Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!

Translator: Morten Faigh Reviewer: Niels Justus

I know what you're thinking.

Jeg hvad hvad I tænker.

You think I've lost my way,

I tænker, at jeg er faret vild

and somebody's going to come on the stage in a minute

og at der snart kommer en op på scenen

and guide me gently back to my seat.

og ligeså stille fører mig tilbage til min plads.

(Applause)

Bifald

I get that all the time in Dubai.

Det sker for mig i Dubai hele tiden.

"Here on holiday are you, dear?"

„Er du på ferie her, kære?“

(Laughter)

[Latter]

"Come to visit the children?

„Er du her for at besøge børnene?

How long are you staying?"

Hvor længe bliver du?“

Well actually, I hope for a while longer yet.

Faktisk, lidt længere endnu, håber jeg.

I have been living and teaching in the Gulf

Jeg har boet og undervist i Golfen

for over 30 years.

i over 30 år.

(Applause)

[Bifald]

And in that time, I have seen a lot of changes.

Og i den tid, har jeg set mange ændringer.

Now that statistic

Den statistik

is quite shocking.

er ret chokerende.

And I want to talk to you today

og i dag vil jeg tale om

about language loss

sprogtab

and the globalization of English.

og globaliseringen af engelsk.

I want to tell you about my friend

Jeg vil gerne fortælle jer om min ven

who was teaching English to adults in Abu Dhabi.

som underviste voksne i engelsk i Abu Dhabi.

And one fine day,

Og en skønne dag

she decided to take them into the garden

besluttede hun sig for, at tage dem ud i haven

to teach them some nature vocabulary.

for at lære dem nogle gloser om natur.

But it was she who ended up learning

Men det var hende der endte med at lære

all the Arabic words for the local plants,

alle de arabiske ord for de lokale planter,

as well as their uses --

såvel som deres brug;

medicinal uses, cosmetics,

medicinale brug, kosmetiske,

cooking, herbal.

madlavning, urter.

How did those students get all that knowledge?

Hvordan fik de studerende al den viden?

Of course, from their grandparents

Selvfølgelig fra deres bedsteforældre

and even their great-grandparents.

og endda deres oldeforældre.

It's not necessary to tell you how important it is

Det er ikke nødvendigt at sige, hvor vigtigt det er,

to be able to communicate

at være i stand til, at kommunikere

across generations.

på tværs af generationer.

But sadly, today,

Men desværre,

languages are dying

dør sprog i dag

at an unprecedented rate.

i et omfang som ikke tidligere er set.

A language dies every 14 days.

Et sprog dør hver 14. dag.

Now, at the same time,

På samme tid,

English is the undisputed global language.

er engelsk det ubestridte globale sprog.

Could there be a connection?

Kan der være en sammenhæng?

Well I don't know.

Det ved jeg ikke.

But I do know that I've seen a lot of changes.

Men jeg ved, at jeg har set en del forandringer.

When I first came out to the Gulf, I came to Kuwait

Da jeg første gang kom til Golfen, kom jeg til Kuwait,

in the days when it was still a hardship post.

dengang det stadig var et belastet område.

Actually, not that long ago.

Faktisk, for ikke så længe siden.

That is a little bit too early.

Det er lidt for tidligt.

But nevertheless,

Men ikke desto mindre

I was recruited by the British Council,

var jeg rekrutteret af det Britiske Råd

along with about 25 other teachers.

sammen med omkring 25 andre undervisere.

And we were the first non-Muslims

Og vi var de første ikke-muslimer

to teach in the state schools there in Kuwait.

der underviste i de offentlige skoler i Kuwait.

We were brought to teach English

Vi kom for at undervise i engelsk

because the government wanted to modernize the country

fordi regeringen ville modernisere landet

and to empower the citizens through education.

og styrke borgerne gennem uddannelse.

