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Post by rafaelanriquez on Nov 23, 2014 1:31:36 GMT
   Australia is located in the Continent of Oceania, between the South Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean (as you can see in the map), and it’s the sixth largest country in the world. There is no official language in this country, but the most speaking language is English, also known as Australian English, spoken by more than 80% of the population, while an 18% speaks other languages. There are also speakers of other countries such as Chinese (2.1%), Italian (1.9%), Greek (1,4%) and Spanish (0.5%), but they represent the minority of the population. Another languages spoken in this country are the aboriginal ones, but there are no percentage about how many of them are still alive yet. A clear example was Tasmanian Languages, that none of them exists nowadays. Government believes that there are more than 400 other aboriginal languages in Australia, but unfortunately they are very discriminated along the country. Nevertheless, this aboriginal languages have no official registration. That is because aboriginals started speaking English to communicate in their environment. However, English, as we know, has its oral and written form from its conqueror England. Aboriginal inhabitants have fought for their rights, so despite of the discrimination, they asked for include about aboriginal languages in the schools of Australia. For that reason, the Australian Government, encouraged by the Department of education, Employment and Workplace Relations, have created a program to include indigenous languages in Australian Schools. That was a very good beginning to stop discriminating aboriginal languages, because as the government said, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are the first languages of this continent, so they have to be respected. “For Indigenous families, parents and communities, school programmes have both high cultural and high educational value. Schools have a crucial role in supporting the delivery of these programmes by Indigenous languages teachers”. There is no a forbidden language officially in Australia, but as I said before, indigenous languages have been discriminated and reduced along the country, because the principal language is English. Despite of the whole discrimination that exists in the country for the aboriginals, the government raises an Official Language Policy focused on a multicultural Australia, that would be capable to accept and integrate other cultures, including those that are its origin. The National Policy on Languages, also is focused in the importance of English nowadays, explaining about how it makes the country a better place, because of the globalization and the growing of the business. PART II Australian’s National Policy on Language is principally focused on create a multicultural region, where every tribe, person and even language would be welcomed, and that makes Australia a very cosmopolitan place to live and enjoy. I think that it was a very good idea to include even aboriginal people, because they are part of the history and culture of Australia. As I said before, in the other tasks, we do not have to forget out origin, because sooner than later we are going to face the reality, and we are where we are now because there were people before us. I think it is a pity that in Australia people discriminate, but that happens in the whole world. When the government raises its National Polity on Languages as a way to interchange knowledge as cultures, I think is a very good beginning, because the mind has to change from one side to change the other. People have to think that if they know more about the past, and other languages, they would have the opportunity to preserved languages that are soon to die. There are a lot of immigrates in Australia nowadays, because it is a country that have opportunities to grow up as person and as businessman. It is one on the world’s best countries status of life. And I also think that if the own people who live in the country do not worry about their preservation, nobody is going to do it. Lots of people travel abroad to learn a new language, so why people would not travel to Australia to learn a new aboriginal language? We have to preserve our knowledge, and our propriety, and in the same way others. I think that this National Policy on Language, making a multicultural Australia is a fair way to distribute the different kind of population that lives in the country. Everybody would have a piece of culture, and could leave a mark in the world. English is an important language, and it is very useful today, but there are people who speaks their own language, and we cannot forget about them. And, if the government decided to apply the aboriginal languages to schools, people not only will know about them, they also will be concern about taking care of their origin, and students would be more intelligent, speaking and preserving their traditions |
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Post by rafaelanriquez on Nov 23, 2014 1:43:02 GMT
The Philippines clearly has a language policy that favors Filipino and English, which are the official languages. In my opinion, this country has Bilingualism Policies based on non-territorialized individual rights, because they foster these two main languages in order to unite the country. However, they respect the indigenous languages among their territory. I think that a bilingual country is very helpful and interesting, because people know two languages that would help them to interact and communicate with more than a culture. And I really like countries that are worried about the indigenous languages and culture, because in that way they could show interest of their origin. |
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Post by bledezma on Nov 23, 2014 1:55:29 GMT
• Where in the world is it? Find a good map.
