The language of course material

The content of courses (books, articles, instructions, manuals, software, databases) has a generally bilingual pattern, except in England. The smaller the teaching language, the more material in other languages. The second language is either the national language, or English. The long-term trend is to have all material in English, as at Dutch universities, in some disciplines. There, Dutch is used for lectures and seminars only (and then only if there are no foreign students). In all countries there is a general pattern that software is in English only, also indicating a long-term trend.

Issues:

Should students have a right to course material in their native language?
Should students have a right to use multilingual material?
Should students have a right to use (multilingual) material in EU languages?
Aside from the claims of students, should course content and material be multilingual, as a general policy?
Is bilingualism of material (teaching language plus English) an acceptable substitute for multilingualism?
Should compiled works (readers, collections) be multilingual?
Are monolingual (English) works, excluding EU content, acceptable in the EU?
Should software be multilingual?
Does EU policy, on a multilingual information society, also apply to academic software and academic computing centres?
Should course information (folders, syllabus, guides, websites) be multilingual?

 

Library acquisition policy

Again the general trend is to bilingual libraries: language of teaching, plus English. As funds for acquisition of books (and journal subscriptions) are cut, priority goes to "major international texts and journals". These are usually in English. In England itself, academic libraries are often monolingual.

 

Issues:

Is justice applicable between languages?
Are there moral obligations of equal acquisition, across languages?
Is there, in any case, a moral preference for multilingual libraries?
Should libraries give preference in acquisition, to multilingual works?
Should all EU languages be given equal library acquisition status with English, in the EU?
Should libraries in the EU give preference in acquisition, to EU languages, or to all European languages?
Should there be a maximum on English-language acquisitions?
If a library refuses to supply a work in an official EU language, is that contrary to European law?
Can a monolingual library be prosecuted under national law, for criminal discrimination?

 

Equal treatment of speakers
Probably, most of the world's students use a language which is not their native language or dialect. British and US-American students can study in their own countries, and globally, in a standard English close to their native dialect: an extremely privileged group.

Issues:

Should all students be obliged, as a matter of justice, to use a non-native language as part of their university study?
Should English-language students, specifically, be excluded from English-language international courses, to prevent unfair advantage?
Should the number of languages of teaching be greatly increased, to include also non-standard dialects?
Is an examination just or fair, if one student can use a native language, while others must use their fourth or fifth language?
Are migrants (English speakers excepted) systematically disadvantaged at European universities?
Is it just to give protected status (including education facilities) to some minority languages, but not to others?

 

Access to journals and conferences
Issues of justice between speakers, arise also in selection procedures, for journals and conferences. The dominance of English-language publishing is well known. Less obvious is that publishers are also disproportionately located in English-speaking countries. English-language journals also, inevitably have editors and advisors who speak, read and write good academic English. It is not as easy to trace the language of conferences, but English is certainly the dominant language of conferences. A bilingual conference is usually in the teaching language of the host university, plus English. Organisers often require papers in English, even if most of those present understand other languages.

 

Issues:

The basic issue: is it legitimate for a journal to refuse an article on grounds of language?
Is this refusal discriminatory, and possibly a criminal offence?
Is this refusal morally equivalent to racism?
Should journals, published in the EU, be obliged to accept submissions in all EU official languages?
Is refusal of an article in French by a British journal, for instance, contrary to European law?
Should there be quotas by native language, for journal editors, editorial boards, advisors and reviewers?
Is it acceptable for a journal to refuse a person as editor/advisor, on grounds of language?
Is a requirement to use one language for conference papers legitimate?
Is lack of funds for translation a legitimate reason to limit conference languages?
Should the EU fund monolingual conferences?
Should a minimum number of EU languages be legally required at non-local conferences?
Are existing conference language restrictions contrary to European law?

 

The language of publication

The long-term trend in journals is, once again, a combination of a dominant global publishing language (English), combined with limited-area journals in official national languages. In effect this fixes the language of contact as English. Multilingual journals are rare.

 

Issues:

Should the EU enforce (or subsidise) multilingual journals, or parallel publication?
Is it acceptable to publish results of EU-funded research, in English only?
Should research funds, in general, be conditional on multilingual publication?
Is there a general moral obligation to multilingual publication?
Does legal protection of minority languages bind journal publishers to some publication in these languages?

 

Section 2. Spelling workout

As a finishing touch to the final intensive reading unit of this Manual, below are offered two popular samples of the "Euro English" satire published on the website Orwell Today: www.orwelltoday.com which has been monitored by an independent researcher Jackie Jura, under the title EURO ENGLISH. You are sure to enjoy correcting humorous spelling mistakes:

Euro English

The European Union Commissioners have announced that agreement has been reached to adopt English as the preferred language for European communications, rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a five-year phased plan for what will be known as EuroEnglish (Euro for short).

In the first year, "s" will be used instead of the soft "c". Sertainly, sivil servants will reseive this news with joy. Also, the hard "c" will be replaced with "k". Not only will this klear up konfusion, but typewriters kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year, when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced by "f". This will make words like "fotograf" 20 per sent shorter.

In the third year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be Expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkorage the removal of double letters, which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling. Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of silent "e"s in the languag is disgrasful, and they would go.

By the fourth year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" by "z" and "w" by " v".

During ze fifz year, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou", and similar changes vud of kors be aplid to ozer kombinations of leters.

After zis fifz yer, ve vil hav a reli sensibl riten styl. Zer vil be no mor trubls or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi tu understand ech ozer.

Ze drem vil finali kum tru.

 

Jackie Jura received “a snotty-toned email” in response to a joke she had on the site entitled EURO ENGLISH by Author Unknown. It said that the author who inspired "Euro English" was none other than one of the greatest satirists in the history of the world, Mark Twain.

Here's the Mark Twain,s version:

A Plan for the Improvement of English Spelling
by Mark Twain

For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2 might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with "i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.

Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12 or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants. Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.

Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld."

 

More reading on the topic:

NU SPELING, by George Orwell

EURO ENGLISH MAYHEM, by Kate Gladstone & Jackie Jura

MEIHEM IN CE CLASRUM, by Dolton Edwards

TWAIN QUOTE NOT, by M. J. Shields

EURO ENGLISH, by Author Unknown

<http://www.orwelltoday.com/newspeak.shtml>