As reports reveal that UK unemployment has risen to 2.47m, research by Thames Translations has highlighted that learning a second language could be a way of gaining a competitive advantage in the increasingly crowded job market.
They also revealed that young people could now be facing increased competition from overseas students wanting to come to the UK to gain industry experience, as they are able to demonstrate multi-lingual skills as part of their offering. Export companies in particular are using overseas students to help give them the competitive edge with foreign suppliers.
There is an ongoing demand from UK businesses to add European language skills to their operations. Personel qualified in a second language are able to assist with market development into Europe, website and literature translation, purchasing, HR – in fact any role where knowledge of languages can be a benefit. While these opportunities are open to British students in commercially related disciplines too, it is rare to find candidates with a second language.
Thames Translations also found that a number of organisations and bodies agree that a foreign language could improve job prospects including the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) who recommend that job seekers should learn a foreign language as it will ‘enhance their CV and improve their chances of being employed.’
Online language training courses are perhaps the easiest way to get on the language ladder with basic courses costing as little as £15. Language courses can never provide the same level of fluency as a native speaker, or replace the need for professional language translation services, but just completing the course demonstrates much more about the character and tenacity of the candidate than their linguistic ability alone.
Research looks to confirm that holding a second – or third foreign language could just be what you need to bolster your CV and demonstrates a willingness to expand your knowledge in a way that could add value to businesses and differentiate you from the rest of the pack.
Friday, 25 September 2009
Friday, 18 September 2009
How Languages Shift in Popularity Over the years
Languages change in importance over time—it wasn’t all that long ago that the global lingua franca was, well, French. As this first decade of the new millennium draws to a close, Spanish is on its way to becoming a native language to the United States, and Chinese and Arabic have found themselves near the top of the international relevance scale.
The change in importance of various languages in our modern society is being reflected in educational trends around the world. Record numbers of students are showing interest in Arabic and Chinese, while only a few choose to pursue Russian.
The number of students enrolled in introductory French, German, and Japanese is consistent with the numbers from previous years, but Chinese is growing in popularity as Mandarin Chinese becomes ever more important in the global economy.
Arabic is another burgeoning language. Many students are motivated to learn the language out of a desire to understand first-hand the culture of the Middle East. The Middle East is an area of conflict and Arabic is a useful tool to people interested in resolving cultural issues.
Russian in the eighties was in about the same situation as Arabic is now, experiencing increasing popularity. After the end of the Cold War, however, many Russian programs began shutting down. Some in the West akin this to being a statement of victory. 'We won the war, so we don’t need to bother with that language'. This may not be entirely accurate with bodies such as the CIA and NSA still keen to recruit Russian speaking individuals. Russian apparently has not lost its relevance to the political sphere.
Languages like Chinese and Arabic might potentially fade from American curriculums, but Spanish is no longer a foreign language for many in the US. Spanish, unlike Chinese, Arabic and Russian, is offered in most high schools. Many students are choosing Spanish because of its pervasiveness at home. It is a practical language.
While an increasing number of students are drawn to languages with perceived growing relevance in the world, a steady number of students still gravitate towards languages not used in “practical transactions.” There is still a steady rate of students studying Latin and Greek despite their lack of obvious uses in the modern world.
The change in importance of various languages in our modern society is being reflected in educational trends around the world. Record numbers of students are showing interest in Arabic and Chinese, while only a few choose to pursue Russian.
The number of students enrolled in introductory French, German, and Japanese is consistent with the numbers from previous years, but Chinese is growing in popularity as Mandarin Chinese becomes ever more important in the global economy.
Arabic is another burgeoning language. Many students are motivated to learn the language out of a desire to understand first-hand the culture of the Middle East. The Middle East is an area of conflict and Arabic is a useful tool to people interested in resolving cultural issues.
Russian in the eighties was in about the same situation as Arabic is now, experiencing increasing popularity. After the end of the Cold War, however, many Russian programs began shutting down. Some in the West akin this to being a statement of victory. 'We won the war, so we don’t need to bother with that language'. This may not be entirely accurate with bodies such as the CIA and NSA still keen to recruit Russian speaking individuals. Russian apparently has not lost its relevance to the political sphere.