And of course, the U.K. benefited

Og selvfølgelig fik Storbritannien

from some of that lovely oil wealth.

gavn af noget af den dejlige rigdom pga. olie.

Okay.

Okay.

Now this is the major change that I've seen --

Det her er den store ændring jeg har set-

how teaching English

hvordan engelsk

has morphed

gradvist har forvandlet sig fra

from being a mutually beneficial practice

at være en gensidig gavnlig praksis til,

to becoming a massive international business that it is today.

at blive den massive internationale forretning det er i dag.

No longer just a foreign language on the school curriculum,

Ikke længere bare et fremmedsprog i skolens pensum.

and no longer the sole domain

Og ikke længere Moder Englands

of mother England,

domæne.

it has become a bandwagon

Det er blevet populært

for every English-speaking nation on earth.

for alle engelsktalende nationer på jorden.

And why not?

Og hvorfor ikke?

After all, the best education --

Den bedste uddannelse findes jo,

according to the latest World University Rankings --

ifølge den seneste bedømmelse af universiter i verden,

is to be found in the universities

på universiterer

of the U.K. and the U.S.

i Storbritannien og USA.

So everybody wants to have an English education, naturally.

Så, alle vil have en engelsk uddannelse - naturligvis.

But if you're not a native speaker,

Men hvis engelsk ikke er dit modersmål,

you have to pass a test.

skal du bestå en prøve.

Now can it be right

Kan det være rigtigt

to reject a student

at afvise en studerende

on linguistic ability alone?

på den lingvistiske evne alene?

Perhaps you have a computer scientist

Måske har du en computervidenskabsmand

who's a genius.

som er et geni.

Would he need the same language as a lawyer, for example?

Ville han have brug for det samme sprog som advokat, for eksempel?

Well, I don't think so.

Det tror jeg ikke.

We English teachers reject them all the time.

Vi engelsklærere afviser dem hele tiden.

We put a stop sign,

Vi sætter et stopskilt op

and we stop them in their tracks.

og vi stopper dem på deres vej.

They can't pursue their dream any longer,

De kan ikke følge deres drøm længere,

'til they get English.

til de har fået engelsk.

Now let me put it this way:

Lad mig sige det sådan;

if I met a monolingual Dutch speaker

hvis jeg mødte en monolingualist i hollandsk,

who had the cure for cancer,

som kunne helbrede cancer,

would I stop him from entering my British University?

ville jeg da forhindre ham i at blive optaget på mit britiske universitet?

I don't think so.

Det tror jeg ikke.

But indeed, that is exactly what we do.

Men det er virkelig det vi gør.

We English teachers are the gatekeepers.

Vi engelsklærere er portvagterne.

And you have to satisfy us first

Og dit engelsk skal være godt nok til,

that your English is good enough.

at kunne tilfredsstille os først.

Now it can be dangerous

Det kan være farligt,

to give too much power

at give så megen magt

to a narrow segment of society.

til et smalt segment af samfundet.

Maybe the barrier would be too universal.

Måske ville barrieren være for universel.

Okay.

Okay.

"But," I hear you say,

„Men“, hører jeg jer sige,

"what about the research?

„hvad med forskningen?

It's all in English."

Det er altsammen på engelsk.“

So the books are in English,

Ja, bøgerne er på engelsk,

the journals are done in English,

journalerne skrives på engelsk,

but that is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

men det er en selvopfyldende profeti.

It feeds the English requirement.

Det forstærker det engelsk krav.

And so it goes on.

Og sådan fortsætter det.

I ask you, what happened to translation?

Så spørger jeg, hvad skete der med oversættelser?

If you think about the Islamic Golden Age,

Hvis du tænker på den Islamiske Gyldne Alder

there was lots of translation then.

der var mange oversættelser dengang.

They translated from Latin and Greek

De oversatte fra latin og græsk

into Arabic, into Persian,

til arabisk og persisk

and then it was translated on

og så blev det oversat

into the Germanic languages of Europe

til Europas germanske sprog

and the Romance languages.

og de romanske sprog.