• How many languages are spoken there?
The number of individual languages listed for Sri Lanka are 7. English, Indo-Portuguese, Sinhala , Sri Lankan Creole Malay, Sri Lankan Sign Language, Tamil and Veddah
• How many of these languages exist in written form?
There are 6 languages that exist in written form, Indo-Portuguese, Sinhala , Sri Lankan Creole Malay, Sri Lankan Sign Language and Tamil.
• How many of the total number of languages which are spoken are official languages for the country?
There are 2 languages which are the official languages Sri Lanka, Sinhala and Tamil.
• What are the official languages of the country?
The official languages of Sri Lanka are Sinhala and Tamil.
• What percentage of the country’s population is competent in at least one of the official languages?
The 70 percent of Sri Lanka’s population uses Sinhala and the 15 percent of the population uses Tamil.
• What are the languages of instruction in the schools of the country?
Because of the variety of languages in Sri Lanka, many schools teach only in either Sinhala or Tamil. The elite colleges in major cities teach in all three media Sinhala or Tamil and English.
• Are ethnic/minor languages included in the usual school curriculum?
There are no ethnic/minor languages included in the usual school curriculum.
• Are any languages illegal or discouraged?
There aro no ilegal or discuraged languages.
• What is the official language policy of the country?
the 1978 constitution declared that the National Languages of Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala and Tamil. It also declared that English be the link language.
PART 2
Throughout sri lanka´s history the official language policy has been an issue to the population of this country. Now a days the language policy of Sri Lanka is fair but it has the concecuences of their tormented past.
In the beginnig the native speaking population was encouraged to use Sinhala as it official language, in the Sinhala Only act, 1956. Eventhough, Sinhala has a bigger geographical dispersion than Tamil and it also had a bigger influence because of the socio economic weight of it sepeakers. Both Sinhala and Tamil are used by the native speaking population of Sri Lanka.
This seem unfair to the Tamil population so they were against this. In the intempt to make amends with the Tamils the goverment declared Tamil the official language in northen and eastern providences, but this wasnt enough for them.
The ethnic conflict started to grow and the Tamils struggle for the restoration of their homelands, for that the goverment stated that Sinhala should be used for legislation and Tamil for tranlation.
Finally in 1978 the constitution declared that the National Languages of Sri Lanka shall be Sinhala and Tamil, also stated that English will be the link language.
Therefore i think that are in most parts fair to the languages because they have the respect thet they deserve.
On the other hand, the language policy only serves the two official languages it dosent say anything about the other 5 languages that are spoken in Sri Lanka.
Despite the fact that the language policy of Sri Lanka try help the citizens to live better lives by respecting and recognizing the languages that are spoken in the country. the implementation of this language policy remains ineffective, some Tamils only recognize certain terms of Sinhala, and viceversa. This happens because of the distrust between the Tamils and Sinhalese will aparently always be there.
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Post by rafaelanriquez on Nov 23, 2014 2:08:57 GMT
Nunavut is not a country itself, it's a region inside Canada. The Inuit language in Nunavut is regulated by two different legislations that aim for the same goal. The use of Inuit as the main language by encouraging the use of it, and the respect of other official languages such as English and French. These two legislations are the Official Language Act and the Inuit Language Protection Act. These acts state that Inuit should be encouraged for use in all aspects except for business and/or integration of outsiders to Nunavut. |
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Post by Claudia Robles on Nov 23, 2014 2:18:07 GMT
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2. How many languages are spoken there?
Over 700 different native languages are spoken in Indonesia 3. How many of the total number of languages which are spoken are official languages for the country?
None of them. The official language of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia. 4. What are the official languages of the country?
The official language of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia. 5. What percentage of the country’s population is competent in at least one of the official languages?
70 % of the population speaks bahasa Indonesia 6. What are the languages of instruction in the schools of the country?
French, German, Indonesian, and Italian (alphabetic) and Chinese and Japanese (non-alphabetic). According to the Indonesian language curriculum. 7. Are ethnic/minor languages included in the usual school curriculum?