Languages like Chinese and Arabic might potentially fade from American curriculums, but Spanish is no longer a foreign language for many in the US. Spanish, unlike Chinese, Arabic and Russian, is offered in most high schools. Many students are choosing Spanish because of its pervasiveness at home. It is a practical language.
While an increasing number of students are drawn to languages with perceived growing relevance in the world, a steady number of students still gravitate towards languages not used in “practical transactions.” There is still a steady rate of students studying Latin and Greek despite their lack of obvious uses in the modern world.
Monday, 14 September 2009
Australia's Bilingual dilemma
In Lajamanu, a remote Aboriginal community about 900 kilometres south of Darwin there are only a remaining traditional elders and their language, Warlpiri, is one of only about 20 Aboriginal languages still spoken by Indigenous children.
But that number could soon shrink even further. Last week, national literacy and numeracy test results showed the Northern Territory once again lagged behind the rest of the country.
And the Northern Territory Government has been accused of plunging Indigenous children into further disadvantage through a mandatory policy for teachers to speak English in remote classrooms.
In October last year, the Government decided to slash bilingual education hours in eight public schools, blaming the policy for the poor educational outcomes in the remote communities where the program was in place. Under the new approach, teachers must speak in English for the first four hours of each school day, meaning there is only one hour left in the afternoon for teaching Indigenous language and culture.
Some teachers say the approach is misguided because there are many factors - not just bilingual education - affecting school results, ranging from low school attendance to serious health issues.
An associate professor in bilingual education and applied linguistics at Charles Darwin University, Dr Brian Devlin, visited the Territory's former education minister, Marion Scrymgour, after she introduced the policy. He said she admitted the policy was made too quickly.
However the former principal of the Lajamanu school, Christine Nicholls, says there is proof bilingual education has been effective.
"In 1989, in both year three and year five, Lajamanu school topped all the Aboriginal schools in English literacy," she said.
"And ... they were only the kids who'd been through the bilingual program."
She says learning in traditional language is something very important for Indigenous communities.
"It's their original instrument of expression, their own language," she said.
"And it's also a matter of common sense that in all education, whether you're teaching people of five, nine or 90, you've got to go from the known to the unknown."
The Government says it is not prepared to back down on its new approach because it has to try a new way of teaching in order for children to meet national testing benchmarks.
"We're not banning the speaking of Indigenous languages, the teaching of Indigenous cultures in our schools," said Chief Minister Paul Henderson, who is also Education Minister.
"What we are saying very explicitly is that we should have the same expectations for these kids to get to benchmark in years three, five, seven and nine along with all other kids."
But that number could soon shrink even further. Last week, national literacy and numeracy test results showed the Northern Territory once again lagged behind the rest of the country.
And the Northern Territory Government has been accused of plunging Indigenous children into further disadvantage through a mandatory policy for teachers to speak English in remote classrooms.
In October last year, the Government decided to slash bilingual education hours in eight public schools, blaming the policy for the poor educational outcomes in the remote communities where the program was in place. Under the new approach, teachers must speak in English for the first four hours of each school day, meaning there is only one hour left in the afternoon for teaching Indigenous language and culture.
Some teachers say the approach is misguided because there are many factors - not just bilingual education - affecting school results, ranging from low school attendance to serious health issues.
An associate professor in bilingual education and applied linguistics at Charles Darwin University, Dr Brian Devlin, visited the Territory's former education minister, Marion Scrymgour, after she introduced the policy. He said she admitted the policy was made too quickly.
However the former principal of the Lajamanu school, Christine Nicholls, says there is proof bilingual education has been effective.
"In 1989, in both year three and year five, Lajamanu school topped all the Aboriginal schools in English literacy," she said.
"And ... they were only the kids who'd been through the bilingual program."
She says learning in traditional language is something very important for Indigenous communities.
