105 Not Out: Guest Blogger 4

Guest Blogger: Tim Jones

Multi-talented Multilingual Men
Recently I had an interesting discussion with a man who has been retired from his career for a number of years, a man who had travelled a lot as part of his job.

He had spent a number of years in Germany, Cyprus and a number of other exciting and exotic places and was bemoaning the fact that nobody spoke English. I could kind of understand his point of view. In the Army bases where he worked (in case you hadn't figured that out), the majority of people would be Anglophones. This though doesn't mean that he shouldn't try. He was very much of the opinion that as English is one of the most widely spoken mother tongues and, arguably, the language of world business, everyone else should make the effort.

Everyone knows, and can probably identify with the British language tactic when abroad. LOUDER and SLOOOOOWWWWWEEEERRR! As painful as it is to admit, some/most/all of us have used it on occasion.

This, however, is John's blog. He is a linguist and has asked me, another linguist to guest write for him. I know that this blog is read by an audience in various locations around the globe.
The census that will be taken in 3 years time will ask participants to provide details about which language they speak. In relation to this, the census information and questions will be provided in one of 24 languages

1. Albanian/Kosovan
2. Arabic
3. Bengali
4. Cantonese
5. Croatian
6. Farsi
7. French
8. German
9. Greek
10. Gujerati
11. Hindi
12. Italian
13. Japanese
14. Polish
15. Portuguese
16. Punjabi
17. Russian
18. Serbian
19. Somali
20. Spanish
21. Swahili
22. Turkish
23. Urdu
24. Vietnamese

Plus Welsh I imagine.

In a survey conducted by Battlebridge Publications, results showed that over 300 languages were spoken by the 850,000 children asked in London.

On a fairly regular basis I am required to use another language than English. Speaking French and German and small amounts of Nordic languages, and in a central London working environment, I am sometimes needed to give directions, answer questions and on the odd occasion, translate for people who have fallen victim to crime.

I really feel that the opportunity to learn another language should be seized. Whether ordering a McDonalds when in Paris to speaking Faroese or Igbo, it demonstrates a real respect for other cultures. It is a respect that is frequently forgotten in our frankly arrogant "I speak English so everyone else should" society.

À plus tard,
Bis später,
Until next time,

Timmy Magic

Tim has his own blog here.