Conferencia:The Unexpected Benefits of Multilingualism

Programas de Lenguas Modernas Virtual y

Presencial

Fecha y lugar de realización:

Octubre 28 , 2013 Virtual

Sala 16 Collaborate Duración:

06:00 p.m. – 08:00 p.m.

Cristina Artenie is a doctoral candidate at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. She holds a Master's in Canadian literature, namely in immigrant fiction, and a B.A. in English Studies, also form Laval University. She is a published author in Canada, the United States, and France. She has been working on Multicultural issues regarding society.

¡La Facultad de Estudios en Ambientes Virtuales te invita a

participar de la conferencia!

Imagen tomada de :http://espanol.istockphoto.com

Cristina Artenie

Conferencista

This conference aims to show that multilingualism generates unexpected benefits for the individual and for the community. The ability to speak more than one language impacts the Self, transforming the individual into a culturally aware person. It also affects the community, which changes its political and environmental consciousness.

The Unexpected Benefits

of Multilingualism

Montreal in the FallSecond largest city in Canada, it has a population of 1,650,000. With the suburbs, it approaches 2 million. The metropolitan area, however, reaches 3,800,000 people.

Some interesting data about Montreal

People of European origins form the largest cluster of ethnic groups in Montreal. The largest reported European ethnicities in Montreal according to the 2006 census were French, 23%; Italians, 10%,; Irish, 5%, English, 4%; Scottish, 3%; and Spanish 2%.Some 26% of the population of Montreal and 16.5% that of Greater Montreal, are members of a visible minority (non-white) group.

Carifiesta

Each July, Caribbean communities celebrate their roots with other Canadians.

African Nights in MontrealOne of the biggest weeks in Montreal is African Nights. Downtown, thousands of people listen to music, dance, and eat, children and adults having fun together.

Montreal’s Flag The flag represents the founding nations of the city: French, English, Scottish, and Irish.

MULTILINGUALISM AND THE SELFHow Speaking Several Languages Affects Our

Being

Language and the Self• As children, we acquire our sense of self, who we are, through language.

• For each stage of a child’s development there corresponds a specific stage of language acquisition. As children grow up and expand their vocabulary, they start making sense of the world, of the familiar, of their tastes, likes and dislikes. The Self is different from the Other.

• Bilingual children often have a more developed sense of self as they can pick and choose what they want to identify, classify, keep or reject. Speaking more than one language gives children confidence.

Advantages of Multilingualism

• - a keener awareness and sharper perception of language. Foreign language learning “enhances children’s understanding of how language itself works and their ability to manipulate language in the service of thinking and problem solving” (Cummins 1981). This translates into a Self that is more capable of understanding and solving all kinds of problems, from small to big.

• - Second language learners prove to be more capable of separating meaning from form. The level of understanding of how language works, of the power and of the control automatically embedded in any message increases progressively and incrementally, as the knowledge of the second language increases.

Other significant advantages

• Multilingual people show that they are better able to deal with distractions, they can work in competitive and dynamic environments, thus making them better workers.

• the exercise of learning another language helps offset age-related declines in mental dexterity, such as Alzheimer.

• Multilingual speakers make better listeners• Multilingualism improves memory. • “Multilinguals are not restricted to a single world-view, but also have a better understanding that other outlooks are possible. Indeed, this has always been seen as one of the main educational advantages of language teaching” (Cook 2001);

• Multilinguals, by being simultaneously insiders and outsiders, are able to see their own culture from a new perspective not available to monoglots, enabling the comparison, contrast, and understanding of cultural concepts. This means that they can have a greater understanding of others, of either minorities in their own countries, or foreigners who visit their countries, and, in the context of global movement, of immigrants.

Multilingualism and the Community

The Unexpected Advantages

Political World Map, 2011

There are 6,912 languages in the world today

The Distribution of Languages

• Africa 2,092 (30.3 percent); • Americas 1,002 (14.5);• Asia 2,269 (32.8); • Europe 239 (3.5); • Pacific 1,310 (19.0);• Total 6,912

Distribution of Endangered Languages

•Africa 46; •The Americas 170;• Asia 78; •Europe 12; •The Pacific 210

Language Diversity and Language Vitality

• There are between 5,000 and 7,000 languages in the world and only about 200 independent states; thus multilingualism is indeed a very common phenomenon.