And so light shone upon the Dark Ages of Europe.

Og så kastede lyset sig på Europas Mørke Tider.

Now don't get me wrong;

Forstå mig ret,

I am not against teaching English,

alle engelsklærere derude;

all you English teachers out there.

jeg er ikke imod at undervise i engelsk.

I love it that we have a global language.

Jeg elsker, at vi har et globalt sprog.

We need one today more than ever.

Vi har brug for et i dag - mere end nogensinde før.

But I am against using it

Men jeg er imod at bruge det

as a barrier.

som en barriere.

Do we really want to end up with 600 languages

Vil vi virkelig ende op med 600 sprog

and the main one being English, or Chinese?

og hovedsproget værende engelsk eller kinesisk?

We need more than that. Where do we draw the line?

Vi har brug for mere end det. Hvor trækker vi stregen?

This system

Dette system

equates intelligence

tilsidesætter intelligens

with a knowledge of English,

med et kendskab til engelsk

which is quite arbitrary.

der er ret arbitrær.

(Applause)

[Bifald]

And I want to remind you

Og jeg vil minde jer om,

that the giants upon whose shoulders

at de giganter, på hvis skuldre

today's intelligentsia stand

nutidens intelligentsia sidder,

did not have to have English,

ikke behøvede at have engelsk,

they didn't have to pass an English test.

de behøvede ikke at bestå en engelskprøve.

Case in point, Einstein.

Einstein er et eksempel på dette.

He, by the way, was considered remedial at school

Han fik iøvrigt specialundervisning i skolen,

because he was, in fact, dyslexic.

fordi han var ordblind.

But fortunately for the world,

Men heldigvis for hele verden,

he did not have to pass an English test.

behøvede han ikke at bestå en engelskprøve.

Because they didn't start until 1964

For de fandtes ikke før 1964.

with TOEFL,

Med TOEFL,

the American test of English.

The American test of English

Now it's exploded.

Nu er det eksploderet.

There are lots and lots of tests of English.

Det er masser af engelskprøver.

And millions and millions of students

Og millioner og millioner af studerende

take these tests every year.

tager disse prøver hvert eneste år.

Now you might think, you and me,

Du og jeg tænker sikkert,

"Those fees aren't bad, they're okay,"

at betalingen for det ikke er så slemt; det er okay,

but they are prohibitive

men de er uoverkommelige

to so many millions of poor people.

for så mange millioner fattige mennesker.

So immediately, we're rejecting them.

Så vi afviser dem med det samme.

(Applause)

[Bifald]

It brings to mind a headline I saw recently:

Det får mig til at tænke på en overskrift jeg så for nyligt:

"Education: The Great Divide."

„Uddannelse: Den Store Kløft“

Now I get it,

Nu forstår jeg det,

I understand why people would want to focus on English.

jeg forstår hvorfor folk fokuserer på engelsk.

They want to give their children the best chance in life.

De vil give deres børn den bedst mulige chance i livet.

And to do that, they need a Western education.

Og for at kunne det, skal de have en vestlig uddannelse.

Because, of course, the best jobs

Fordi de bedste jobs selvfølgelig

go to people out of the Western Universities,

går til studenter ved de vestlige universiteter,

that I put on earlier.

som jeg forklarede tidligere.

It's a circular thing.

Det kører i ring.

Okay.

Okay.

Let me tell you a story about two scientists,

Lad mig fortælle jer en historie om to videnskabsmænd,

two English scientists.

to engelske videnskabsmænd

They were doing an experiment

De foretog et eksperiment

to do with genetics

der havde med genetik at gøre

and the forelimbs and the hind limbs of animals.

og de forreste og bagerste lemmer på dyr.

But they couldn't get the results they wanted.

Men de kunne ikke få det resultat de ville.