No, the minor languages or ethnic languages are not included in the Indonesian Curriculum. 8. Are any languages illegal or discouraged?The only information about this is that every public/official speech must be in Bahasa Indonesia. 9. What is the official language policy of the country?
Assimilation policies. The Australian government wanted to unite the country, in their country exits over 700 languages, between dialects and languages, that is why they chosen the one that did not represent an ethnic group. Looking to maintain the Part 2: Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world. Over 17.000 islands are part of this conuntry. This means that there are a lot of ethnic groups. What can we believe about this information?, first of all I believe that this is a very hard country to organize, with that amount of people and they are so separated, it will obviously disaggregation, some groups will create their own traditions, culture. My point of view is that it was a good decision from the government to choose a language that was not one of the dialects of an ethnic group. It will create unity in the country, because no one will be more important than the other, no matter what ethnic group you are. |
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Post by sofiasp on Nov 23, 2014 2:17:55 GMT
LANGUAGE POLICY SLOVAKIA part 1: Slovakia is a part of what used to be the czechslovakia country, now days this territory is independent that is why it grew its own laws. Of the 5.4 m population of Slovakia, 85% speak one of the three Slovak dialects - Central, Western and Eastern Slovak - as their first language. All of these languages have their written form. Slovakia is a controversial place for languages, because the government and laws force foreign people to learn the Slovak because the rest of the languages are not officials. Even though they are one of the top ten countries in have the biggest amount of foreign languages. Most of the Slovakian people speak more than 3 foreign languages. However, there is an "official" Slovak language being taught at school. These dialects are mutually intelligible. Minority languages are predominantly spoken in the south of the country, and include Hungarian (10% of the entire population), and in lesser numbers Romani, Czech, Ukrainian, German and Polish. According to my sources Slovakia have a 0 % of people that speak just one language, and in the schools 98% of students manage the Slovak and the English that is the most studied foreign language. In other hand, the only official language is Slovak and is prohibited by law the use of any other language in a public formal situation, like news or books. Slovakia in superior education has restricted the use of any other language. In the territory of Slovakia live a lot of Hungarian people that have to learn the subject of studies and also the language itself making it even harder for students without the acquisition of Slovak language. Also minorities in the Slovak Republic can not make a single formal paper in their native language. Minorities in the Slovak Republic have not right nor a single law to protect them, all this as a consequence to the division of the territory. The Slovak government wanted to cut any relationship with the past of the territory, this include Hungarians and Czechs. Slovakia made all this restrictions because they want to reinforce their view as a state. In the actual curriculum there is any other language of minorities added, as I said before they want to strengthen the country and unify it. The use of any other language in official papers can be fine. Attachments:
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Post by claudiarobles on Nov 23, 2014 2:26:50 GMT
  2. How many languages are spoken there? Over 700 different native languages are spoken in Indonesia 3. How many of the total number of languages which are spoken are official languages for the country? None of them. The official language of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia. 4. What are the official languages of the country? The official language of Indonesia is Bahasa Indonesia. 5. What percentage of the country’s population is competent in at least one of the official languages? 70 % of the population speaks bahasa Indonesia 6. What are the languages of instruction in the schools of the country? French, German, Indonesian, and Italian (alphabetic) and Chinese and Japanese (non-alphabetic). According to the Indonesian language curriculum. 7. Are ethnic/minor languages included in the usual school curriculum? No, the minor languages or ethnic languages are not included in the Indonesian Curriculum. 8. Are any languages illegal or discouraged? The only information about this is that every public/official speech must be in Bahasa Indonesia. 9. What is the official language policy of the country? Assimilation policies. The Australian government wanted to unite the country, in their country exits over 700 languages, between dialects and languages, that is why they chosen the one that did not represent an ethnic group. Looking to maintain the Part 2: Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world. Over 17.000 islands are part of this conuntry. This means that there are a lot of ethnic groups. What can we believe about this information?, first of all I believe that this is a very hard country to organize, with that amount of people and they are so separated, it will obviously disaggregation, some groups will create their own traditions, culture. My point of view is that it was a good decision from the government to choose a language that was not one of the dialects of an ethnic group. It will create unity in the country, because no one will be more important than the other, no matter what ethnic group you are. |
