Language Museum Blog

When we think of learning languages, we tend to mean speaking them, getting to know the basics first so that we can ‘get by’ with the little that we know, then gradually increasing our knowledge until we eventually reach a point of fluency. When people look enviously at others and say that they wished they could speak another language like that, or have the ability to switch effortlessly between two languages, they are ultimately referring to the ability to speak the language.

However, learning languages doesn´t just involve speech. It goes without saying that you also have to be able to listen to and understand it when it´s being spoken to you, but the ability to read and write it mustn´t be forgotten or dismissed.

When travelling abroad, a basic knowledge of the language is helpful for simple tasks, such as reading shop signs, understanding menus when you´re ordering food in restaurants,  being able to follow road signs and directions, and understanding how to buy and validate a ticket for the correct route at a train station. These are just some of the everyday things we deal with without thinking, but being able to read and understand the basics can go a long way in a foreign country.

Students often find the reading and writing aspects of learning languages daunting, but with the right teacher and the correct tuition, there really is no need to be worried. Once you´ve grasped the basics, you´ll find that the words will just logically fall into place. So take the plunge and enrol in some language classes; you´ll be word perfect before you know it!

Critics of the new national curriculum scheduled to begin in primary and some secondary schools in September 2014 say that it is too soon, that no one is prepared enough yet, and that it will cause chaos where schools and their teachers are not ready. Advocates of the changes state they are glad that the national curriculum is finally being given an overhaul which will put the UK back on track with the rest of Europe. The proposed changes will be taught to children aged between 5 and 14 years old, but secondary schools can opt out if they wish.

But what implications do these changes hold? Teachers have been used to teaching the set curriculum for years with little need for in-depth teaching. Many now have no choice but to go back to school themselves in order to revise the subjects before attempting to teach them to the children.

Among the subjects being given an overhaul is English, with a new focus on grammar, spelling and vocabulary. Rigorous spelling lists will be given to children in various age groups. It will be expected of children between the ages of 11 and 14 years old to have learned at least two Shakespeare plays. Younger children won´t get off lightly either as seven-year-olds will be taught about adverbs, conjunctions, subordinate clauses and prepositions while eight-year-olds will learn about fronted adverbials. Nine-year-olds will find out the uses of modal verbs and relative clauses and ten-year-olds will study using the subjunctive form of verbs as well as the relationship between subject and object, active and passive. Does this all sound like double Dutch to you?

To make sense of it all, take some refresher English courses in Leicester or a city near you to gain a better understanding of the complexities of the English language.

It´s not just pupils who have to study hard, revise and do homework. Teachers are having to go back to school too!

The government has set the wheels in motion for a new school curriculum to be put in place, with a starting date of September 2014. Following a decline in the level of teaching standards relating to the national curriculum, the government is looking to give it a complete overhaul to reverse the fallen standards of the last decade.

Current subjects will be improved no end to include more detail and more challenging aspects for the children, and these will be taught to children at a much younger age. For example, maths will have a greater emphasis on longer division, mental arithmetic and fractions, whilst English lessons will include harder spelling and will focus more on grammar. New subjects will be introduced such as climate change and computer programming. It will be compulsory for schools to teach children as young as 5 years old a foreign language.

For teachers, these new lessons can be a very daunting prospect, particularly the latter one of teaching a foreign language. Knowing a foreign language doesn´t necessarily mean having the confidence to teach it to others, and some teachers may just be out of practice as far as languages are concerned due to a previous lack of necessity in a primary school environment. Some schools may not currently offer foreign language lessons to their pupils so are not yet in a position to cater to these new demands. However, there is time to prepare. The details of the new national curriculum are set to be finalised this autumn, giving schools and teachers a year to make provisions for the changes.

If, like the teachers, you feel the need to brush up on your foreign language skills, why not start with some German lessons in Nottingham to get ready for the future.

Interesting article in the Telegraph with a sub-heading boldly stating that teenagers are creating “a secret language to stop adults knowing what they are up to”.

