth formers from the London Academy of Excellence in Newham.

Supported by the Faculty and Trinity Hall, Onkar Singh, an LAE alumnus, initiated the event to “give current students the confidence to apply to a top university and pursue their passion for languages in a really supportive environment.”

Onkar, a Second Year at Downing College, gave a talk on Hispanic linguistics and sociolinguistics and was impressed by how “enthused and engaged everyone was in the discussion”.

Other sessions included an overview of MML at Cambridge, talks on German and French, and advice on applying to university.

̽��ֱ��number of young people studying languages in the UK is falling. Determined to change this, the ̽��ֱ�� is running an increasing number of events to highlight the life-changing power of languages.

Modern language degrees open so many doors to so many wonderful places

Dr Stuart Davis, Department of Spanish & Portuguese

Talking in Languages 2.0. Image courtesy of Markus Koljonen

Talking in Languages 2.0

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Cambridge student takes first prize in Japanese speaking contest

tdk25 — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0000

A Cambridge undergraduate has come first in a competition in which students face the daunting task of giving a full public lecture in Japanese.

Katherine Wilde, a 4th-year student in the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge's East Asia Institute, took first prize in the annual speech contest in London.

̽��ֱ��event challenges students to demonstrate their abilities in spoken Japanese in front of an audience of more than 100 people as well as a panel of judges. It is organised by the Japan Foundation London Language Centre and the British Association for Teaching Japanese as a Foreign Language.

More than 60 people from 16 universities took part in the competition. Katherine was first screened by a telephone interview, then had to perform in front of a full audience in the Khalili Theatre in London along with 10 fellow finalists.

Her faultless speech was entitled: "Reform of the Japanese Education System in the 21st Century, Focusing on the Individual".

Ms. Toshimi Boulding, lector in Japanese language at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: "Katherine answered the panel's questions with great composure. As well as discussing the Japanese Prime Minister Abe's latest proposals for reform, she put forward her own ideas on the need for individuality and creativity in Japanese schools.

"Her competence in Japanese and deep insight into Japanese society greatly impressed both the judging panel and the audience."

Students of Japanese at Cambridge have the opportunity to master the language and gain a comprehensive understanding of Japan and its vital role in world affairs. Japanese cultural history is taught alongside the language. For more information click the link to the right of this page.

A Cambridge undergraduate has come first in a competition in which students face the daunting task of giving a full public lecture in Japanese.

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