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Post by simonelarrondo on Nov 23, 2014 2:27:35 GMT
 Wales is located is in north-west Europe and is part of Great Britain. And one of the four parts of United Kingdom. The languages that are spoken in Wales are mainly English and Welsh (A Celtic language) because are both official languages in Wales. But this doesn’t mean that people doesn’t speak other languages. Wales has many voices. There is not many about many languages exactly are now spoken in Wales. Through years many languages were heard in Wales. One of the reason was the invaders. Some people say that English is the official language of Wales because it has increased over the years, but also some people say that Welsh is the official language of Wales. In some parts of Wales the Language Welsh is more dominant because there are still parts of Wales where English is very much a second language with Welsh being the everyday means of communication. English language has increased in Wales, and with that Welsh has been decreasing a little because in some parts of Wales some people couldn’t understand the Welsh language anymore. But this doesn’t mean that all the people don’t speak of write in Welsh language anymore. There are people in some areas of Wales that think that Welsh is the main language of Wales, and use Welsh in their daily lives because they are used to speak or write in that language every day. In the case of the Government of Wales their point of view is: “Our Welsh language scheme sets out our commitment to provide a bilingual service” The Government of Wales has a positive attitude about speaking two or more languages. One of the main points says that both English and Welsh are equally in terms of policies and services. With these treatments they are trying to say that they are proud of Welsh language. They don’t feel ashamed about it. And with the idea of find new ways to preserving this language in the same way that is English is a good idea. The Government is trying to encourage families in Wales of the use of Welsh language with the goal to increase and improve the use of this language in their daily lives emphasizing the importance of Welsh language. PART II I think that if the Government of Wales supports the idea of “bilingual service” that means that they feel proud about it. They are trying to be fair with everyone (considering only English and Welsh) and I like this idea, and I think the Government is fair in the decision of supporting languages. They want to preserve this language with the idea of been bilingual someday. They are looking for suggestions to help them how to preserve the Welsh language. Both English and Welsh languages have the same rights in the aspect of services and policies. I think that is a good idea the fact that people don’t forget some part of their culture if they forget the language. They are trying to keep it alive as long as they can. Their main goal is to maintain their culture alive. They have a positive attitude according of their point of view. Trying find more ways to make this idea come true is very important because I think is fair for people not just to be closed in just one language if they don’t want to. The idea is to find new ways to make a multicultural Wales. |
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Post by simonelarrondo on Nov 23, 2014 2:34:05 GMT
"Everybody would have a piece of culture, and could leave a mark in the world. English is an important language, and it is very useful today, but there are people who speaks their own language, and we cannot forget about them." I agree with you! There are many languages that are equally important for people, and speak many language is very useful nowadays. |
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Post by jasnac on Nov 23, 2014 2:38:22 GMT
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Post by catalinaestay on Nov 23, 2014 2:44:41 GMT
