The Russian government has implemented a law to protect the Russian language from excessive foreign borrowings, which includes removing foreign words from shop and restaurant names in Krasnodar.

The law requires officials to avoid using anglicisms and borrowings in public speeches, and a normative dictionary of the Russian language will be created to establish language norms.

In addition to Russia, other countries such as Kazakhstan and Estonia have also implemented language purification policies to promote the use of their national languages.

The Ukrainian government has also restricted the use of the Russian language in place names and government transactions, with Ukrainian being the only language used in state institutions and transactions.

Italy has proposed a bill to ban the use of English language in official communications, with a fine of up to 100,000 euros for violating the rule.

The bill aims to promote Italian language use and requires Italian language for job applications, with the Italian government seeking to protect local culture.

Language purification policies can have severe consequences on linguistic diversity and cultural identity, as they often involve the suppression of minority languages and the promotion of a single, dominant language.

The use of language purification policies can lead to the erosion of cultural heritage and the loss of traditional practices and customs.

Education in the mother tongue is a crucial factor in promoting linguistic diversity and cultural identity, as it allows individuals to connect with their cultural heritage and maintain their traditional practices.

The promotion of linguistic diversity and cultural identity requires a comprehensive approach that involves the recognition of minority language rights, the promotion of education in the mother tongue, and the support of cultural heritage and traditional practices.

Language is a key identifier of identity and culture, and its preservation is essential for maintaining cultural heritage and traditional practices.

The consequences of language purification policies can be mitigated through the development of language policies that promote linguistic diversity and recognize minority language rights.

Language academies and educational institutions play a crucial role in promoting linguistic diversity and cultural identity, as they can provide support for the development of minority languages and the promotion of education in the mother tongue.

The recognition of minority language rights is essential for promoting linguistic diversity and cultural identity, as it allows individuals to maintain their cultural heritage and traditional practices.

Language purification policies can have long-term consequences for linguistic diversity and cultural identity, as they can lead to the erosion of traditional languages and cultural practices.

The promotion of linguistic diversity and cultural identity requires a commitment to recognizing and supporting minority language rights, as well as the development of language policies that promote education in the mother tongue.

The use of language purification policies can have negative consequences for individuals and communities, as it can limit access to education and employment opportunities and erode cultural heritage and traditional practices.

The Russian government has implemented a law to protect the Russian language from excessive foreign borrowings, which includes removing foreign words from shop and restaurant names in Krasnodar.

Title:

Content: In Russia, they are determined to protect the language from excessive saturation with borrowings
The Russian language is one of the most popular in Eurasia, and attempts to abolish our culture have failed.
© Video: TRK "Zvezda" © Photo: TRK "Zvezda"
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Store, Department, Home and other foreign words in the names of shops, cafes and restaurants in Krasnodar soon will not be.
The Cuban capital decided to abandon all foreign names.
The Cuban authorities obliged entrepreneurs to translate business into Russian.
“A sign in a foreign language or using transliteration or a sign in Russian has a big difference.
In part of the fact that 100% of our population can read, understand the sign in Russian.
And many, by ignorance and age, do not even understand what is written on these signs, ” said the chief architect of Krasnodar Artem Salamatin.
So far, the business has been given time until September 1.
But many entrepreneurs are ready to change now.
“Everything will be in Russian.
We will translate the site into Russian.
We'll change everything.
With pleasure, ” entrepreneur Hovhannes Hovhannisyan shared.
Words borrowed from foreign languages became an integral part of Russian many centuries ago.
Massive in our speech, they appeared in different iconic historical periods.
For example, the Mongol invasion.
And after the Patriotic War of 1812 - there were a lot of gallicisms, that is, French words.
Now in conversations predominate borrowing from English.
“We began to use foreign words very actively in areas where such activity had not been observed before.
First of all, it is the public sphere.
Social sphere.
Where actually came a lot of foreign words ”, – said the Chairman of the Association of teachers of literature and Russian language Lyudmila Dudova.
Russia is now determined to protect the language from excessive saturation with borrowings.
President Vladimir Putin recently signed a law “on mandatory observance of the norms of the modern Russian language when using it as a state language. ”
What specific rules are we talking about?
It's not clear yet.
They are compiled by a special government commission.
“The normative dictionary of the Russian language will be a single consistent comprehensive publication, which will be formed on the basis of dictionaries of the Russian language.
Interpretive, spelling, ” explained Deputy Minister of Education of the Russian Federation Tatiana Vasilyeva.
Thus, foreign words should disappear as much as possible from all official documents.
In addition, officials should not use anglicisms and other borrowings during public speeches and generally avoid them in their speech.
“There are so many wonderful and beautiful words in the Russian language.
But why then instead of the word mentor we say coach.
Well, it doesn't sound.
It seems to me that we need to get rid of such words that are imposed, ” said Lyudmila Skakovskaya, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture.
This law, according to officials, should protect the Russian language from attacks from abroad, where they have long been trying to abolish all Russian.
But now these sentiments have intensified even more.
The Kiev regime has long declared war on our culture and heritage.
Throughout the country, the monument to Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin is being demolished, because it is he who is considered the creator of the modern literary Russian language.
And it was the language issue that became one of the main reasons for the bloody confrontation in the East of Ukraine in 2014.
Residents of Donbass then did not agree with the nationalists, they did not refuse the Russian language.
“They use the term underdogs.
All these years, when the Maidan happened, they etched Russian in the Donbass, for them it is a symbol of communication.
The Russian world is hysterical.
What connects the Russian world?
The Russian language, ” said political scientist Yuri Svetov.
The fact that our language and culture need protection is also said by the leaders of other neighboring states.
During the autumn meeting of the heads of the CIS countries in Astana, the President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev called on his colleagues to create an organization for the protection of the Russian language.
“Our idea is to create an international organization in the image and likeness of the UN.
Using the positive experience of Francophonie.
The headquarters of which is located in Paris, ” said President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Rossotrudnichestvo recently conducted its own study abroad, which showed that openly Russophobic sentiments are present only among politicians.
But ordinary people continue to willingly learn our language and culture.
According to the United Nations, Russian is spoken by 258 million people worldwide.
It is one of the most popular in Eurasia, and attempts to abolish our culture have failed.
Abroad, Dostoevsky, Pushkin and other Russian classics are also read.
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The law requires officials to avoid using anglicisms and borrowings in public speeches, and a normative dictionary of the Russian language will be created to establish language norms.

In addition to Russia, other countries such as Kazakhstan and Estonia have also implemented language purification policies to promote the use of their national languages.

Title:

Content: The language law has sparked heated debate in the government
The language law has sparked heated debate in the government
The language law has sparked heated debate in the government.
The amendments proposed by the "compatriot", the Minister of Education Tõnis Lukas, rejected the Minister of Culture from the Social Democratic Party Piret Hartman.
The government cannot agree on what the new language law should be.
The Minister of Education and Science Tõnis Lukas (“Fatherland ”) proposed to tighten the law.
Minister of Culture Piret Hartman (Social Democratic Party) said that in this form the law will not pass, reports “Actual camera + ”.
Minister Lukas says that Estonian, that is, the state language, is being pushed into the backyard of the country.
And that in everyday life it becomes less and less.
“Recently, especially from the service sector, there have been complaints that the service in Estonian is sometimes unavailable.
The same applies to the public space, which is invaded by foreign languages.
English and Russian are invading areas that have so far been largely Estonian-speaking.
Therefore, the state should establish rules to preserve the position of the Estonian language in the public space, ” said Minister of Education and Science Tõnis Lukas.
Culture Minister Piret Hartman did not agree on a new Language Act.
She thought that turning Lucas ’ s plans into reality was simply unrealistic.
“The Minister of Education wants to change things very quickly and has not analyzed how it will be in reality.
We don ’ t have so many teachers who can teach Estonian.
We now have 20,000 refugees who need to be taught Estonian at A1 level.
We have new immigrants who also want to teach.
We are going to change and reform education.
There, too, we need to teach Estonian for teachers so that they can work in our schools.
And we want more changes, which we did not analyze at all, ” explained the Minister of Culture Piret Hartman.
Hartman complains that it is not clear why couriers and taxi drivers should know Estonian at a good level right now.
In her opinion, the prohibition of work for immigrants and refugees on the grounds of ignorance of the language would entail other problems.
“I think they won ’ t be able to work because they don ’ t have that knowledge.
This means that they will be at home, and the state will have to give money.
I think this will be a problem for our social and economic situation.
If they don ’ t work, that ’ s another problem.
Of course, we hope that all people who come here and want to learn Estonian, we will be able to give this opportunity, ” said Piret Hartman.
The Minister of Education believes that the interests of the minority should not be taken into account.
Yes, visitors need to be given time to study, but they are not worth it, says Lucas.
In addition, military refugees can expect to extend the period of language acquisition.
“We first worry about what the visitor thinks and how difficult it is for him to learn the language.
And only then we begin to think about the rights of the state or local residents to receive services in their own language.
Government thinking is different.
Perhaps we in Estonia have not yet become, shall we say, a state nation.
But if now we do not consolidate the Estonian language in the public sphere, then after a while, we will not have the opportunity to receive services in Estonian at all, ” Tõnis Llukas believes.
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The Ukrainian government has also restricted the use of the Russian language in place names and government transactions, with Ukrainian being the only language used in state institutions and transactions.

