Swiss Status Quo

The below story about Switzerland is, like so many articles of this kind, replete with assurances by all concerned that English will not likely tarnish the importance of Switzerland's national tongues, the author even suggesting that measures might at some point be taken to maintain the status quo if it was ever put in jeopardy (one is left wondering if she has ever given the concepts of language or personal freedom any thought). Yet whatever the denials and caveats, the story that we reproduce underneath does describe a situation in which Switzerland's national languages are retreating from vital cultural fields, especially in Academia. In linguistic terms, this means that languages other than English are becoming incomplete languages, i.e. languages that are not suitable for certain areas of life because they lack the necessary vocabulary. The more research is conducted in English only, the more new terms are coined solely in English and the more difficult it gets to describe realities that belong to those new fields of knowledge in languages other than English, both because all the new vocabulary hasn't yet been translated in other languages and because the experts and professionals themselves increasingly lack practice of their very own mother tongue in this or that particular technical subject.
Neither can it be discounted that English is affecting other languages and making them more like itself when ever more people use it in addition to their respective mother tongues in their everyday lives and English idioms and words worm their way into their native tongues. This represents a loss of language diversity which is less obvious than outright language extinction but is also significant in the long run.

The Sarine river running through the medieval Swiss town of Fribourg acts as a language border between its inhabitants, with German speakers living on the east bank and French on the west. Fribourg (Freiburg in German) is one of several towns that straddle Switzerland’s language divide. It is officially bilingual and as such its river also goes by its German name, the Saane.

Switzerland’s multilingual heritage sets it apart in Europe, with the four national languages – German, French, Italian and the little-spoken ­Romansch – contributing to about 10% of the country’s gross domestic product, according to a 2008 study.
English has entered the mix over the last two decades. Its influence has been spread by the numerous international firms headquartered in tax-friendly Swiss municipalities, its increasing use in academia and its general acceptance as an additional language in wider communication.

“Over the last 20 years English has made quite a lot of inroads in Switzerland,” said Daniel Stotz, an English-teacher trainer in Zurich and researcher into the role of language and Swiss identity.

“In most cases now English is used in wider communication among non-native speakers. Quite a lot of Swiss adults have experienced the fact that English has become a company language. Sometimes it was forced upon them as well. I think some of this interest and perhaps pressure has trickled down to family life.

“It is connected a lot to young people’s life chances. There is a perception that English is important, that it allows you to get better jobs. It has a highly symbolic value as well,” Stotz said.

In a ruling last year, the government decided that the most important Swiss laws should be translated into English in response to growing demand for translation of legislation.

Strong demand for English lessons in schools has also undermined the priority given to national languages in the curriculum. Switzerland’s 26 cantons have agreed to introduce measures over the next few years whereby English will be taught in all primary schools alongside a second national language. Eight and nine-year-olds are already learning it as their first foreign language – ahead of another national language – in 10 cantons.

Swiss multilingualism has been the subject of a four-year research programme by the National Science Foundation that aims to understand the role of language and help the government to map out “a new equilibrium”, according to Walter Haas, president of the steering committee.

The programme is currently compiling a final report from 26 research projects, which is due for review by government at the end of 2009. The findings show English has a place in Swiss culture, although not necessarily a dominant one.
In one Bern University study, Swiss people viewed English as the most useful foreign language, although most opted to use one of the other national languages when first trying to communicate with someone from a different part of the country.
Another study by the University of Teacher Education found that early English teaching later helped German-speaking pupils to learn French, while a third project by lawyers proposed making English a semi-official language in order to attract more foreign professionals to the country.

Another contributor, University of Geneva economics professor François Grin, calculated that Switzerland’s multilingual heritage gave it a competitive advantage worth $42bn – a tenth of GDP.

“If society is going to invest money anywhere, investing in foreign languages, which in Switzerland means essentially one other national language and English, the rate of return is simply fantastic. By and large, we find that multilingualism is a very well paying asset,” Grin said.

Past research by Grin also pinpointed that English was more valued in German-speaking parts of Switzerland. As German is the majority language spoken by 63% of the population, it was more advantageous for Swiss ­Germans to know English than French or Italian.

It was different in French-speaking regions. The 1997 study established that while English added 18% to salaries in German-speaking regions, it equated to a 10% pay difference in French areas, compared to 14% increases with German or Italian as a second language. Between 1990 and 2000 the use of English increased in the workplace by about 28% and overall use rose in line with other languages, according to census reports.

According to Grin, this shows that multilingualism is expanding as a whole. “English is a very frequently used language but it is not replacing national languages. It plays a supplementary and complementary role,” he said.

One area where English is gaining prominence is within academia. Switzerland backs the 1999 Bologna Declaration, which aims to create a European space for higher education, and the Rectors’ Conference of Swiss Universities has in the past acknowledged English as the “language of academia”. It supports offering more courses in English as the best way of attracting foreign students.