Country: Luxembourg  Luxembourg is located in Europe between Asia and the Atlantic ocean. The multilingualism in Luxembourg is embedded in the historical coexistence of the Romance and Germanic ethnic groups. Nowadays, there are three official languages; French, German and the national language Luxembourgish established in 1984.Those three languages exist in written form, but French is the only language of legislation, and that French, German as well as Luxembourgish can be used for administrative or judicial purposes and is primarily for oral communication. The official documents are usually not available in Luxembourgish.Two of the three languages spoken are official. These are; French and German. French and German are the official languages of Luxembourg.The national statistics agency reported that 71% of the population spoke Luxembourgish, 56% spoke French and 31% spoke German. If the children are young (aged 4-6 years), Luxembourgish is the language of instruction for pre-school. From grades 1-6 of primary school (aged between 6 to 12 years), the language of instruction is German. From the second grade, French is taught as an additional subject. Between 12 and 17 years, there are a few choices in State school. During the 6th year of education (aged between 12 to 17 years), there are two main choices – classical or technical education for the subsequent 5 years. Children aged between 12 and 15 who have had a good education standard from their country of origin but are not competent in French, German and Luxembourgish attend Technical secondary education. This consists of initiation classes, with emphasis on learning the French language. The lower levels of technical secondary education are taught in either French or German, depending on their language competency. From grade 7 onwards, all children are expected to learn the French language to a high level of competency, as most higher level technical secondary school courses are taught in French. The difference between technical secondary education and classical education is that children attending classical education must be competent in both German and French. English is taught as part of the language syllabus. The ethnic or minor languages are not included in the usual school curriculum because the indigenous inhabitants of Luxembourg consider themselves a distinct nationality, with a specific ethnic character. A strong indication of that character is the national motto, "Mir woelle bleiwe wat mir sin" ("We want to remain what we are"), for despite a history of long foreign domination, Luxembourgers have retained their individuality as a nation. There are also native-born residents of Celtic, French, Belgian, or German ancestry, as well as a substantial immigrant population of Portuguese, Italian, and other Europeans . There are not illegal or discouraged languages in Luxembourg. Luxembourg is part of the language policy of the European Union. In the EU there are principally multilingual countries. The European Commission has partnered with the governments of the Member States, the European Parliament, the European regions and the social partners to: -give all citizens the opportunity to learn two languages in addition to their mother tongue, from an early age -create more friendly societies, communities and individuals to talk to each other -strengthen the role of languages in improving employability and competitiveness. The law of 24 February 1984 on language policy officially established the linguistic status of Luxembourgish for the first time, enshrining it as the national language. Lëtzebuergesch became an administrative and judicial langu age, and the first dictionaries and grammars started to get published. However, Luxembourgish spelling and grammarremain a difficult subject, as sometimes more than one spelling can be correct for the same word. The current law on Luxembourg nationality marks another important stage in so far as it includes an adequate active and passive knowledge of Luxembourgish among the conditions for acquiring the Luxembourgish nationality, thus recognising it as an important factor of integration. Although traditional bilingualism has been transformed into multilingualism following the various waves of immigration and despite the presence of a community of foreign residentsfrom all over the world representing almost 50% of the population today, French and German are solidly established as vernacular languages. The importance of these two languages is not purely political, but represents a national identity born of the coexistence of the Romance and Germanic worlds. PART 2 how well your assigned country’s language policy serves its people. Do you think it is fair? Why or why not? Do you think it serves all language/ethnic groups in the country? Do you think it will, in the main, help its citizens to live better lives? How will it do (or not do) that?I could not find many information about that because there are not specific documents about it. As I wrote before, the ethnic groups of Luxembourg consider themselves a distinct nationality, with a specific ethnic character. There are not a strong connection between the Luxembourguers and them. The language policy is principally focussed in the three main languages; German, French and Luxembourger. But the languge policy is very usefull for the citizens. The development of more tan one language is always a useful tool for the future, and as the policy says it is from an early age so the children grow surrounded by multilingualism. I think it's a positive policy and fully contributes to personal and professional development of all citizens of Luxembourg. It obviously help the citizens to improve their lives because it could open the door to a wider world of work even allowing them to travel to other countries by mastering three languages. I think this policy should be applied to the whole world because it is very positive in terms of knowledge, culture and work.
