Language Research

Immigrants, particularly those from Asia, brought their own language to Britain. In the case of children whose parents do not speak English in the home, schools have made extensive provisions for English language support to meet this need. Provision is also increasingly being made for the support of mother tongue teaching in school, as a means of ensuring access to the curriculum and facilitating the acquisition of English.

At the secondary level, the Education Reform Act provides that the National Curriculum shall include a modern foreign language as a foundation subject for pupils aged 11-16. The modern Foreign Languages Order made in November 1991 under Section 3 of the Act lists 19 languages, any of which may qualify as the foundation subject. They comprise eight working languages of the European Union and eleven other languages of cultural and commercial importance (Arabic, Bengali, Gujerati, Hindi, Japanese, Mandarin or Cantonese Chinese, Modern Hebrew, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish and Urdu). Schools may offer any of the eleven non-EU languages to meet the National Curriculum requirements, provided that they also offer at least one of the working languages of the EU. There are funds available through the Grant for Education Support and Training program for books, equipment and staff development to support the delivery of modern foreign languages. Pupils from ethnic minority backgrounds may choose to study their mother tongue if the school is able to offer it as a foundation subject, in preference to the EU language offered by the school. Schools are free to offer any languages not included in the Section 3 Order as second or subsequent languages after they have met the National Curriculum Requirements.

There are no restrictions on the right to equal participation in cultural opportunities on the grounds of race, color or ethnic origin. Special provision is made for minority communities where possible, such radio or TV broadcast in minority languages. One of the main aims of the Broadcasting Act 1990 was to provide opportunities for communities of all kinds to have access to broadcasting stations, offering program material designated to meet their specific tastes and interests.

In the commercial sector, the licensing body Independent Television Commission can issue, on request, licenses for program channels for cable television and for some satellite channels provided that certain consumer protection requirements will be met. A number of channels have already been set up serving the Turkish, Greek, Asian, Afro-Caribbean and Arabic communities.

The Radio Authority, the licensing body, is not able to specify the nature of a station's programs. However, it is required, in selecting licensees, to have regard for the extent to which any proposed radio station would cater to the tastes and interests of people living in the area. As well as the extent to which it would broaden the range of programs already available on independent local radio there.

Most of the members of ethnic minority communities in the UK are British citizens and enjoy the same rights to participate in democratic life, vote, and stand for election as any other British citizen. In addition there is a range of formal and informal systems designed to ensure that the views of ethnic minority communities are taken into account in the formation of policy.

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Updated (January 2001)

IRISH IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Ireland body with responsibility for promoting the Irish language has called for a fund for the Irish language broadcasting in Northern Ireland, similar to that which already exists for Gaelic in Scotland.

ULSTER SCOTS

The language is spoken in Northern Ireland and it seems that it is finally achieving recognition, which had been deserved for a long time. The Ulster Scots language movement published a development plan with the strategy to increase an understanding of the language and its use. The Agency will embark upon a major survey of public attitudes to Ulster Scots.

SCOTS

The Scottish National Dictionary, the main archive of the Scots language, is to be updated with new words compiled over the last 25 years. The first compilation was done in 1976. The Scottish Heritage Lottery Fund is supporting the new dictionary with a 90,000-pounds grant.

WELSH

In February the British Government tabled a motion to approve the use of Welsh language in the Parliament of Westminster by the Welsh Grand Committee. Currently, members of the Welsh Committee can only use their language in internal meetings and in their investiture oath provided that they also say it in English.

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Updated (December 2001)

MANX

The 2001 Census results on the Isle of Man show another increase in the number of Manx speakers. For the first time in 80 years, more than 2 percent of the population of the island can speak Manx. The number of persons who can speak, read or write Manx is 1,689 (2.2 percent of the population) compared with 741 in 1991 (1 percent), 284 in 1971 (0.5 percent) and only 165 (0.34 percent) in 1961.