Title:

Content: A conflict of another kind.
Russian in Ukraine is the language of Tolstoy, Pushkin or Putin?
Restrictions on the use of Russian are focused on place names, shops, government transactions and others, which began after the events of the "Orange Revolution" in 2005, and strengthened after the so-called "Freedom and Dignity" revolution in 2014, to include the banning of Russian television channels and websites.
The use of the Russian language is one of the most controversial and hottest issues on the political level between Russia and Ukraine, as Kiev refuses to be an official language, and Moscow sees its prevention as "persecution of the rights of citizens and minorities."
On the pretexts of language prohibition, persecution of nationals, and so on, many of Russia ’ s controversial political decisions have been built, from the annexation of Crimea in 2014, to the recognition of the so-called “Donetsk and Luhansk People ’ s Republics ” in 2022, to the launch of war on Ukraine.
How do ordinary Ukrainians view this?
Do politicians share this debate about “prevention and formality ”?
No restrictions on talking.
The traveler of eastern Ukraine to the west is well aware of the importance of this for the population, most of their conversation in Russian in the regions of the east, while the picture changes in the mixed areas of the center, such as the capital Kiev, and becomes completely different in the regions of the west.
The situation may be different in some villages and small towns, even in eastern regions where Ukrainian is more prominent than Russian, with a special dialect that almost combines the two languages together, as are villages in western Ukraine that have also been affected by Polish or the languages of neighboring countries.
But the point is that the debate in these parts is absent, there are no restrictions on talking.
Today, although some 7 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced from eastern regions to Ukrainian-speaking western regions, this is hardly controversial or sensitive.
In the city of Lviv, for example, Russian is heard everywhere today, hotels declare that their employees speak Ukrainian, Russian and English, and to further “resolve ” this, it seems, the mayor of Lviv, Andrey Sadovy, called on residents to respect and help“ Russian-speaking Ukrainian citizens. ”
Where are the restrictions and controversies?
Restrictions on the use of Russian are focused on place names, shops, government transactions and others, and these restrictions emerged and began after the events of the "Orange Revolution" in 2005, and strengthened after the so-called "Freedom and Dignity" revolution in 2014, to include the banning of Russian TV channels and websites.
These “restrictions ” also include the inevitability that Ukrainian is the only language in all state institutions and transactions, and basic in state universities, schools and kindergartens.
What has the “state ” achieved?
This debate raises the question of why Ukraine is holding on to Ukrainian as a single official language despite its diverse population, banning Russian channels and websites, and what has this “Ukrainization ” achieved over the past few years?
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Professor of Languages at the Academy of Culture and Lifestyle in Lviv, Solomiya Bok, outlined the causes and consequences in several points: first, the fight against disinformation, where she sees language as a weapon of Russia to spread “lies and propaganda ” in the country.
Here, she cites the separatist movement witnessed in the eastern regions in 2014, and then the size of the popular rejection and resistance that Russia met in those areas during the 2022 war, although until today it is Russian-speaking.
“There is a huge difference between yesterday ’ s Russia and today ’ s Russia.
For many, it is no longer the language of history, common art and reformist writers who have called for peace, such as Tolstoy and Pushkin, but the language of disinformation and an aggressor occupier named Putin.
The second reason is "the revival of national identity and feelings", as Bok considers that the focus on Ukrainian pushed Ukrainians to adhere more to the specificity of their identity, culture and art, and revived their sense of patriotism and the will to defend the homeland.
In Ukraine there are so many nationalities and minorities, and so many schools and universities of their own, that since the time of the Soviet Union, there have been in every city regular specialized public schools, teaching languages and cultures more intensively, such as Russian, French, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish and others.
Therefore, I do not accept the idea that there is persecution targeting Russian speakers, the second most widely used language in the country. ”
How do Ukrainians view their languages?
In Lviv today, due to the large number of displaced people, you can get a lot of samples and opinions on this subject, given that it is a western city, and a large proportion of its residents are "eastern".
Lilia, a resident of Kharkiv in the east of the country, tells Al Jazeera Net (in Russian): “Like most of my generation, I studied in Russian, while my daughter studied in Ukrainian.
"I often feel that she is more Ukrainian than I am, more attached to the country, more reactive to its events."
"It looks very differently at its identity, its history, its future, and I think we were missing out on that fact because we were programmers and mentors, during the Soviet period and after."
In Lviv, driver Andrei wrote: "I do not speak Russian and do not support the enemy's language" and told Al Jazeera Net: "I respect those who speak to me in Russian, and they respect this position of me.
We understand each other, of course, but I think the policy of the state is correct, that we have to turn completely towards Ukrainian, officially and popularly, and that future generations will be. ”
Comprehensive Respect Initiative
Because language and the rights of citizens are among the most contentious issues between Russia and Ukraine, and one of the most prominent topics on the negotiating tables currently between the two sides in the midst of war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky apparently launched an initiative a few days ago to sign an agreement that brings together all neighboring countries, entitled “Respect for Language and History. ”
According to observers, Zelensky ’ s initiative could ease the debate on the issue between Moscow and Kiev, as well as between the latter and Budapest, which occasionally raises the issue of the rights of its minorities in the southwestern region of Zakarpattia.
"Ukrainian will remain the only official language of the country," Foreign Minister Dmytro Koulipa said.
Source: The Island

Italy has proposed a bill to ban the use of English language in official communications, with a fine of up to 100,000 euros for violating the rule.

Title:

Content: Italian govt drafts bill that seeks to ban English language

RomeEdited By: C KrishnasaiUpdated: Apr 01, 2023, 03:15 PM IST

Calling for the Italian language to be protected and nurtured, the draft bill claims that English “demeans and mortifies” Italians, and called on all public and private bodies to use the “language of Dante” to promote their goods and services, reports Reuters news agency. Photograph:(Reuters)

Story highlights

The bill, which has been drafted by lawmakers of the nationalist Brothers of Italy party, aims to promote Italian language and imposes a fine of up to 100,000 euros ($108,750) if found violating the rule

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party has proposed legislation that seeks to prohibit public and private bodies in the country from using foreign terms, especially English, in official communications.

The bill, which has been drafted by lawmakers of the nationalist Brothers of Italy party, aims to promote Italian language and imposes a fine of up to 100,000 euros ($108,750) if found violating the rule.

In order to become a law, the bill has to be approved by both houses of parliament. But there was no indication of when this might happen.

“It is not just a matter of fashion, as fashions pass, but Anglomania (has) repercussions for society as a whole,” said the text of the draft bill.

Calling for the Italian language to be protected and nurtured, the draft bill claims that English “demeans and mortifies” Italians, and called on all public and private bodies to use the “language of Dante” to promote their goods and services, reports Reuters news agency.

The draft also specifies that all job related applications, including names and acronyms, should be spelt out in Italian, with foreign words allowed only if they are impossible to translate.

The bill said the widespread use of English in Europe was “even more negative and paradoxical” given that Britain had quit the European Union.

The draft bill comes at a time when the incumbent far-right government takes measures to what it calls preserving the local culture.

Recently, it banned the use of laboratory-produced food to safeguard the country’s agri-food heritage.

When the Brothers of Italy party took office last October, it added the English term “Made in Italy” to the name of the industry minister, while Meloni occasionally drops foreign words into her speeches.

(With inputs from agencies)

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The bill aims to promote Italian language use and requires Italian language for job applications, with the Italian government seeking to protect local culture.

Language purification policies can have severe consequences on linguistic diversity and cultural identity, as they often involve the suppression of minority languages and the promotion of a single, dominant language.

Title:

Content: ...

Azerbaijanis in Iran deprived of rights to speak their own language - The Geopolitics

Politics Materials 22 February 2023 11:27 (UTC +04:00)
Maryana Akhmedova
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BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 22. The rights of Azerbaijanis in Iran to use their mother tongue are infringed by the Iranian authorities, limiting their cultural expression, the article in The Geopolitics magazine said, Trend reports.