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Post by nicolebravocortes on Nov 23, 2014 2:48:46 GMT
![]()  • Where in the world is it? Find a good map. Belgium is located in Europe, between Netherlands and France. • How many languages are spoken there? In Belgium, thirteen languages are spoken. Gaumais, Luxembourgish, Dutch, French, German, Berber, Arabic, Spanish, Turkish, Portuguese, Italian, Greek and Polish. • How many of these languages exist in written form? All of the above languages mentioned exist in written form. • How many of the total number of languages which are spoken are official languages for the country? Just three of them are considered official languages, Dutch, French and German. • What are the official languages of the country? The official languages are German, French and Dutch. • What percentage of the country’s population is competent in at least one of the official languages? A 56% of the population speaks Dutch, 38% speaks French and 1% speaks German as a first language. • What are the languages of instruction in the schools of the country? It depends on the area. General subjects such as mathematics or biology are taught in Dutch, but for example in Brussels they teach Dutch or French, it depends on the school. We can see that they have private school and the ones organized by the authorities, which are the schools of the official network. In private schools, they get to choose which language they want to teach. • Are ethnic/minor languages included in the usual school curriculum? No, they are not. Even though their language policy is quite flexible, minor languages aren’t taught in schools. Dutch and French are the ones available to learn in school. • Are any languages illegal or discouraged? No. Actually, is quite the opposite. Multilingualism is vigorously encouraged. Lots of people speak at least two languages and if you go to the right place, you may learn some more. • What is the official language policy of the country? Their language policy is very flexible and straightforward. It depends on the territory. In certain regions they speak certain languages, this means that in the Flemish Region, the language is Dutch, and in the Walloon Region French is their language. This also means that public services in each of these territories are provided in the language of that area, disregarding the language that each individual inhabitant speaks. Part 2. I believe that the language policy of Belgium is fair, because it gives you the right to choose the language that you want to acquire. The language policy there really encourages multilingualism and it’s actually viewed as European Language role model. You might think is a bit unfair, because it promotes isolation and if you do not know how to manage a specific language in a certain area, you cannot communicate. I actually think this pushes people to learn more and get out of their comfort zone. Multilingualism is a terrific skill people should learn, especially in a country with these characteristics. When you are using public services, they speak a certain language of a certain area, but in the capital the signs and public workers must deal with both main languages, French and Dutch. |
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Post by sofiasp on Nov 23, 2014 2:51:37 GMT
Part2: in my opinion Slovakia have a really unfair language policy, because it is just focused in what is important to the country, like just having one language, and your country is known because its people speak three languages, so it is not fair for citizens. Also there is a huge part of Slovakia that is not Slovak actually, in that territory they have Hungarians and Czechs and they have no right to speak their native languages even though they are a huge part of it. Also it is almost forbidden to speak another language. In Slovakian schools there is no one that just speaks one language, so it is a little bit confusing, because the country promotes foreign languages but do not accept minorities as second language. They do not take into account the children of minorities groups that have grew up with one mother tongue and just because they are there they have to change it. Not fair at all.
In one of my sources I found that Slovakia had a lot of influences of a lot of languages but the language policy does not show it because having just one official language does not prove it.
I think that if they could open their language policy to other languages they could enrich their own language even though they have like “different” types of Slovak according to the place of the country. The country is closing their doors to new tourist that would like to stay. It is a place where people know how to speak a lot of different languages and they do not take advantage of it.
If we compared that with our country is so much different, I think it is the complete opposite, we do not know how to speak well in English but we are open to tourism opportunities.
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Post by catalinaestay on Nov 23, 2014 2:52:02 GMT
I think that if the Government of Wales supports the idea of “bilingual service” that means that they feel proud about it. They are trying to be fair with everyone (considering only English and Welsh) and I like this idea, and I think the Government is fair in the decision of supporting languages. They want to preserve this language with the idea of been bilingual someday. They are looking for suggestions to help them how to preserve the Welsh language. Both English and Welsh languages have the same rights in the aspect of services and policies. I think that is a good idea the fact that people don’t forget some part of their culture if they forget the language. They are trying to keep it alive as long as they can. Their main goal is to maintain their culture alive. They have a positive attitude according of their point of view. Trying find more ways to make this idea come true is very important because I think is fair for people not just to be closed in just one language if they don’t want to. The idea is to find new ways to make a multicultural Wales. I agree with you Simone. A country with more than one language is always a good idea. And as I read in your task the government give the same rights for both languages and this is something very valuable. |
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Post by jasnac on Nov 23, 2014 2:55:06 GMT
The Philippines clearly has a language policy that favors Filipino and English, which are the official languages. In my opinion, this country has Bilingualism Policies based on non-territorialized individual rights, because they foster these two main languages in order to unite the country. However, they respect the indigenous languages among their territory. I think that a bilingual country is very helpful and interesting, because people know two languages that would help them to interact and communicate with more than a culture. And I really like countries that are worried about the indigenous languages and culture, because in that way they could show interest of their origin. Im agree with you because I believe that its very important to know about the people who lived before us in those places and the better way to do it is learning their language. |
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