[Magdalen] 50 - 50

[James Oppenheimer-Crawford]

I suspect that often the language spoken is not spoken in the best sense of
the word too.

I've heard that often when Spanish-speaking kids study Spanish, the
formality of the language throws them, as the language they learned in the
home is a bare-bones version of the best the parents know anyway.

I was a linguist on call for my hospital, and was asked to help with a
Russian-speaking person.
I was a bit embarrassed when I could not make much sense of ANYTHING this
older lady was saying.
Then I finally heard what I could sort of understand.
"Nye vyshla v shkolye."  ("I did not go to school.")

We had a person at our hospital who was obviously Chinese, but nobody could
communicate with him (remember that incredible installation of "Barney
Miller"?). We got linguists to come in, and finally one guy said, "I can't
understand him, but he SOUNDS like the people in a village sort of near us
talk." So, they search for someone from that village. Finally the person
came. At first, nothing, but then he opened up and they talked.

We were able to find his elderly parents and they were brought up to visit
him. He had a long history of mental illness and wandering off and living
on the street, and they had assumed that he was dead.  We kept a closer
than usual eye on him, knowing he would wander again.  He at least was
being kept safe.

In any case, or as some of the savvy would put it, "IAE", just putting
material in to a known target language is not always all that useful.

Best to place a very high priority on gaining English proficiency, reading,
writing and speaking.

James W. Oppenheimer-Crawford
*“A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved,
except in memory. LLAP**”  -- *Leonard Nimoy

On Sun, Jun 7, 2015 at 5:42 PM, Roger Stokes <roger.stokes65 at btinternet.com>
wrote:

> On 07/06/2015 22:30, Cantor03--- via Magdalen wrote:
>
>> On the front page of the local (Hazleton, PA) Sunday paper there was  an
>> article about the current state of languages dominating the school
>> system.
>>   Though the city primary schools had up and down percentages based
>> on their location, the local high school is now 50 - 50 Spanish -
>> English.
>>   That is, 50% of students said their first language was Spanish, and
>> 50% said English.  Those who spoke both languages were included  among
>> the Spanish totals.
>>   There are a lot of services available in English and Spanish, and the
>> going
>> rate for bilingual interpreters is $31/hour.
>>   As I understand it, the teaching continues to be primarily in  English.
>>
>
> This is a very real problem here in England.  For a time there was an
> attempt to offer hospitality by providing forms in numerous foreign
> languages.  The problem is that the number of languages has nushroomed.  In
> this relatively small town it is estimated that there are over 100 native
> alnguages.  Certainly I know in one small (roll 140) school there are 20
> mother tongues.  In such a situation there has to be a single language for
> teaching and English is the obvious one.
>
> Roger
>