According to the author, although South Azerbaijani activists and organizations have long advocated for the expansion of linguistic and cultural rights, the Iranian government has responded with further repression by cracking down on dissidents.

The Iranian Government has banned the use of the Azerbaijani language in the media, literature, and the arts, as well, which has resulted in a suppression of cultural identity and a lack of representation for South Azerbaijanis in Iranian society, the article said.

Moreover, as the author noted, this policy has resulted in a high rate of students dropping out of schools early in Iran’s marginalized non-Persian regions, due to the challenges of learning the Persian language.

As the author rightly pointed out, the efforts to promote and provide education in the Azerbaijani language can positively impact Azerbaijani students’ psychological well-being and academic achievement in Iran.

"Providing instruction in one’s mother tongue can help students feel a greater sense of belonging, cultural identity, and pride in their heritage. It can also help them better understand and engage with the material being taught, leading to improved academic achievement and a greater likelihood of completing their education," the article said.

"The Iranian regime refuses to give up its forcibly acquired acquisitions and will seek to preserve them by oppression and extremism. What no one in positions of power in Iran appears capable of understanding is that the Persian language will not actually be jeopardized if the non-Persian peoples gain the right to receive education in their own languages; indeed, people are less likely to resent it if they also have the chance of proper education in their mother tongue," the article concluded.

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The use of language purification policies can lead to the erosion of cultural heritage and the loss of traditional practices and customs.

Title:

Content: The DPP and the KMT have never been so aligned: the identity crisis behind the English + Chinese “bilingual country ”
Photo Credit: Central News Agency
What we want you to know is
Originally, Taiwan could become a "multi-lingual Taiwan Community" dream through the practice of multilingual, in the National Development Council's "2030 Bilingual National Development Blueprint" was cut to "bilingual", one is the "Chinese" of the past authoritarian hegemony, and one is the "English", which was overvalued in the past.
It can be said that this is a language policy that does not conform to the justice of language transformation and consolidates the hegemony of Chinese.
Text: Chiang Wen-yu (Professor, Institute of Linguistics, National Taiwan University)
After the DPP came to power, as long as the policy was introduced or the policy changed, the Kuomintang almost always came out to voice opposition.
As big as the national name issue or all kinds of opposition that have developed to the level of the referendum, such as the nuclear fourth, gender issues, and lynx pigs, as small as the daily criticism of the vaccination rate and domestic vaccines, but if there is a policy from the development of the day, almost never seen the KMT openly oppose, what policy do you think it will be?
The impact of this “bilingual state ” policy, if examined carefully, is a sweeping, daily change in the field of education.
If the Kuomintang can vigorously oppose, perhaps this issue will attract the attention of the people, but the Kuomintang not only will not oppose, it should have been happy, otherwise it will not have held a press conference so far.
Over the past few years, this policy has become bigger and bigger, and the budget has been more and more sprinkled, with a total budget of 10 billion yuan for four years from this year.
After the school started in September this year, the United Daily News said that this year is the "first year of bilingual countries."
Yes, this policy is called “Bilingual 2030 ”.
The name “bilingual ” sounds familiar, because when Han Kuo-yu was running for mayor of Kaohsiung at the time, he proposed a“ bilingual policy ” of “homeschooling in the mother tongue, and teaching only Chinese and English in schools. ”
The Democratic Progressive Party has made the cake even bigger, and it has reached the national level.
How does bilingual education become a major policy?
The “2030 Bilingual Country ” policy was originally only a local policy that the Tainan City government wanted to promote English as the second official language, strengthen the English-friendly environment and enhance the English language. With Lai Ching-te ’ s entry into the Executive Yuan, this policy was brought to a higher level.
Later, because the government found that Taiwan did not have a first official language, and there was no legal source to make English a second official language, it changed its name to "bilingual country".
Within a short period of time, this policy was led by the National Development Council, with the full cooperation of the Ministry of Education, and the “2030 Blueprint for the Development of a Bilingual National Policy ” was proposed at the end of 2018.
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With this major change in language education, the government has mainly invited scholars to support it through three consultative meetings, and the whole policy has not been carefully considered.
If this was an uncontroversial policy, professors from Taiwan ’ s two largest language academic organizations, the Taiwan Linguistics Association and the Taiwan Language Association, would not have stood up to oppose it. As early as 2018, they held meetings in each of the North and South East to remind the government of the improper use of English as a second official language and its possible harm to the local language.
Ironically, Taiwan passed the National Language Development Act on December 25, 2018, almost at the same time that the National Development Council ’ s “bilingual nation ” banner began to fly.
In this law, which was promoted by the Ministry of Culture, the "native languages of Taiwan are" national languages ", including Taiwanese, Hakka, aboriginal languages, sign languages, Matsu, and Chinese.
People who originally supported the native language thought that the justice of the language transition could finally be implemented, making up for the trauma of the loss and accelerated death of the native language under the violence of the “Mandarin Policy ” in the past.
However, the government ’ s “Blueprint 2030 for Bilingual National Development ” contradicts the objectives of the National Language Development Act, which focuses on English and outlines three strategies for English in education, the media, and an English-friendly environment.
The other language in the 2030 Bilingual National Development Plan is not explicitly spoken, but with the current status quo of the language society, no one would doubt that it is not “Chinese. ”
Bilingual policy is nothing but a caravan.
The National Development Council (NDRC) and the Ministry of Culture (MOC) seem to have no dialogue, and the Ministry of Education, which is responsible for the implementation of bilingual education, seems to be walking on its own. The National Language Development Law, which has taken more than 11 years for the Ministry of Culture to pass, gives several local languages the status of “Mandarin ”, which is not equivalent to English in the NDRC ’ s“ Blueprint 2030 Bilingual National Development Plan.
As a result, Taiwan could have become the dream of a "multilingual Taiwanese community" through multilingual practice, and the dream was shattered instantly, and the whole thing was cut to "bilingual", one was the "Chinese" of the past authoritarian hegemony, and one was the "English", which was overvalued in the past.
It can be said that this is a language policy that is not in line with the justice of language transformation and that reinforces the hegemony of Chinese. The implementation of bilingual education has eroded the resources and hours of education in local languages (which are all national languages).
It is indeed a great irony in the modern history of Taiwan that this hegemony of Chinese language should be promoted once again by the DPP government, which used to defend the native language when it was in opposition.
Of course, the Republican Party will not oppose it.
If a language represents the entire culture, history, and ideology behind it, then the KMT ’ s view of the history of the Republic of China is shaped entirely through the use of the Chinese name “Mandarin ” as a medium.
This historical perspective has always positioned Taiwan ’ s history as the history of China plus the history after 1945, and the history of Taiwan before 1945 has been completely excluded from the historical perspective of the Republic of China.
The Democratic Progressive Party imitates the Kuomintang, abandons cultural identity
In the past, the Kuomintang (KMT) operated under the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) and dominated the education model of the Party, so the consequence of the "de-historicization" of Taiwanese people for many generations is that they have been unable to identify with this land through cultural and historical roots, and they are "Taiwanese" and "Chinese" identity swaying and struggling.
In fact, the "Taiwan consciousness" based on Taiwan's land is not solid, although the writing of Taiwan history and literature began to increase gradually in the decades after the lifting of martial law in the past, but the foundation is still weak; in primary and secondary education scene, the discourse based on Taiwan's history is still not fully established.
The appearance of "Scaro" has made most people discover that their knowledge of the past history of this land is close to zero.
When it comes to Taiwan awareness, if not for a whole year of “anti-sending ” actions in Hong Kong, Taiwanese people suddenly woke up, and the number of people who will be elected president in 2020 is still uncertain.
In the past two years, because of the US-China competition, the Taiwan issue has come to the international table, from the success of the epidemic to the global leadership of semiconductors to the outstanding performance of Taiwanese athletes in the Olympic Games, so that Taiwanese people have a sense of honor.
However, Taiwanese consciousness can easily disintegrate quickly if it is not deeply rooted in Taiwan ’ s language, culture, and history.
The Kuomintang ’ s cultural values of the past alienated from the land were so quickly “transmitted ” to the DPP ’ s rulers (because they were also a generation of the Kuomintang ’ s educated generation), and the DPP became the conceptual proponent of continuing to consolidate the profit-making language (Chinese) as the dominant language under the“ Mandarin Policy. ”
Deliberate myths in English, for what?
Let ’ s look at the language of another bilingual country, English.
The concept of "bilingual country" completely exposes shallow dish thinking, which will instantly elevate an English that is not a native language to a national language and enter the highest hall of Taiwan.
Language is a carrier of culture, thought, and history. We are not unfamiliar with this concept, and the study of linguistic sociology has repeatedly shown that language is an important key to personal identity and collective identity.
But once language policy is implemented at the national level, why are our national leaders so ignoring language as a vehicle for identity that the entire concept of the 2030 Bilingual Blueprint for National Development focuses only on the “communication ” and“ economic power ” of English?
What is the culture and history behind English? Is there poetry, novels, movies, and music written in English in Taiwan?
At present, English literature and all kinds of English art must be created by foreigners. Should the new generation of Taiwan identify these foreign artists as their own?
Of course, the DPP government may say, then I use time to build this English identity, we will take the big Twitter push, make this policy even bigger, fantasize that if the whole people can speak English, people will write poetry, novels and songs in English, or make movies in the future.
Of course, this cannot be achieved in the short term.
And it is difficult because there is no natural environment for that English.
And if the result of the push is that the more English language communication education is implemented, the deeper the roots of Taiwan's native language and culture will be dug out, and the weaker the strength of the link between the native language and history and culture of the new generation of children.
When Taiwan ’ s native language and culture are gone, frankly speaking, if someone reads “Scaro ” in a few decades, those Taiwanese, Hakka, and aboriginal languages that are completely unintelligible to the new generation of Taiwanese people, there is no loss and feeling, because those languages are no longer in their historical memory.
For example, the disappearance of aboriginal languages will cause great harm to Taiwan, because Taiwan ’ s history from ancient times to the present, the main discourse based on aboriginal people is the key to the separation of China ’ s “Central Plains view of history ”.
Bilingual countries are killing Taiwan.
The DPP government, which attaches great importance to elections, may not even realize that one day the pro-China parties will only have to revise their pro-China line. These new generations who grew up in “bilingual countries ” will soon turn because they lack a part of Taiwan ’ s culture and history that is important to them through the local language. Not big.
The DPP may defend itself by saying that the teaching of local languages is included in his new curriculum for 111 years, but with a 40-minute class every week, is there nothing more than symbolic meaning in language learning, which is an explanation to the voters?
In a nutshell, the transformation of English from a foreign language to a national language has its own problems, but most Taiwanese do not fully understand the concept of "improving English power, digital ability, international integration, and providing an English-friendly environment for foreigners" emphasized by the National Development Council, which does not amount to "Taiwan becoming a bilingual country of Taiwanese Chinese + English", which involves linguistic and cultural subjects and identity. Concepts.
The concept of opening a window to the world by improving English proficiency is good in itself, but the key point is to extend the "English mythology cult" indefinitely to the national level.
To put it bluntly, this policy can only be done at the level of "English language enhancement and English-friendly environment", but why does the myth of "English first" make the government think that the country and the people need a "bilingual country"? Do you know that it is difficult to achieve a "bilingual country" in the world without a natural environment?
We do not need to reduce our national dignity and self-deprecation for the sake of the international communication value of English, because those English-speaking Asian countries envied by the Taiwan government have been colonized by Britain or the United States for a long time, with the exception of the Philippines, which was colonized by the United States for a short time, and the rest for more than 100 years.
Non-English speaking countries with advanced technology in Europe and Asia only regard English as a foreign language.
France also protects French in particular, fearing that it will be "contaminated" by English.
At this point, it is no longer possible to discuss the relationship between colonization and language in detail.
Finally, please pay attention to how Taiwanese worship and anxiety about English is manipulated and linked to business mechanisms.
In his article "In fact, the English of Taiwanese university students is not a dish", Professor Ho Wan-shun revealed how the British inspection group used to create false news of "vegetable English", which aroused Taiwanese people's inferiority in English learning, and thus created huge business opportunities for the tutorial industry and the British inspection group.
Recently, the English procuratorial and remedial education industry has been advertising under the name of "bilingual country."
It seems that this business opportunity has become more fertile with the "bilingual country".
According to a report by the China Times, the number of people over the age of 20 who took the test increased by 20% after the policy was implemented.
Taiwanese people in this bilingual country already have a number of jobs that regulate the English test score threshold as a prerequisite for job hunting.
We believe that there will be more jobs in the future, and that the working level and social class of the people will be determined through the commercialized "British Inspection".
We do not believe that this should be the fate of Taiwanese people through eternal self-colonization. If you read this article, please calm down and think, is this your ultimate goal of learning English?
Before concluding this article, we would like to ask: Is it a serious violation of the value of human rights for all who care about the future development of Taiwan, please be concerned about the huge impact and distorted values this policy may have on Taiwan, and we can no longer remain silent. And...
This article is reproduced with the authorization of Thought Tank, and the original is published here.
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Editorial responsibility: Ding Zhaojiu
Editor ： Weng Shihang
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Education in the mother tongue is a crucial factor in promoting linguistic diversity and cultural identity, as it allows individuals to connect with their cultural heritage and maintain their traditional practices.

