part 1: lost in translation
What do you call someone who can speak three languages? Trilingual. What do you call someone who can speak two languages? Bilingual. What do you call someone who can speak only one language? British. Boom-Boom. I’m here all week. Contrary to Chancellor Bismarck, who believed speaking foreign languages was something only head-waiters needed to do, a foreign language has never been more useful but the challenge lies in persuading future generations to jump aboard the linguistics bandwagon.
A recent survey by the British Council revealed that we are indeed the worst country in the EU for language learning. Just shy of 60% of people across Europe speak at least two languages, whereas the same can be said for only 38% in Britain. This is going to become a problem. A major one.
As the Brexit debate intensifies and political, trade and migration relations change and adapt, having a largely one-language population is going to become increasingly significant. Irrespective of our personal stance, Brexit will cause lasting uncertainty and our linguistic indifference, our virtual monolingualism, to Europe shoulders much of the blame for the situation we now find ourselves collectively within. I remain convinced our ignorance of how collaboratively the institution of Europe works, personified by our reticence towards European languages, has actively encouraged myths, untruths and blatant lies to flourish.
When, perhaps upon the twelfth day of Christmas, argument is finally ceased, it would be entirely understandable if people throughout the remaining twenty-seven nations felt less inclined to make their default second language, English. God forbid, Britain may have to take-up the language-learning mantle for themselves as German, French, Polish or Spanish become essential to our global ambitions, and on their terms and in their tongue. We need to rejuvenate language learning as part and parcel of our own personal and collective development and remember that being part of an international community truly matters. Furthermore, language is the gateway to exploring, understanding and appreciating different and exciting new cultures and closet isolationism is the only alternative.
Mind, I don’t think we’re even that concerned for the future of our own language, let alone that of others, innit. Years ago libraries were oft referred to as ‘the poor man’s university’ as no-one could be denied learning and enrichment whilst they remained open, supported, encouraged and available to all. Now, with widespread nationwide closures being the nature of the beast, especially in relatively poor, deprived areas, it is an act of almost gross violence and certainly not one of a civilised and forward-thinking country. Neither Google nor its sibling Google Translate can ever replace what has taken millennia to develop.