• The countries where the most languages are spoken are the following: Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nigeria, India, and Mexico.

• Mexico has, in fact, 287 languages - 68 indigenous languages are considered part of Mexico's national languages and are protected

• Mexico has over 6 million citizens - 8%, who speak primarily other languages than Spanish.

Colombia TriviaHow many speakers of indigenous languages are there in Colombia?Over one million Over 100,000Less than 50,000 Half a million

• The number of individual languages listed for Colombia is 12 83 101 130

Colombia Trivia• 84 are living – Spanish is one of them• 17 are extinct

Of the living languages• 4 are institutional• 24 are developing• 7 are vigorous• 36 are in trouble• 13 are dying.

Colombia TriviaHow many speaker of Uitoto are left today?50? 130? 300?

Which indigenous language lost its last speaker five years ago?Barasana Wayuu Tinigua

Info: www.ethnologue.com

The British Empire and the Spread of English

The Spread of English• The spread of English has been visualized in terms of three circles representing the historical and sociolinguistic profile of English in different parts of the world (Kachru, 1985).

• The inner circle includes the countries that are traditionally considered the bases of English, where English is the first language for the majority of the populations: UK, USA, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia.

• The outer circle includes those countries where English is not the first language of the majority of the population but English is a second language that is used at the institutional level as the result of colonization.

• The expanding circle includes those countries where English has no official status and is taught as a foreign language.

Linguistic diversity and multilingualism in Europe

• The current 48 states in Europe have 38 different official state languages.

• In total there are about 240 spoken indigenous languages.

• The five languages spoken by most people in Europe are, by number of mother tongue speakers, Russian, German, English, French, Italian.

Multilingualism usually involves English as one of the languages• Native speakers of a minority language who are also proficient in the majority language and use English as a language of wider communication. This is the case of native speakers of autochthonous languages such as Basque, Breton, Sardinian, Catalan, Frisian, Ladin or Sámi and also native speakers of well spread European languages whose language is a minority language at the national level such as German in France, Italy or Belgium.

• Native speakers of a majority language who learn a minority language at school and also learn and use English as a language of wider communication. This is the case of native speakers of Spanish who learn Catalan or Basque at school or native speakers of Dutch who learn Frisian at school and also learn and use English.

• Native speakers of more or less spread European languages who learn other languages of wider communication. For example, native speakers of Dutch in Belgium who learn French as a second language and English as a third language or native speakers of Swedish in Vaasa who learn Finnish and English. This group also include speakers of more widespread languages such as French or German who learn other languages including English.

• Immigrants from non-European countries who learn the official language of the new country and learn and use English. For example, Turkish immigrants in Germany or The Netherlands.

Linguistic diversity and biodiversity

The arguments to support ecological diversity can also be extended to linguistic diversity. Crystal (2000) highlights two of the arguments used to support biodiversity for their applicability to linguistic diversity:

• 1. The whole concept of ecosystem is based on networks of relationships and ‘damage to any one of the elements in an ecosystem can result in unforeseen consequences for the system as a whole’. (Crystal 2000: 33).

• 2. Diversity is necessary for evolution and the strongest ecosystems are those which are more diverse.The death of a language is a significant loss because they imply a loss of inherited knowledge. Cultures are transmitted through languages and languages also reflect the history of the people who have used them. Linguistic diversity is not less important than ecological diversity.

Language diversity requires planning and care and involves some actions such as:

1. Adding flowers to the garden: Learning other languages can be an enriching experience2. Protecting rare flowers: Protecting languages at risk through legislation and education3. Nurturing flowers in danger of extinction: Intervention may be necessary and may imply positive economic discrimination4. Controlling flowers that spread quickly and naturally: Spread can be allowed if it does not kill other species.

Biodiversity in countries with highest linguistic diversity

• Endemic vertebrates Flowering plants Endemic bird areas• Papua New Guinea 13th 18th 6th

• Indonesia 4th 7th 1st • India 7th 12th 11th • Australia 1st 11th 9th

Note: 1,060 new species found on or near the island Papua New Guinea between 1998 and 2008 (on average, 2 per week). 841 different languages spoken by 6.3 million people

Five main reasons to justify the importance of language diversity  i. Ecological diversity.ii. Languages express identityiii. Languages are repositories of historyiv. Languages contribute to the sum of human knowledgev. Languages are interesting in themselves.

THANK YOU !