Title:

Content: mother tongue.
70 years of inequality with Persian speakers
2020-07-28T16: 24: 41 + 00: 00
MOHSEN RANANI / Over the past 70 years, the children of nearly half of the country ’ s population (Iran), the country ’ s non-Persian-speaking ethnic groups, have been forced to learn Persian from the first year of primary school and study in Persian.
Zero stage of development is formed in any country during childhood, in primary school and preschool.
Everything we want for the future of our country must sow its seeds in these years.
By imposing Persian language instruction on children whose mother tongue is not Persian, we confront them with a pause for several years in the most sensitive years of their lives in the process of socialization.
The fact that 67% of primary school students who fail in grades 1 and 2 belong to the country ’ s nine bilingual governorates is a testament to this problem.
Non-Persian speaking Iranian children, when they finally come to terms with and learn Persian, have lost their childhood years.
It is the most crucial period for learning and practicing the characteristics that are needed later for an effective and continuous presence in the process of creation and development.
We have not noticed that the mother tongue is not only the language of speech, but also the language of emotion, the language of feelings, and the language of human life.
The mother tongue is the subjective or internal language of the human being and the thought process takes place first in the psychological language of each human being and then is translated into his spoken language.
Studies have shown that in bilingual demographic groups, if they learn their mother tongue well, their brains are better able to process emotional information and the domain of semantic cognition.
In fact, by not teaching the mother tongue and imposing the Persian language on children whose mother tongue is not Persian, we stop the development of their inner language and thinking language at the same childhood age, endure a lot of psychological and emotional stress and with a delay of several years, they can finally think and speak the new imposed language.
But what they lack in the meantime are opportunities to develop with their educational and existential dimensions that shape their communicative abilities and creative development.
The point is that language is a Catholic phenomenon or system.
That is, it is a phenomenon that has been created and developed naturally without conscious human intervention and has reached a subjective order.
In Catholic phenomena, we first learn to use and apply them, then analyze them and identify their components.
If language is a Catholic phenomenon, we must first use it and maximize the ability to use it, and then move on to learning and analyzing it.
When we take the child out of the native language environment and enter into the compulsory education of the Persian language, he has not yet reached the point of flourishing in the Catholic learning of the mother language, that is, the maximum point in the power of speech and perception, that is, the part of feelings and emotions that must be fully developed with the help of the mother tongue.
Hence, this oppressed child must first learn Persian and then strengthen his ability to think in Persian.
This is the same oppression we have been exerting on children of non-Persian speaking Iranian ethnic groups for 70 years, putting them at a disadvantage in competing for social and economic opportunities with Persian-speaking people.
In fact, by imposing the education of the Persian language, we slow down or stop the process of mental and personal development of almost half of our country ’ s population for a few years and destroy the opportunities available to them in favor of Persian-speaking children.
In this way, we reduce public opportunities to participate in the development process in provinces whose residents do not speak Persian.
Perhaps part of the development gap and imbalance that exists between the central provinces and the border provinces of the country is due to this issue.
That is, despite the allocation of appropriate budgets for the development of some disadvantaged provinces in the past, those provinces are still disadvantaged.
In fact, it is possible that by imposing the Persian language on the children of the bilingual provinces, we will create a gap for several years in the process of shaping the character and ability of the children of these regions, and this will be the beginning of the unequal distribution of opportunities between resources.
In addition to all other political, social and cultural injustices, this form of educational injustice is also a devastating injustice that we have silently imposed on non-Persian speaking Iranian peoples over the past 70 years.
Translated by Shafaq News
Shafaq Live
Shafaq Live
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The promotion of linguistic diversity and cultural identity requires a comprehensive approach that involves the recognition of minority language rights, the promotion of education in the mother tongue, and the support of cultural heritage and traditional practices.