They really didn't know what to do,

De vidste virkelig ikke hvad de skulle gøre,

until along came a German scientist

indtil der en dag kom en tysk videnskabsmand

who realized that they were using two words

som opdagede at de brugte to ord

for forelimb and hind limb,

for lemmerne forrest og bagerst på dyret,

whereas genetics does not differentiate

hvilket genetikken ikke skelner imellem

and neither does German.

- og det samme gælder for tysk.

So bingo,

Så bingo!

problem solved.

Problemet var løst.

If you can't think a thought,

Hvis du ikke kan tænke en tanke

you are stuck.

sidder du fast.

But if another language can think that thought,

Men hvis et andet sprog kan tænke den tanke

then, by cooperating,

kan man, gennem samarbejde,

we can achieve and learn so much more.

opnå og lære så meget mere.

My daughter

Min datter

came to England from Kuwait.

kom til England fra Kuwait.

She had studied science and mathematics in Arabic.

Hun havde studeret videnskab og matematik på arabisk.

It's an Arabic-medium school.

Det var på en arabisk middelskole.

She had to translate it into English at her grammar school.

Hun var nødt til, at oversætte det til engelsk på grammatikskolen.

And she was the best in the class

Og hun var den bedste i sin klasse

at those subjects.

til de fag.

Which tells us

Hvilket siger os,

that when students come to us from abroad,

at når vi får studerende ind fra udlandet,

we may not be giving them enough credit

giver vi dem måske ikke credit nok for,

for what they know,

hvad de ved

and they know it in their own language.

og hvad de ved på deres eget sprog.

When a language dies,

Når et sprog dør,

we don't know what we lose with that language.

ved vi ikke hvad vi mister med det sprog.

This is -- I don't know if you saw it on CNN recently --

Det her er -jeg ved ikke om I så det på CNN for nyligt-

they gave the Heroes Award

de gav Heroes Award

to a young Kenyan shepherd boy

til en ung kenyansk hyrde

who couldn't study at night in his village,

som ikke kunne læse om aftenen i hans landsby,

like all the village children,

som de andre børn i landsbyen kunne det,

because the kerosene lamp,

fordi røgen fra petroleumslampen

it had smoke and it damaged his eyes.

havde skadet hans øjne.

And anyway, there was never enough kerosene,

Og alligevel var der aldrig nok petroleum

because what does a dollar a day buy for you?

for hvad kan du købe for en dollar om dagen?

So he invented

Så han opfandt

a cost-free solar lamp.

en omkostningsfri solcellelampe.

And now the children in his village

Og nu kan børnene i hans landsby

get the same grades at school

få samme karakterer i skolen,

as the children who have electricity at home.

som de børn der har elektricitet i hjemmet.

(Applause)

[Bifald]

When he received his award,

Da han modtog denne pris,

he said these lovely words:

sagde han disse vidunderlige ord:

"The children can lead Africa from what it is today,

„Børnene kan lede Afrika fra det det er i dag,

a dark continent,

et mørk kontinent,

to a light continent."

til et lyst kontinent“.

A simple idea,

En simpel idé,

but it could have such far-reaching consequences.

men det kan have så vidtrækkende konsekvenser.

People who have no light,

Mennesker der ikke har lys,

whether it's physical or metaphorical,

uanset om det er fysisk eller metaforisk,

cannot pass our exams,

kan ikke bestå vores eksaminer

and we can never know what they know.

og vi vil aldrig finde ud af hvad de ved.

Let us not keep them and ourselves

Lad os ikke holde dem eller os selv

in the dark.

i mørket.

Let us celebrate diversity.

Lad os hylde forskelligheden.

Mind your language.

Hold af dit sprog.

Use it to spread great ideas.

Brug det til, at sprede gode idéer.

(Applause)

[Bifald]

Thank you very much.

Mange tak skal I have.

(Applause)

[Bifald]