The most encouraging development is the strongest growth in numbers of young people (46 percent or 784 of speakers were recorded under the age of 19). This represents a significant 20 percent increase of Manx speakers under 19-year-olds since the 1991 Census. It shows very clearly the tremendous success of both the Department of Education and the pre-school group Mooinjer Veggey's development of Manx Gaelic education over the past decade.

Manx National Heritage and the Manx Heritage Foundation's Manx Language Development Officer, Phil Gawne says that these figures showed clearly parents' and children's willingness to learn national language. He also emphasizes that the Government was very supportive of the development of the Manx language, particularly over the past five years.

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Updated (February 2002)

The Arts Council of Wales has decided to contribute £250,000 (404,503 €) to create a Welsh language theatre company that will commission new plays to be performed throughout Wales.

In order to finance the new company, the main theatre company in Wales, Cwmni Theatr Gwynedd which is based in north Wales, will loose its grant of £200,000 (323,552 €). Nevertheless, this development should be welcomed, says Wynford Ellis Owen, a leading actor, director and scriptwriter who has performed with Cwmni Theatr Gwynedd.

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Updated (September 2002)

WALES

A northwest Wales town council asked the National Assembly of Wales to adopt a word “Cymru” as the official name for the country instead of Wales. Cymru is the word used by Welsh-speakers since the 6th Century and means “land of friends or comrades.” Wales is the Anglo-Saxon word meaning “land of other people or foreigners.”

The idea came from a councilor Alwyn Gruffudd, a leader of Porthmadog town council. According to him, the country is finally mature enough to make this important step.

More and more use is being made of the name Cymru. The Welsh football team playing in Finland on September 7 displayed it on their tracksuits, many Welsh sportsmen used it in the recent British Commonwealth Games and a lot of companies have it in their names rather than Wales.

The proposal is to use Cymru officially, but people can, if they wish, use the word Wales as well.

Source: Eurolang News, Bangor, September 12, 2002, by Dafydd Meirion, www.eurolang.net

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Updated (January 2006)

IT IS EASIER TO LEARN MATHS IN WELSH

A lot of people in Wales say that it is too difficult to learn Mathematics and Science through the medium of Welsh. Therefore it is common to teach these subjects in English even in some Welsh primary schools.

On the contrary, the recent research done by academics at Oxford University suggests that young children learn to count quicker in Welsh than in English. The reason is that in Welsh the words perfectly reflect the number. For instance, 13 in Welsh is "un deg tri – one ten three." And the English word does not tell you how the number is constructed.

The researchers from the university gave tests to six and eight-year-old children in schools having different language policies. The results revealed that those who were taught in Welsh had a better understanding of how numbers work. In the publication "Education Transactions", which provides details of the work, academics describe the results of their study on the effect of the modern method of counting in Welsh on children's understanding at primary level of the fundamental concept of place value. They suggest, particularly, that children who learn the basic elements of number in Welsh rather than in English gain an advantage.

Source: Eurolang News, Penygroes, Cymru, December 09, 2005, by Dafydd Meirion http://www.eurolang.net/

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Updated (April 2006)

NEW MEMBER TAKES PARLIAMENTARY OATH IN SCOTS

Maureen Watt, who was on 19 April 2006 sworn in as a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), has become the first one to take the parliamentary oath in the Scots language. She is a native speaker of Scots and has made clear that she intends to promote the language in her role as a Scottish National Party MSP representing North East Scotland.

Parliamentary rules state that all members must take an oath before taking up their post. It must be in English first and it may then be repeated in any other language. Up to date several members have chosen to take their oaths in Gaelic and one in Catalan, but this is the first time that Scots has been used.