"It's their original instrument of expression, their own language," she said.
"And it's also a matter of common sense that in all education, whether you're teaching people of five, nine or 90, you've got to go from the known to the unknown."
The Government says it is not prepared to back down on its new approach because it has to try a new way of teaching in order for children to meet national testing benchmarks.
"We're not banning the speaking of Indigenous languages, the teaching of Indigenous cultures in our schools," said Chief Minister Paul Henderson, who is also Education Minister.
"What we are saying very explicitly is that we should have the same expectations for these kids to get to benchmark in years three, five, seven and nine along with all other kids."
Monday, 7 September 2009
Children "increasingly unlikely' to learn a modern language
The findings, she says, contradict recent claims by Schools Minister Diana Johnson that the Government's strategy to get more young children speaking another language was working.
They also cast doubt over the viability of one of the Government's key education pledges which entitles all seven to-eleven-year-olds to learn a modern language by 2010.
Ms McLachlan said: "Because the quality and quantity of children's exposure to primary language teaching varies so much, it's often impossible to teach a class in secondary school with such a wide range of skills.
"Perhaps even worse, some secondary school children will have to endure lessons which they have been already taught at primary.
"The fact that primary languages are not inspected by Ofsted and that students are still entitled to opt out at the end of Key Stage 3 tells it all.
“Languages – either at primary or secondary level – are just not a priority for the Government despite what they say. If we follow this course, we are doomed to retain our global reputation as the least proficient and most unenthusiastic linguists in the world.
"It's fantasy to expect that somehow this inadequate primary system will magically instil an enthusiasm for languages in secondary school: it's just not happening."
The study, published in the Language Learning Journal, also revealed inadequate training arrangements and the difficulties primary schools have in receiving funding for language teaching.
She added: "It's little wonder primary teachers have little appetite for making time on the school curriculum for this subject - especially as it doesn't contribute to league table places.
"If, for example, a primary teacher doesn't speak a language other than English, there are no funds to bring in an independent specialist.
“And as structured support from local secondary schools is not available, or insubstantial, then that class simply doesn't get any lessons, and both continuity and progression in language learning are severely jeopardised.
"Because modern languages are not part of the statutory primary curriculum, and thus do not contribute to league tables, lessons are often cancelled or moved, and many schools see little point in investing time or money in a subject which has no real priority nationally."
They also cast doubt over the viability of one of the Government's key education pledges which entitles all seven to-eleven-year-olds to learn a modern language by 2010.
Ms McLachlan said: "Because the quality and quantity of children's exposure to primary language teaching varies so much, it's often impossible to teach a class in secondary school with such a wide range of skills.
"Perhaps even worse, some secondary school children will have to endure lessons which they have been already taught at primary.
"The fact that primary languages are not inspected by Ofsted and that students are still entitled to opt out at the end of Key Stage 3 tells it all.
“Languages – either at primary or secondary level – are just not a priority for the Government despite what they say. If we follow this course, we are doomed to retain our global reputation as the least proficient and most unenthusiastic linguists in the world.
"It's fantasy to expect that somehow this inadequate primary system will magically instil an enthusiasm for languages in secondary school: it's just not happening."
The study, published in the Language Learning Journal, also revealed inadequate training arrangements and the difficulties primary schools have in receiving funding for language teaching.
She added: "It's little wonder primary teachers have little appetite for making time on the school curriculum for this subject - especially as it doesn't contribute to league table places.
"If, for example, a primary teacher doesn't speak a language other than English, there are no funds to bring in an independent specialist.
“And as structured support from local secondary schools is not available, or insubstantial, then that class simply doesn't get any lessons, and both continuity and progression in language learning are severely jeopardised.
"Because modern languages are not part of the statutory primary curriculum, and thus do not contribute to league tables, lessons are often cancelled or moved, and many schools see little point in investing time or money in a subject which has no real priority nationally."
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
English is toughest European language to read
Despite being the world's lingua franca, English is the most difficult European language to learn to read. Children learning other languages master the basic elements of literacy within a year, but British kids take two-and-a-half years to reach the same point.