Grin says use of English in academia has grown significantly, but as an advocate for linguistic diversity, he warns that the dominance of any one language in intellectual circles risks “eroding creativity”.

“I believe we are better off with ­diversity than without, and that it is important to develop language ­policies that are conducive to the maintenance of diversity. This means if a hegemonic language becomes too overbearing, you have to keep this in check.

“Switzerland defines itself not despite its multilingualism, but as a product of its multilingualism. It’s a very deeply rooted cultural value. Without multilingualism, [there is] no Switzerland,” he said.

It is a view shared by the cross-cantonal educational authority, the Swiss ­Conference of Cantonal Education Directors. “In a multilingual state, the coordination and development of language teaching is particularly important,” a spokeswoman said.

“Therefore the notion of a ‘lingua franca’ will not be limited to English, but rather to an ensemble of languages used within a real context in order to achieve a linguistic exchange.”

She said under Swiss linguistic strategy English had and would continue to have “an important status as an international language”.

But, she added, it is still only part of a bigger picture in which Switzerland shares goals set by the Council of Europe to prioritise multilingualism by ensuring a range of languages, including English, are taught.

Jessica Dacey

Hat tip: Edward J. Cunningham

Merry Christmas to you all

Removing the Language Barrier

insidehighered.com, June 27, 2007:

As European universities continue moving toward standardizing their degree cycles, universities in the continent’s non-English speaking countries are increasingly offering master’s degree programs in which English is the language of instruction — in a bid to increase their competitiveness throughout Europe, and beyond.

“It’s taken off in the past 5 to 10 years, since the advent of the Bologna Process,” says Mariam Assefa, executive director of World Education Services, a non-profit organization specializing in foreign credential evaluation. The Bologna Process, named for the Italian city where the agreement for “harmonizing” European higher education was signed in 1999, aims in part to foster greater student mobility by creating a common structure for higher education in Europe.

“Basically when they decided to open their systems internationally, it was thought that English-language taught programs would make the programs more accessible, because the students don’t necessarily come equipped in German or Dutch or French – particularly if they wish to attract students from beyond Europe,” Assefa explains.

The English-language professional degree programs are primarily in business, the sciences and engineering, but as more and more pop up, more and more options are obviously available. A database of “international” master’s programs (which, by and large, are taught in English) maintained by Finland’s Centre for International Mobility yields 151 master’s degree programs in everything from radio frequency electronics to forest products technology to tourism. The number of master’s degree programs taught in English in Germany has risen to 362, with most of the programs less than a decade old. The University of Heidelberg, for instance, offers master’s degree programs in American Studies, international health and molecular and cellular biology, all in English.

Even France, a nation not known for its love of the English language, has jumped into the arena with a 206-page guide to programs taught in English. “Students no longer have to choose between coming to France and studying in a language they understand,” André Siganos, director-general of Agence CampusFrance wrote in a message to potential students in the front of the guide.

“That,” says Peggy Blumenthal, executive vice president for the Institute of International Education, “was a big break-through in France over the past decade or so.”

The faculty composition for these programs can vary, with M.B.A. programs often taught by a mix of international and host country faculty, and engineering programs, on the other hand, mainly taught by host country faculty fluent in English, Blumenthal says. The cost of these programs for international students can also vary dramatically, from nothing at all (the old European price model) to 20,000 Euro or so, or about $27,000 (much more akin to the American model). Yet, by offering instruction in English, the international language of business, universities aren’t solely looking to attract American or British students in search of a cheap(er) or even free program — far from it.

In Germany, for instance, the majority of students are coming from China, India and Latin America, with a “considerable” number also hailing from Eastern Europe, says Ulrich Grothus, director of the German Academic Exchange Service’s New York office. “There’s a much smaller number of students coming from developed countries like the United States or Western Europe – in these particular programs,” says Grothus. “It is true that the majority of American students coming to Germany do so not in spite of the fact that we speak German but because we speak German.”

Hat tip: Edward J. Cunningham

French accent syndrome

I have just stumbled on this indubitable proof that French is the language best suited to people with deficient brains:

Once in a great while people that have had a traumatic injury to the brain, thank God recover, however, with one small quirk. They develop a foreign accent. There are many parts of the brain which are involved in speech. It is not merely a matter of alterations of the part of the brain which control the muscles that produce sounds, something else happens. Some cases have been an English country side boy who developed a posh accent, an American who developed a British Yorkshire accent and a Norwegian lady that developed a German accent. But perhaps one of the most common is English speakers who develop a French accent. In fact it is also referred to the French accent syndrome.

This calls to mind the story of the French civil servant whose skull was filled with water and almost no gray matter at all.