Source: Eurolang News, April 19, 2006 by Màrtainn MacLeòid http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2591&Itemid=1&lang=en

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Updated (October 2006)

SCOTTISH LANGUAGE BOARD HAS ISSUED FORMAL NOTICE TO AUTHORITIES TO PREPARE AND IMPLEMENT LANGUAGE PLANS

The statutory Gaelic development agency, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, has issued formal notice under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 requiring public authorities to prepare and implement Gaelic Language Plans. The Act covers only public bodies devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

The first six public bodies have already been formally notified that they must develop plans in 2006/2007: the Scottish Executive (the Scottish government), the Scottish Parliament, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and the three local authorities serving the Highlands. The Board has also announced a further twenty-five groups to which it plans to issue notifications in 2007/2008 and in 2008/2009.

Regarding the plans, Allan Campbell, Chief Executive of the Bòrd na Gàidhlig, said that they would reflect the aspirations of the National Plan for Gaelic. It would mean that Gaelic users could access some public services in their own language more often. It is also expected that authorities producing Gaelic plans would encourage people to use Gaelic when dealing with them, and that the authorities would expand their Gaelic services and resources.

"This is not about imposing Gaelic on organizations or people; it is about facilitation not coercion. It's simply about creating opportunities for Gaelic speakers and those interested in Gaelic to use the language in as many situations as possible. Bòrd na Gàidhlig also recognizes that there are significant tourism and other business benefits to using Gaelic in signage and through other mediums. All of these six public bodies have already put much time, resources and energy into using the language throughout their organizations, and we now expect to work with them to build on that previous activity and set further examples of good practice for other organizations," Campbell added.

Bòrd na Gàidhlig has identified the thirty-one public authorities which it will formally target between 2006 and 2009 with the selection being made on the basis of the potential impact which these bodies could deliver to the vitality of Gaelic in the community and home; to education at all levels; and to the general community life of the Highlands and Islands area in particular.

This focus on the Highlands has disappointed some people as around half of all Gaelic speakers live in the Lowlands. Activists are worried that this may adversely affect the development of Gaelic in the towns and cities. There is also a concern that such a policy might serve to ghettoize Gaelic as a Highland language as opposed to one of Scotland's national languages with relevance to the whole country.

Source: Eurolang News, October 18, 2006 by Màrtainn MacLeòid http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2741&Itemid=1&lang=en and http://www.bord-na-gaidhlig.org.uk/

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Updated (September 2007)

THE WELSH LANGUAGE BOARD RECEIVES AN EU GRANT TO RUN THE “NETWORK TO PROMOTE LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY”

A grant funding from the European Commission worth around half a million euros has been awarded to the Welsh Language Board to run the new Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD) – an international and innovative project specifically concentrating on regional and minority languages – which will officially start working in November.

The NPLD builds on the work of the previous network of language planning boards and will concentrate on establishing joint language projects and building stronger links between Europe's less widely used languages.

Meirion Prys Jones, Chief Executive of the Welsh Language Board has said this grant enables them to boost their work on an international level, as it will provide a pan–European structure for governments and organizations to share information.

This project brings together partners from 18 similar language organizations, which represent 11 other minority languages from across eleven EU–member states. The languages represented by the new network include Catalan, Irish, Slovenian, Swedish, Breton, Finnish, Scottish Gaelic, Occitan, Hungarian, Estonian, and Welsh, with more partners expected to join soon. EBLUL, the Mercator centers and Linguamón take part in the project.

Meirion Prys Jones added, “We see this as a good starting point from which we aim to increase the membership of the network so that it includes minority and smaller state languages from all across Europe, both east and west. With funding of over half a million euros over three years I'm confident we will be able to develop strong and close working relationships between the network members to inform and guide our work of preserving the smaller languages of Europe.”

Welsh Minister for Heritage, Rhodri Glyn Thomas, said, “This grant is a huge boost to the impressive and innovative work that the Welsh Language Board is doing on an international and European level. The Board, with the Government's support, is the driving force behind many initiatives that bring language planners together to learn and share information.”

Source: Eurolang News, September 24, 2007 by Davyth Hicks http://www.eurolang.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2958&Itemid=1&lang=en

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