Reading the rest of the text, it’s hard to grasp what all the fuss is about – surely teenagers have been creating new slang to communicate for a very long time? The only new aspect is the use of social networking sites.

Lisa Whittaker, a postgraduate student at the University of Stirling, who studied teens aged 16-18 on Bebo in Scotland, said the slang had been created to keep their activities private, and cited the example of one young girl who was sacked after bosses found pictures of her drinking on the website.

“Young people often distort the languages they use by making the pages difficult for those unfamiliar with the distortions and colloquialisms.,” she said.

“The language used on Bebo seems to go beyond abbreviations that are commonly used in text messaging, such as removing all the vowels.

“This is not just bad spelling, which would suggest literacy issues, but a deliberate attempt to creatively misspell words.

I guess at least this research puts to rest fears that the internet and texting are producing bad spellers – they’re just being creative!

The end of the year is always a big time for awards – and the world of languages is no exception.

‘Unfriend’ was recently pronounced ‘Word of the Year 2009’ by the New Oxford American Dictionary, and now ‘Twitter’ has been named top by the Global Language Monitor (you may remember them from this post).

Twitter beat ‘Obama’ and ‘H1N1’ (the official name for swine flu), with ‘stimulus’ and ‘vampire’ rounding out the top 5.

Interestingly, the Global Language Moniter’s president commented on the wider implications of the word:

Mr. Payack guessed that “Twitter” took top billing in 2009 because of its effect on the way people communicate. “The impact that it’s having now is that spelling is changing,” he said. “It’s forcing people to think about what is a word, and how to present that word when you’re writing it down. Twitter will have an effect on language in years to come, if it remains as important as it is now.” (Source: Wall Street Journal)

Do you agree with Mr. Payack? Is Twittering affecting the way you use words?

The Epsom Guardian has become the latest illustrious newspaper to highlight the inadequacy of the Great British Public’s spelling abilities.

In the story, some locals are not amused by mistakes made on a sign put up by a contractor.

They’re not alone – this article from The Times pokes fun at poor spellers across the globe, and there is a photo group set up to highlight spelling deficiencies.

Is it possible the recent Spelling Bee is galvanising people into action against misspelling?

(Side note: there’s a joker at the Epsom Guardian web HQ – check out the name of the link to the story…)

I’m a stickler for correct spellings, so I’m pleased to see that in the UK, one of the major newspapers is running a spelling bee.

Although I’m still recovering from losing a spelling contest at school after missing an ‘s’ out of Mississippi, I can now confidently spell the word correctly at all times. Spelling is an important part of communicating, and whilst sometimes it’s a frustrating part of learning the English language (or any other language for that matter!), correct spelling is the standard for business communications.

The term “spelling bee” is an American one, and spelling competitions apparently are only regularly used in the English-speaking world. There’s a great documentary about spelling bees in the US, Spellbound , which throws up some amazing words I’d never even heard of (although could still possibly spell).

Sadly it appears that The Times spelling bee is only open to schools at the moment, but I’m sure it can’t be too long until a TV producer picks up on the idea and turns it in to a show for adults! Until then, you can play along online.

As someone who grew up in England and thus speaks British English, I have never really understood why or how Americans felt the need to change our wonderfully obtuse spellings by removing various letters from random words. How much extra time does it really take to write that extra ‘u’ in ‘colour’ anyway?

According to the MSN Encarta, it’s mostly due to the work of one man – Noah Webster (of Merriam-Webster), who around the time of the American Civil War decided that Americans needed their own dictionary. And their own spellings. His books, “An American Dictionary of the English Language” (1828) and “The American Spelling Book” (1783) were widely used and promoted “the use of an American language that intentionally differed from British English”.

So out with the old, and in with the new – Webster had most success with removing those ‘u’s (“colour” to “color”, “honour” to “honor”) as well as changing suffixes such as ‘que’ (e.g. “cheque” became “check”).

Other words such as “program” (in British English it is “programme”) have developed and changed in the intervening years through immigration and its further cultural influences. With American English being adopted by more English language learners because of America’s continued cultural and business success overseas, we’re sure to see more American spellings in every day life.