In the most extensive cross-national study ever, Philip Seymour of Dundee University and his team compared the reading abilities of children in 15 European countries. They found that those learning Romance languages such as Italian and French progressed faster than those learning a Germanic language such as German and English. "Children do seem to find English particularly complex and problematic though," says Seymour.
The team focused on the earliest phase of learning to read. They tested the children's ability to match letters to sounds, their capacity to recognise familiar written words, and their ability to work out new words from combinations of familiar syllables.
Seymour's findings might explain why more people are diagnosed as being dyslexic in English-speaking countries than elsewhere.
In languages where sounds simply match letters, some symptoms just would not show up, says Maggie Snowling, a dyslexia expert at the University of York. The condition would be more difficult to diagnose in children who speak these languages, though subtle symptoms such as impaired verbal short-term memory would remain. "People might be struggling, but no one would notice," she says.
The Germanic languages are tricky because many words contain clusters of consonants. The word "sprint", for example, is difficult because the letter p is sandwiched between two other consonants, making the p sound difficult to learn.
Another feature of English that makes it difficult is the complex relationship between letters and their sounds.
In Finnish, which Seymour found to be the easiest European language to learn to read, the relationship between a letter and its sound is fixed.
However, in English a letter's sound often depends on its context within the word. For example, the letter c can sound soft (as in receive) or hard (as in cat). Many words like "yacht" don't seem to follow any logic at all.
However, the things that make English difficult to read might have contributed to Britain's rich literary tradition. Words like "sign" and "bomb" are difficult because of their silent letters, but these hint at relationships with other words. The connection with words like "signature" and "bombard" is obvious.
Mark Pagel, an expert on language diversity at the University of Reading, acknowledges the irony that despite being the international lingua franca, English is the most difficult to learn. The dominance of English has more to do with historical accident than any innate superiority of the language, he says.
"People who speak English happen to have been the ones that were economically and politically dominant in recent history. Those forces greatly outweigh any small difficulties in language acquisition."
In the most extensive cross-national study ever, Philip Seymour of Dundee University and his team compared the reading abilities of children in 15 European countries. They found that those learning Romance languages such as Italian and French progressed faster than those learning a Germanic language such as German and English. "Children do seem to find English particularly complex and problematic though," says Seymour.
The team focused on the earliest phase of learning to read. They tested the children's ability to match letters to sounds, their capacity to recognise familiar written words, and their ability to work out new words from combinations of familiar syllables.
Seymour's findings might explain why more people are diagnosed as being dyslexic in English-speaking countries than elsewhere.
In languages where sounds simply match letters, some symptoms just would not show up, says Maggie Snowling, a dyslexia expert at the University of York. The condition would be more difficult to diagnose in children who speak these languages, though subtle symptoms such as impaired verbal short-term memory would remain. "People might be struggling, but no one would notice," she says.
The Germanic languages are tricky because many words contain clusters of consonants. The word "sprint", for example, is difficult because the letter p is sandwiched between two other consonants, making the p sound difficult to learn.
Another feature of English that makes it difficult is the complex relationship between letters and their sounds.
In Finnish, which Seymour found to be the easiest European language to learn to read, the relationship between a letter and its sound is fixed.
However, in English a letter's sound often depends on its context within the word. For example, the letter c can sound soft (as in receive) or hard (as in cat). Many words like "yacht" don't seem to follow any logic at all.
However, the things that make English difficult to read might have contributed to Britain's rich literary tradition. Words like "sign" and "bomb" are difficult because of their silent letters, but these hint at relationships with other words. The connection with words like "signature" and "bombard" is obvious.
Mark Pagel, an expert on language diversity at the University of Reading, acknowledges the irony that despite being the international lingua franca, English is the most difficult to learn. The dominance of English has more to do with historical accident than any innate superiority of the language, he says.
"People who speak English happen to have been the ones that were economically and politically dominant in recent history. Those forces greatly outweigh any small difficulties in language acquisition."
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