Title:

Content: Kurdistan Society congratulates the Kurds on the occasion of the Kurdish Language Day
The Kurdistan Society congratulated the Kurds on the occasion of the Kurdish Language Day and stressed that it is a day of awareness and resistance against the policies of assimilation and annihilation.
The Education Committee of the Kurdistan Community System (KCK) today issued a written statement on the occasion of the Kurdish Language Day 15 May.
And it says:
"Learning in the mother tongue is the most legitimate right, and to attain this right self-regulation in all spheres of life and the transition to practice is both a legitimate right and an indispensable necessity!
On behalf of the Education Committee in the Kurdistan Community System (KCK), we congratulate the Kurdish Language Day at the beginning on the leader Ocalan, who brought the hope of our people ’ s freedom to a level of unparalleled struggle and did not recognize any obstacles in the face of this, and on our immortal martyrs who sacrificed themselves for the existence, language, values and freedom of our people, as well as our resistance people who did not give up their language. He kneels in the face of the enemy.
Language is the common memory of societies.
The protection and development of social memory is entirely dependent on the preservation and development of the mother tongue, the practice of mixing denial with genocide is tantamount to the prohibition of language, and the definition of the Kurdish language as a prohibited, dangerous, divisive, backward and brutal language is essentially a policy of eliminating the Kurdish presence. It is clear that a society that forgets its language, it will forget its culture, its history, as well as its identity, and this in itself represents a social annihilation, which is being carried out against society on the nation-state.
Many countries have become a graveyard of languages in many parts of the world, following the policies of the nation-state established in the early twentieth century, where anti-democratic nation-states imposed on societies the obligation of education in one language on all areas of life by resorting to the policies of cultural and social genocide.
In this sense, the language revolution that shone tens of thousands of years ago in Kurdistan under the leadership of Kurdish women, in addition to having left its mark on the development of humanity, is currently taking place on the same land, preventing our people who developed the language from reading, writing and engaging in politics in their mother tongue, and considering the Kurdish language as an “unknown language. ”
Genocide of culture
Although the prohibition of the free use of mother-tongue education is described and defined in United Nations and European conventions as a genocide of culture, the Turkish, Persian and Arab nation-states have denied our people all opportunities for mother-tongue education.
The Turkish occupation state, which developed language policies in the context of serving the policies of the nation-state, did not hesitate to consider it as an optional lesson for Kurdish children, which is considered as an insult and detracting from the Kurdish language, and every Kurdish should know this well. In the face of such an act, statements such as "not enough, but well anyway" are tantamount to abandoning the struggle, and in the face of this, what must be done is to demand and enforce the right to education in the mother tongue as the fundamental and legitimate right in all spheres of life through continuous action.
It is clear that in the face of the attacks of linguistic, cultural and physical annihilation, the Kurds have clung to their language, culture and existence, taking into account the most severe sacrifices, as they have maintained and continue to maintain their presence, language and culture throughout the four parts of Kurdistan as well as in many countries alike.
From now on, it is necessary for our people to strengthen the struggle at home and abroad to ensure education in the Kurdish language and to remove the obstacles that prevent the use of the mother tongue more than ever, and on this land, it is the inevitable duty of a Kurd who believes in a free future to engage in the struggle on a daily basis, as much as it fights against decay and its own dissolution.
The Kurdish language represents the reality of the Kurdish people.
In this sense, the Kurdish language is the reality of what the Kurdish people are, therefore, upholding, protecting and developing the language as before is also the most urgent necessity of our political existence and our tradition in struggle and religion throughout history.
We must not forget that we live in the midst of the most tender historical moments, and we occupy a place in the most diverse places, and in this place where identities, communities, languages, religions and peoples come together, the common life of all diversity and freedom of expression will be a meaningful holiday for all peoples.
On this basis, the model of education of the democratic nation in Rojava and northeastern Syria is a unique and unparalleled example of strength and fundamental will for all peoples struggling for existence, identity and language in the region and the world. It is the strongest evidence that takes equality, freedom, children ’ s rights, democracy and human rights as its foundation.
Once again, we congratulate our people on May 15, the Kurdish Language Day, which also marks the 91st anniversary of the publication of Hawar magazine, and we salute in the person of Jaladat Ali Badrakhan and his comrades to those who have developed and preserved the Kurdish language through their precious efforts and sacrifices. ”
(q)
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Language is a key identifier of identity and culture, and its preservation is essential for maintaining cultural heritage and traditional practices.

Title:

Content: Sociologists agree that there is a close relationship between language and identity, with language being the preeminent and most important identifier.
They consider that the most serious threat to the identity and culture of nations is linguistic and cultural appropriation by another party.
Language and identity are two sides of the same thing.
Language is not just words and words, but a vessel that contains the emotional components, beliefs and peculiarities of any society.
Hence, it is clear why every society is proud of its language, because language is the main way of protecting and fortifying identity so that it does not assimilate into another identity.
The history of the nations is a good witness, for example, the Arabic language has preserved the teachings of the Islamic religion, the Arab heritage and manuscripts and all the sciences, arts and literature provided by the Islamic civilization.
The Japanese refused and resisted any domination of their language, knowing that it would preserve their identity, as did the Koreans.
The goal of the powerful states, through the soft style of globalization, is to establish a state of linguistic, scientific and intellectual dependence to obliterate identity and block any path that may lead to creativity and development.
Ibn Khaldun in his introduction pointed out that the defeated is fond of the tradition of the majority, and this is what we see in some societies of a dangerous drift in the rejection of the mother tongue, and even ridicule it sometimes and link urbanization and development and call to keep pace with the times by speaking another language.
It is true that the learning of languages, whatever they may be, is desirable, provided that this does not lead to the alienation and obliteration of the identity symbol.
Experts believe that the pillars of identity are three: religion, culture and society, and that language is the official spokesman of identity and a means through which the world recognizes the power of states and the cohesion of their members and society.
There is no competition between nations except for language.
The language, interest in it and its rooting in various scientific, health, technical and other fields have a great role in the rooting of citizenship and the consolidation of belonging.
Protecting the Arabic language in our societies from the fierce attacks of globalization is a religious and secular duty, especially as it is a powerful and great language that has influenced many other languages.
The culture, strength and cohesion of nations are diminished when their people abandon their mother tongue and allow others to compete with it because language is the actual vessel of identity, and giving it the attention it deserves is what will push any country or nation to excellence and creativity.

The consequences of language purification policies can be mitigated through the development of language policies that promote linguistic diversity and recognize minority language rights.

Title:

Content: The rise of modern nationalism, ideally hoping to build a nation-state based on “one nation, one nation, one language ”, and language plays a very important role in the process of“ nation-building ”.
Many countries are committed to linguistic unity in pursuit of national unity, that is, to establish the status of a national language.
However, in reality, many ethnic and multilingual countries are facing considerable challenges when they are united, and not only do they cause division of the country, but they even cause war.
This war between Russia and Ukraine, in addition to NATO's eastward expansion and Russia's security demands, Ukraine in recent years to promote de-Russification, suppress the Russian language, and promote the sense of domestic separation and trigger civil war is also one of the reasons.
A unified language may seem like a natural thing, but in the complex ethnic and international relations, it is not so natural. How to deal with it properly is worth learning from many multi-ethnic and multilingual countries.
Ukraine is a multi-ethnic country with more than 130 nationalities.
Among them, ethnic Ukrainians account for more than 77% of the total population, followed by Russians, accounting for about 17%.
Other ethnic minorities account for about 6% of the total population, mainly Belarusian, Jewish, Tatar, Moldava, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Greek, German, Gagauz, Bulgarian and other ethnic groups.
The geographical distribution of ethnic Ukrainians is also uneven, with 17 of Ukraine ’ s 24 oblasts having a higher proportion of ethnic Ukrainians.
It is mostly found in the middle and west.
Russians are the largest ethnic minority in Ukraine, mainly in the east and south.
Language, economic development, ethnic distribution, and historical experience have made it difficult to establish a national identity in Ukraine, which gained independence from the Soviet Union, and the complexities of external intervention and geopolitics have made it even more difficult to establish a national identity.
Regrettably, politicians have not only failed to mediate contradictions, but have instead used language policies to stimulate ethnic confrontation and seek personal gain, which eventually led to civil war and international conflict, playing with fire.
In the Soviet Union, Ukrainian and Russian were both official languages.
Even after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the independence of Ukraine, for a long time, Russian was one of the two main languages of Ukrainian society.
However, the teaching of the school is mainly Russian, the ratio is higher than 90%, and the teaching of Ukrainian is only 10%.
According to the 2001 census, 67.5% of Ukrainian citizens are native speakers of Ukrainian and 29.6% are native speakers of Russian.
Other languages accounted for 2.9%.
A 2012 law entitled "On the Principles of State Language Policy" gave Russian the status of a regional language, allowing courts, schools and other government agencies in some regions to use minority languages.
However, the law was overturned immediately after Janukovych's ouster in the 2014 Square Revolution.
Ukrainian is the only official language in Ukraine, including Russian, which is spoken by a large population.
This caused strong discontent among the population of the Russian-speaking regions of eastern and southern Ukraine, and led to a political movement in eastern and southern Ukraine to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.
Under the provisions of the new law on the national language, which was passed by the Ukrainian parliament in 2019, all levels of government in Ukraine will re-strengthen the status of the national language as the only official language.
The Russian people felt the greater repression, which also caused Russia to rebound, and became one of the reasons for the Russian military deployment.
Ukraine, with its complex historical background and ethnic relations, has struggled to establish its own national identity after its secession from the Soviet Union.
However, it is regrettable that some politicians have failed to appreciate the needs of the country's diverse ethnic groups and sensitive international relations, and have forcibly promoted a one-dimensional nationalist policy, resulting in the division of the country.
In fact, in recent years, many countries with diverse ethnic groups have carefully planned language policies in order to avoid language policies becoming the fuse of secession, emphasizing the civic consciousness of pluralism and democracy to unite the national centripetal force, that is, the so-called civic nationalism.
There are also people in Taiwan who use language as a tool to manipulate identity, and the experience of Ukraine can also be used as a reflection. (The author is a retired university professor)
※ The above statements do not represent the position of Wangzhong Media Group ※
# Ukraine # Language # Russian # Country # Ethnic

Language academies and educational institutions play a crucial role in promoting linguistic diversity and cultural identity, as they can provide support for the development of minority languages and the promotion of education in the mother tongue.

Title:

Content: Linguists at the Doha Book Fair
Implementing laws to protect the Arabic language is an important step to preserve identity
Language is a fundamental value in the life of every society and nation, it is the vessel that carries ideas, conveys concepts and establishes communication links between different social groups, and the Arabic language today lives clear dangers and challenges that must be addressed and faced.
In this context, a seminar was held at the main stage of the Doha International Book Fair entitled "Arabic Language and Identity Challenges", and witnessed the participation of a number of intellectuals and specialists.
The participants stressed that the relationship of the Arabic language with identity is strong, as the language of the Holy Quran and its close connection with the civilization of the Arab nation, an existential issue for the future of culture and societies, and therefore this identity must have exceptional importance in dealing with it.
Dr. Ali Al-Kubaisi, former head of the Arabic language department at Qatar University and a member of the scientific board of the Doha Historical Dictionary of Arabic, said that lovers and zealots of the Arabic language are fully aware of the place of this language and its pivotal role in building the Arab identity.
Cultural globalization
He stressed that the challenges of the Arabic language are identity challenges in the first place, pointing out that the most prominent challenges facing the Arabic language is awareness, where he believes that awareness of the challenges of identity and the Arabic language was not born of the present era but old and renewed. In order to preserve the Holy Quran and preserve the Arabic language.
Al-Kubaisi points out that the Arabic language remained strong and firmly established, and when the Islamic Caliphate weakened, Arabic later faced and triumphed with slang calls and writing in foreign letters, and today it faces challenges of a new kind.
The head of the Arabic language department at Qatar University spoke about the indicators of identity challenges, saying that there are some indicators that warn of threats to identity and challenge it, the most important of which is the emergence of what opposes the values of identity and threatens cultural privacy in an attempt to replace alternative values and patterns of behavior contrary to the local culture (cultural globalization).
Al-Kubaisi also pointed out that the lack of awareness of the importance of language, heritage and culture in building the cultural specificity that distinguishes a nation from other nations, and the attempt to underestimate and compromise the elements of identity, and the lack of differentiation between the fixed and the transformed elements of identity, are clear indicators of the threat of identity.
Two sides of the same thing.
The member of the Scientific Council of the Doha Historical Dictionary confirms that our Arabic language is a major component of our Arab and Islamic identity with its individual and collective dimensions, and an important element in its formulation and construction, and every weakness or flaw in the language must affect the identity, and this confirms the inseparable relationship between language and identity.
Regarding the challenges of the Arabic language in our time, Al-Kubaisi pointed out that the most important of these challenges is everything that prevents the use of the Arabic language in its place, which must be used, or does not achieve growth and development in its acquisition, education, learning and dissemination as a global language.
He believes that one of the most serious dangers to the Arabic language is the existence of a phenomenon strange to our societies, which is the frequent use of a "hybrid" language away from the Arabic language, whether in addressing expatriate workers in the Gulf countries in particular or in communicating through social media.
He stressed that the exclusion of the Arabic language from its social environment is unacceptable and negatively affects our Arab identity, and has a direct impact on the younger generations, so it is necessary to activate the implementation of laws to protect the Arabic language in order to strengthen identity and consolidate belonging to it.
Two inseparable souls.
For his part, Professor of literature and criticism and the first linguistic expert in the Doha Historical Dictionary of the Arabic language, Dr. Ali Abu Zeid, says that it is wrong to think that language is a means of communication only, and if this is true, the solution would be to call for a universal language, and God made us peoples and tribes to know each other, adding that language and identity are inseparable.
He pointed out that the language is a criterion of identity, and the preservation of language to preserve identity, pointing out that no colonizer entered a country but tried to attack its language and by extension its identity, adding, "The nation comes only from its language and if the nation is given its language is injured and its identity is broken."
Abu Zeid believes that education and media are among the most important tools through which to preserve language and promote identity among the younger generations, while criticizing the pride of some parents in learning foreign languages without their mother tongue.
The linguistic expert regrets the inability of the language academies in the Arab countries to provide something tangible to preserve the language, considering that these academies have become only complementary institutions and do not have a mission and perform the role assigned to them.
"Are we able to motivate ourselves, then the family, the school, then the community and the state to return to our language, to own and preserve it, to belong to it and to boast in international forums that we speak it?"
If we reach this stage, we and our identity are at peace. ”
Source: The Island

The recognition of minority language rights is essential for promoting linguistic diversity and cultural identity, as it allows individuals to maintain their cultural heritage and traditional practices.

Language purification policies can have long-term consequences for linguistic diversity and cultural identity, as they can lead to the erosion of traditional languages and cultural practices.

Title:

Content: Chen Po-wei insisted on using the "mother tongue" in the Legislative Yuan to question Minister of Defense Qiu Kuo-cheng, who believed that language is a tool of communication, and that communication is more efficient if the Mandarin language is used during questioning.
Chen Po-wei countered with "Duck Ba".
On the whole, however, Chen ’ s performance seems to have hit the nail mark this time, partly because the issue he is asking is not related to the local language, but rather the issue of defense diplomacy, which is not easy to express in the mother tongue.
In addition, at a time when the removal of Q is boiling over, Chen Po-wei chose to make a big move to ask questions in Hokkien before he was removed, which inevitably makes people feel that he is holding up the basic routine by playing a calculated role in intensifying the antagonism between the linguistic groups.
Even though it has been nearly two weeks since the end of the incident, the discussion is mostly about the pros and cons of the pan-political saliva attack and defense, the issue of Taiwan's language ecology is rarely addressed.
There is a historical background to the sensitivity of language in Taiwan. In 1937, during the Japanese occupation period, Japan promoted the Imperial Nationalization Movement and implemented the "National Language Movement" (in this case, the national language refers to Japanese), which prohibited the use of Taiwanese mother tongue and Chinese.
In order to eliminate Japan's influence in Taiwan, the Nationalist government began to vigorously promote the "Mandarin Movement" (Peking dialect) around 1956, and it was not abolished until 1987 after the lifting of martial law.
More than 30 years of language policy, resulting in language inequality and language loss.
To date, at least 10 of the 26 indigenous languages have died and four are in danger. In addition, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) assessment, Taiwanese Hokkien is a “definitely endangered ” language, while Hakka has entered the stage of“ seriously endangered ”.
If Mandarin had not been established as an official language at that time, would Taiwan ’ s diverse dialects have developed in a balanced way?
The answer is “not necessarily. ”
Language is not only a tool of communication, it is also a carrier of culture, representing the culture, historical memory and ethnic identity of the people who use the language.
Therefore, even if there is no language policy involved, when two or more languages meet, it is inevitable that political power will be strong.
Power competition between ethnic groups grows, which in turn affects the language and natural ecology.
For example, the so-called national melting pot, respect for multicultural America, although there is no political force to set the official language, but as everyone knows, English is the high-level powerful language of the United States.
In fact, in the United States, the phenomenon of "double language" (Diglossia) is obvious, black English (AAVE), Hispanic English (Chicano English), etc., is generally regarded as a low-level language, representing low education, informal language, or low social class language.
According to various studies, in the United States, those who speak a recognized ethnic or regional dialect of English have lower wages and employment rates than those who speak mainstream English.
So, if you set multiple languages as official languages, can you solve the problem of double language inequality? The answer is still “not necessarily ”.
In order to escape the influence of Spanish colonization, the Bolivian Constitution stipulates that the languages of all ethnic groups are official languages, and a total of 36 official languages are recognized, making it the country with the largest number of official languages in the world.
Under the country ’ s 1994 education reform program, schools were required to teach these 36 official languages.
However, the reality is difficult to do, Spanish is still the most powerful language in Bolivia, and many ethnic groups are still regarded as poor, low education, and low social class identity.
Being able to speak high-level Spanish is a lifeline for the underprivileged, who often disguise their ethnic identity to work in cities, so that even though many ethnic groups have been promoted to official languages, the problem of extinction has not been improved.
If setting the official language and language bullying are not necessarily directly related, how can the phenomenon of high-level and low-level double language in Taiwan be improved? Some reflections are as follows:
1. Language policy must be multilingual.
Any language policy needs to learn from history through careful planning and matching of experts and scholars to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.
Because resources and human learning power are limited, when one language is blessed, it means that other languages may be crowded out.
Although the government is actively promoting the bilingual policy by 2030, it is fully committed to promoting English. Although it is well-intentioned, many linguists have solemnly warned about the dangers of promoting English.
For example, Anne Pakir refers to English as the “killer language ”, while John M. Swales compares it to Tyrannosaurus because it is too powerful to destroy any weak language that coexists with it.
Once the government smashes into a large amount of resources, if there are no good supporting measures, I am afraid it will become the current disaster of Taiwan's language ecology.
2. Strengthen the "language attitude" cultivation.
At present, the government's bilingual policy is extremely narrow, and almost all of them are aimed at strengthening English skills and improving English proficiency.
Very little is known about the "language attitude".
However, the attitude of the language user determines the vitality of the language.
In Hebrew, for example, its revival illustrates the importance of language attitudes.
The revival of the Hebrew language in just 25 years, more than two thousand years after its death, created an unprecedented miracle in the history of the language ’ s revival, and this dramatic miracle was the result of the Jewish nation ’ s strong nation-building, which led to an attitude of allegiance and glory to the Hebrew language that succeeded in bringing it back to life.
In other words, the attitude of the language user is the key factor in determining the vitality of the language.
Taiwanese people generally have a foreign mentality, value English, ignore the mother tongue, such a sense of linguistic inferiority, it is easy to speed up the loss of minority mother tongue after the promotion of bilingual policy.
In addition, if the status of the local language between the declining attitude, with the political parties in turn to promote localization, the Fukien language has become a label of love for Taiwan, the sword of transformation and justice, and the soft spot of political enemies, the Fukien language has become a tool of political struggle.
Perhaps because of this, Chen Po-wei will choose to deliberately use the Minnan language to single out the foreign provincial defense minister before the removal case, and play this big show of love for his mother tongue and Taiwan.
The author believes that positive "language attitude" education, in addition to strengthening the ethnic group's sense of pride and centripetal force for their mother tongue, also includes the inclusiveness of other languages.
If we oppose the practice of the Chinese language to suppress the native language, then we should not now politically manipulate the native language and maliciously create language conflicts and ethnic conflicts.
The means of retribution for language hegemony will not only not promote ethnic integration, but will only deepen ethnic hatred and division.
If Taiwan wants to start from the wrong language policy of the past, it should understand the past language history, reflect on learning from history, and not blindly promote language policy, but also pay attention to the next generation of language attitude education, families and schools to help children understand the value of mother tongue, respect different mother tongue use groups, in order to really promote a pluralistic and multilingual society.
(The author is an associate professor of English at National Chengchi University)
※ The above statements do not represent the position of Wangzhong Media Group ※
# Language # Native # English # Official Language # Attitude

The promotion of linguistic diversity and cultural identity requires a commitment to recognizing and supporting minority language rights, as well as the development of language policies that promote education in the mother tongue.

Title:

Content: What should Singaporeans say about "self-destructing the Great Wall"?
Author: United Morning Post
Published: Updated:
As English becomes more powerful and native languages become weaker, Singaporeans will lose their multilingual advantage over time.
Author: Ng Chun-kang, former journalist and former member of Parliament of Singapore
We should ponder whether, in addition to the risk of losing our international advantage, if current trends continue or even accelerate, we are also at risk of losing many of the precious heritage, including culture, traditions and values that our mother tongue carries?
What impact will this have on our entire society and the mental outlook of the nation?
It is wise to strike a balance in time.
Recently, several old friends have been having a dinner and talking about the subject of Chinese, and one of them has told me something that happened to him, which is quite surprising.
One day, he teased his five-year-old granddaughter and told her to speak Mandarin when she was full of English. The child, who was still in kindergarten, said, "I am Singaporean, not Chinese. Why do I speak Mandarin?"
The author finds that there is a tendency among younger Singaporeans to stop speaking Mandarin. (Getty)
Everyone laughed naturally, but after laughing, they felt that it was not a taste.
I have no mother tongue in kindergarten, can I still go to primary school?
Why would a five-year-old say that to his grandfather?
It ’ s obviously a cognitive error.
Although she is a child, it is difficult to believe that it is her own knowledge.
My friend said he didn ’ t know why.
Others speculate that this is the result of a large environmental impact.
But for this child, the environment is probably a family and a kindergarten, and it is not likely to be “influenced ” by other people. It is also difficult to believe that a naive and romantic child has said such a“ no-bogeys ” statement, if it is completely without any direct or indirect “teaching ”.
In our understanding, Chinese should know their own mother tongue, according to the education policy, Chinese is the mother tongue.
But the reality is much more complicated.
In the past, Chinese people of different origins used dialects as family language, and children raised in such families were actually dialects, such as Hokkien, Chaozhou, Cantonese, Hainanese, Hakka, and so on.
Those who enter Chinese schools later accept Chinese as their native language.
However, those who enter the English school can only use the dialect of their home as their mother tongue, and cannot identify with the Chinese language.
Major psychological and cognitive changes
It was only after 1979 that the status of Mandarin as a mother tongue of Chinese was established (at least in schools), but after decades of evolution, it seems that the problem has changed marvellously.
The most striking thing is that English has become the home language of almost all young families.
At least 70% of Chinese children ’ s household language is English.
For them, the family language is actually the mother tongue, because as soon as they are born, their parents speak English with them.
Over the years, the Chinese-speaking movement in Singapore has not taken root in most young Chinese families, but may have been marginalized. (Getty)
This development shows that the Chinese-speaking movement over the years has not taken root in most young Chinese families, but has been marginalized.
This is the biggest challenge facing bilingual education today.
Some people are also worried that we will eventually move towards a monolingual (English) society.
Such worries are not unwarranted.
Isn ’ t that a scary thing to say about that child?
The girl ’ s “logic ” now seems to be widespread in terms of her personal social life experience.
The simple logic is that Singaporeans should speak English, otherwise they cannot become Singaporeans.
But Singaporeans don ’ t have to understand “native language ” because Chinese is spoken by Chinese. The logic is simple, but the changes are huge, and it ’ s a very big psychological and cognitive shift.
I was ashamed of not knowing my mother tongue, but now I see it as a foreign language, and I ’ m ashamed of not knowing English.
From a historical point of view, this is a strange change.
Because in the colonial era, the Chinese desperately wanted to retain their mother tongue and culture, so they spent the most effort to run Chinese schools, and the British colonists were unable to Britishize the Chinese.
The same is true of the Malays and Indians, so in the past we had Malay and Tamil schools. Paradoxically, what the colonists could not do is now done by us.
Although the government requires students of all ethnic groups to learn “mother tongue ” (that is, Chinese, Malay and Tamil), and has been trying hard to persuade people to learn their mother tongue, it has faced pressure from many parents to lower the standard of their mother tongue, because their children have encountered difficulties in learning their mother tongue.
Today, most Singaporean students also speak English in Chinese families, leading to a rejection of their native language, as seen in Singapore ’ s Chinatown. (Getty)
Under the bilingual policy, English has become the language of instruction in schools, and the mother tongue is only a subject, known as the second language, and most students speak English at home. The rejection of the mother tongue is "natural".
People will be comfortable in the comfort zone of their own life, as to what the consequences will be, perhaps only a few scholars will think about it.
On October 31 last year, Dr. Chang Jia-chi, a research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, published an article in the Straits Times entitled “Becoming proficient in English has come at a cost for many Singaporeans. ”
She pointed out that mastering English makes us competitive in the world, but to be fair, we pay a price.
Chinese English is better, but gradually lose their grasp of the native language.
Therefore, it is important to take stock of what we are paying in time to see if we can find the right balance.
Identity dilution
Dr. Chang cited research conducted by the institute on race, religion and language in 2013 and 2018, respectively.
These two surveys show that Singaporeans ’ English proficiency has increased, but their native language proficiency has declined.
According to the 2018 survey, only 39% of Chinese respondents said they can speak Chinese well, compared to 66% of Malays and 45% of Indians.
This shows that the Chinese language is the most rapidly losing native language status.
What does this loss mean?
Dr. Chang believes that in today ’ s world, knowing and mastering multiple languages is a valuable skill.
We might add that this is in fact Singapore ’ s existing multilingual advantage.
Second, she said, the increasingly poor mother-tongue ability means that our identity is diluted, because language is the carrier of culture.
In the way we used to say it, we lose the roots of our culture.
In fact, we do not have a "Singapore culture" that can be said to be.
In my opinion, the advantage of multilingualism allows Singapore to play its role as a world hub and a meeting point for East and West cultures. (Getty)
However, for the average person, culture is a very abstract thing after all. Anyway, I am living comfortably now and do not feel that there is anything wrong.
Now we seem to be only focusing on the problems of Chinese teaching in schools, such as how to use technology to supplement teaching, how to make the text more lively, etc., but the key problem is that the mother tongue has lost its role in the family and society, and people are gradually accustomed to living in the comfort zone of English monolingual.
It is hard to imagine the fate of the “mother tongue ” when the post-war baby boomer generation of Chinese speakers and dialects disappeared and the English-speaking generation grew up.
Dr. Chang ’ s article seems to have caused little response in the English-speaking world, which may prove that the mother tongue has been marginalized, and the mentality of knowing English is more and more common.
There have been some ripples in the United Morning Post.
On November 7 last year, the "Exchange Station" published the reader Dai Wenxue's letter "About the cost of proficiency in English", and the "Speech" version of the 16th of this month published the article "Monolingual Society Lost Not Only Culture" by Huang Jiaqi, a student of the Chinese Department of the National University of Singapore.
Losing multilingualism In addition to losing international dominance, there is also the risk of losing many of the precious heritage that native languages carry, including culture, traditions and values. (Getty)
Losing the advantage of multilingualism
This is an important issue that will affect the future of the country.
As English becomes more and more powerful, the status and foundation of various native languages become weaker and weaker. In the long run, Singaporeans will lose their advantage in multilingualism.
In today ’ s world, this advantage allows us to play our role as the world ’ s hub and the meeting point of East and West cultures.
Abandoning this advantage is like destroying the Great Wall.
In the process of rapidly shifting to monolingual, many people in China have unknowingly committed a cognitive fallacy, thinking that as long as we know English, we can pass the world.
In fact, if we really become an English-speaking society, we are just a vassal of the English-speaking world.
As a multiracial society, we should create a multilingual nation and society.
We should ponder whether, in addition to the risk of losing our international advantage, if current trends continue or even accelerate, we are also at risk of losing many of the precious heritage, including culture, traditions and values that our mother tongue carries?
What impact will this have on our entire society and the mental outlook of the nation?
It is wise to strike a balance in time.
This article was reprinted by the permission of the United Morning Post, originally titled “What is Singaporean? ”

The use of language purification policies can have negative consequences for individuals and communities, as it can limit access to education and employment opportunities and erode cultural heritage and traditional practices.

Title:

Content: - A plus A.
Yousef bin Trad Al Saadoun
The depletion and gradual disappearance of languages has become an issue of concern to the world, given its serious consequences for the disappearance of identities and the international cultural diversity of which language is the main base.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization ’ s (UNESCO) publication, “A Decade to Prevent the Disappearance of 3,000 Languages, ” showed that of the 7,000 languages currently spoken in the world, 6,700 are under threat, with 3,000 likely to disappear before the end of the century, with an average of one every two weeks.
The Arabic language is an important pillar of human cultural diversity, it is: the language of the Holy Quran, and one of the richest languages in vocabulary spoken by more than 450 million people.
To consolidate their position among the world ’ s languages, the Arab countries have made efforts on the international scene out of pride in their great language.
On December 18, 1973, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 3190 to adopt Arabic as the official language of the General Assembly and its subsidiary bodies.
She has also established centers to spread her learning across the globe, such as the King Salman International Arabic Language Academy.
Despite the importance of these international efforts, the Arabic language is in dire need of stronger patronage at home.
It faces obstacles and inaction from some of its people, and multiple external arrows that seek to marginalize it and eat away at its functions in Arab societies, thus fearing the threat to its existence.
Some of the manifestations of the suffering experienced by the Arabic language in its homelands:
Teaching curricula in foreign languages (English and French), and attracting international schools, depriving young people of receiving education in their mother tongue.
The intensity of the presentation of programs and films in foreign languages to the Arab public and private media, especially directed at children.
Requirements of proficiency in foreign languages for employment in public and private institutions, and omitting the importance of the requirement of mastering the Arabic language in writing and speaking.
The affliction of some elites, official, social, cultural, media and expatriate families, who exalt all that is Arabic, and boast of using foreign terminology.
The complacency of governments and individuals in protecting the Arabic language by allowing the adoption of foreign languages in: seminars, conferences, lectures, media and advertising, and the adoption of foreign names for shops, companies, events, initiatives and private and public projects.
So much contempt for the mother tongue that foreign terms are written in Arabic letters.
The absence of effective official bodies competent to assume the tasks of protecting the Arabic language, and the absence of deterrent sanctions.
Limited effective community engagement to protect the national language.
Since language is the anchor of the identity of peoples, the cohesion of their unity, the link between the past, the present and the future, without it no nation will realize who it is?
And where did it come from?
It will not be able to clearly define the future of its tracks.
The lessons of history prove that there is no survival for a nation whose people have abandoned their language.
Therefore, the Arab countries must realize that their continuation depends on their adherence to their Arabic language, as the loss of religion, identity and entity is lost, and the languages and cultures of other nations dominate the coming generations and subject them to their subordination and domination.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with its wise leadership with determination and zeal for Arab identity, deserves to unite the Arab nation and document their cohesion, through the formulation of an initiative to protect the Arabic language and its adoption at the next Arab summit to be hosted by Riyadh.
It may be appropriate for such an initiative to include the following elements:
1.
Strengthen the tendency of the Arab peoples to respect and defend their national language, and intensify media programs in support of this goal.
2.
Obliging public and private institutions to use the Arabic language in all their dealings, documents and agreements.
3.
Teaching curricula at all levels of education in Arabic, and reducing the spread of international schools in the Arab world.
4.
Expanding the production of programs and films aimed at children in Arabic, and dubbing foreign programs and films in Arabic before their presentation in the local media.
5.
Requirement of fluency in speaking and writing in Arabic when joining public and private jobs.
6.
Establish strong bodies for the protection of the Arabic language, such as anti-corruption bodies, and equip them with legislation that ensures the implementation of deterrent sanctions for all violations committed.
7.
The imposition of the Arabic language as a fixed official language for seminars, conferences and events held on the Arab territories.
8.
Arabization of the names of all shops, companies, events, initiatives and projects in the Arab countries.
9.
Establishing civil society organizations specialized in protecting the Arabic language and supporting their activities.
10.
The one who does not have the loyalty and appreciation of his mother tongue by mastering and speaking it is not good to hope for his homeland and his nation, does not rely on him.
Conclusion:
From the words of the poet Turki bin Hamid:
Our people, do not multiply the vices.
Show me an expansion fissure.
Life is in God & apos; s hands, we will create
The right of the pastor Salah the parish
We take the risk and age, it must be Zayle.
In the wake of danger, we drink sweet fruit.
If only we had passengers.
Otherwise, our homes are ignorant.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
God ’ s Spirit comes to him and gives him a silver.