Raoul Tubiana on the decreasing use of French in science

M.O. You are always publishing; how do you feel about the supremacy of the English language in the medical literature?
R.T. I am, of course, very concerned about the declining use of French world-wide. What can we do about it? When I was running the Annales de Chirurgie de la Main, I tried a number of solutions. First, we published French articles with long abstracts in English and in Spanish. Then we brought out a bilingual journal in English and in French, in which each article was translated into the other language, which used a lot of paper and cost a lot of money. Finally, I tried the solution of a French journal and an English journal published independently of each other. That was equally expensive, and the English version of the journal did not sell well abroad. In fact, the Revue de l'Orthopédie had a similar experience. Should we go back to a bilingual solution? I think not, because the great majority of foreign surgeons are now used to reading English. Should we stop publishing a French journal? Surely not. We must maintain a French-language journal. Of course, it will only have a relatively small readership, although there are still French-speaking communities here and there, who must not be neglected. The journal will be read if the articles are good, because, at the end of the day, the only thing that matters is quality. That is also true of books.

M.O. The problem of English is actually a problem of American supremacy, because even the English complain that the Americans don't read their papers ...
R.T. This is a difficult subject and a very sensitive one, because it is one of the central preoccupations of the French: How do we preserve our identity while becoming part of a world order in which we are no longer the decision-makers? There is no simple answer, particularly as the whole matter is complicated by politics, by national sensibility, and by misunderstandings. Of course, now and then one may be very irritated by the way American culture dominates everything; and it is galling to find that the Americans will not cite papers that were not published in English. But isn't it also possible that the Americans themselves are just as irritated by a certain intellectual smugness of the French - a smugness which unfortunately is usually because of what we once were rather than because of what we are doing now. And could not the Americans be annoyed by our endless criticism, which they see as ingratitude, after their crucial role alongside us in both World Wars? Obviously we should not slavishly accept everything that comes out of America; we should stand up for our values and defend the French language. But our cause will not be best served by routine opposition to everything American. We should accept from them what we find useful, and reject things we have no use for. Let's not be too unfair to the Americans: When all is said and done, they have made a major contribution in the area of medicine; they have given us new techniques; they have taught us how to write scientific papers; and, most of all, they have made a very substantial contribution to the field of research. Also, they are very receptive whenever we have something interesting to offer them. I am against any knee-jerk anti-Americanism, which is too convenient a way of masking our own weaknesses. It is at the commercial level that American dominance is most dangerous: Almost all the French instrument-makers and medical publishers are now under American control. I feel that other European countries have made a better job of standing up for themselves.

M.O. How do you see the future of orthopaedics, and especially of hand surgery, within Europe?
R.T. I think that teaching in Europe will gradually be harmonised. The conditions under which the various disciplines are practised will depend on the internal politics of each country for a long time yet. But what concerns me most is the question of seeing that French research is published more widely abroad. It is a very serious problem. We have excellent congresses: SOFCOT and Hand Study Group meetings are still the most brilliant in their field in Europe; but they now attract fewer visitors from abroad. In addition, our studies are not sufficiently widely published. It is not the quality of the surgery which is in question - some of the best surgery in the world is done in France. We have to look elsewhere for the cause of this paradox. Certainly, the use of French has declined. There is no two ways about it. When I think of the tours I used to do in Latin America or the Middle East, only 25 years ago, when everybody spoke French ... Now, you have to translate your French into English in order to be understood, even in the Latin countries. But it is not good enough just to blame the declining use of the French language, because there is another, more serious, reason why French studies are not being published more widely, and that is our lackadaisical attitude to research. Any scientific paper that wants to be taken seriously has to have a research content - and yet, French surgeons have not had the right kind of education to give them the scientific approach that is needed for research. Of course, there is a group of professional researchers at the French Science and Medical Research Councils, but they have no real concept of clinical practice, and they are only concerned with laboratory studies. That is a terrible handicap, because the liaison with the clinical world should be provided by physicians and surgeons who work in the clinical arena. It must be said that professional researchers sometimes display the condescending attitude so typical of French civil servants, which is hardly conducive to cooperation. Also, it is true that in France it is very difficult for a surgeon to spend some time in a laboratory. However, and I must repeat this, it will increasingly be necessary for surgeons to have acquired a "research-mindedness" during their training, so that they will be able to collaborate effectively with basic researchers, computer scientists, and engineers.
Some surgeons will go further and become true researchers, which is what is happening now in America or Sweden.

M.O. How can you promote research?
R.T. Neither the academics nor the orthopaedic surgeons have been in any great hurry to develop research, except perhaps in the traditional French domain of anatomy. The excuse is that we haven't got the money or the premises. This is not strictly true: There are laboratories, but they are underused. As regards funding, there are sources, particularly European ones, which the French make very little use of. I have to say it yet again, what we really need is to develop a research-mindedness. In addition, the surgeon researchers who do exist need to be given some official status and be paid for their research activities. In other words, the national education system should create a number of permanent Academic Surgery posts with a career structure. I also think that senior registrars and perhaps even the more junior surgeons should be made to spend time in a laboratory, as part of their specialty training.