Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!

Translator: Aleksandra Melanšek Reviewer: Nika Kotnik

Vem, kaj razmišljate.

Da sem se izgubila in da bo v kratkem nekdo prišel na oder

I know what you're thinking.

in me nežno pospremil nazaj do mojega sedeža.

You think I've lost my way,

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

(Aplavz)

and guide me gently back to my seat.

(Applause)

To se mi stalno dogaja v Dubaju.

I get that all the time in Dubai.

»Ste tukaj na počitnicah, gospa?«

(Smeh)

"Here on holiday are you, dear?"

»Ste prišli obiskat otroke?«

(Laughter)

"Come to visit the children?

»Kako dolgo boste ostali?«

Pravzaprav upam, da še nekaj časa.

How long are you staying?"

Well actually, I hope for a while longer yet.

V Zalivu živim in poučujem že več kot 30 let.

I have been living and teaching in the Gulf

(Aplavz)

for over 30 years.

(Applause)

In v tem času sem videla veliko sprememb.

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

Ta statistika je precej pretresljiva.

Now that statistic

In danes bi rada govorila z vami o izumiranju jezikov

is quite shocking.

And I want to talk to you today

in globalizaciji angleščine.

about language loss

and the globalization of English.

Rada bi vam povedala o prijateljici,

ki je poučevala angleščino za odrasle v Abu Dabiju.

I want to tell you about my friend

who was teaching English to adults in Abu Dhabi.

Nekega lepega dne

pa se je odločila, da jih odpelje na vrt,

And one fine day,

da bi se naučili nekaj besedišča o naravi.

she decided to take them into the garden

Ampak na koncu se je ona naučila vseh arabskih besed o lokalnih rastlinah

to teach them some nature vocabulary.

But it was she who ended up learning

all the Arabic words for the local plants,

in spoznala njihovo rabo ―

za medicinske namene, kozmetiko,

as well as their uses --

medicinal uses, cosmetics,

kuhanje, zelišča.

cooking, herbal.

Kako so oni pridobili vse to znanje?

Od svojih starih staršev, seveda.

How did those students get all that knowledge?

In celo od prastaršev.

Of course, from their grandparents

Ni potrebno razlagati, kako pomembna je zmožnost komunikacije med generacijami.

and even their great-grandparents.

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

to be able to communicate

Ampak na žalost, dandanes

across generations.

jeziki izumirajo tako hitro, kot še nikoli do zdaj.

But sadly, today,

languages are dying

En jezik izumre vsakih 14 dni.

at an unprecedented rate.

A language dies every 14 days.

Istočasno pa je angleščina nesporno postala svetovni jezik.

Now, at the same time,

English is the undisputed global language.

Bi lahko bila tukaj povezava?

No, tega ne vem.

Could there be a connection?

Vem pa, da sem opazila ogromno sprememb.

Well I don't know.

Ko sem prvič prišla v Zaliv, sem prišla v Kuvajt

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

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

v časih, ko je bila to še težka destinacija.

in the days when it was still a hardship post.

V bistvu ne tako dolgo od tega.

To je malce prezgodaj.

Actually, not that long ago.

That is a little bit too early.

Pa vendar, zaposlil me je Britanski svet skupaj s približno 25 učitelji.

But nevertheless,

I was recruited by the British Council,

Bili smo prvi nemuslimani,

along with about 25 other teachers.

ki so kdajkoli poučevali v državnih šolah v Kuvajtu.

And we were the first non-Muslims

to teach in the state schools there in Kuwait.

Pripeljali so nas, da bi učili angleščino, ker je vlada želela modernizirati državo

We were brought to teach English

because the government wanted to modernize the country

in okrepiti državljane z izobraževanjem.

and to empower the citizens through education.

Seveda pa je Združeno kraljestvo pridobilo

nekaj tega čudovitega naftnega bogastva.

And of course, the U.K. benefited

from some of that lovely oil wealth.

Dobro.

Glavna sprememba, ki sem jo opazila:

Okay.

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

kako se je poučevanje angleščine prelevilo

how teaching English

iz obojestransko koristne prakse

has morphed

from being a mutually beneficial practice

v tako velik mednarodni posel, kot je danes.

to becoming a massive international business that it is today.

Angleščina ni več samo tuji jezik v šolskem učnem načrtu

No longer just a foreign language on the school curriculum,

in ne več izključna domena matere Anglije,

and no longer the sole domain

postala je trend

of mother England,

za vse angleško govoreče narode na svetu.

it has become a bandwagon

for every English-speaking nation on earth.

Zakaj pa ne?

Konec koncev najboljšo izobrazbo,

And why not?

After all, the best education --

glede na najnovejšo Svetovno letvico,

according to the latest World University Rankings --

pridobimo na univerzah v ZK in ZDA.

is to be found in the universities

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

Zato si vsi želijo angleške izobrazbe, razumljivo.

So everybody wants to have an English education, naturally.

Ampak če nisi rojeni govorec,

moraš opraviti preizkus.

But if you're not a native speaker,

Ali bi bilo prav zavrniti študenta samo na osnovi njegove jezikovne sposobnosti?

you have to pass a test.

Now can it be right

to reject a student

Lahko imaš računalniškega znanstvenika, ki je genij.

on linguistic ability alone?

Perhaps you have a computer scientist

Ali bi on potreboval enako besedišče kot odvetnik, na primer?

who's a genius.

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

No, mislim, da ne.

Well, I don't think so.

Mi, učitelji angleščine, pa jih zavračamo ves čas.

We English teachers reject them all the time.

Postavimo stop znak in jih zaustavimo na njihovi poti.

We put a stop sign,

Ne morejo več slediti svojim sanjam,

and we stop them in their tracks.

dokler ne obvladajo angleščine.

They can't pursue their dream any longer,

'til they get English.

Naj povem drugače:

če bi spoznala enojezičnega govorca nizozemščine,

Now let me put it this way:

if I met a monolingual Dutch speaker

ki bi poznal zdravilo za raka,

ali bi mu preprečila vstop na svojo britansko univerzo?

who had the cure for cancer,

would I stop him from entering my British University?

Verjetno ne.

Ampak to je točno to, kar počnemo.

I don't think so.

Mi, profesorji angleščine, smo vratarji.

But indeed, that is exactly what we do.

We English teachers are the gatekeepers.

In najprej moraš prepričati nas,

And you have to satisfy us first

da je tvoja angleščina dovolj dobra.

that your English is good enough.

Mogoče je nevarno, če ozek segment družbe pridobi preveč moči.

Now it can be dangerous

to give too much power

Mogoče bi bila prepreka preveč univerzalna.

to a narrow segment of society.

Maybe the barrier would be too universal.

Dobro.

»Ampak,« vas slišim reči,

Okay.

"But," I hear you say,

»Kaj pa raziskave?«

»Vse so v angleščini.«

"what about the research?

Vse knjige so v angleščini,

It's all in English."

časopisi so napisani v angleščini,

So the books are in English,

ampak to je samouresničujoča prerokba.

the journals are done in English,

but that is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

To hrani zahteve po angleščini.

In tako se vse nadaljuje.

It feeds the English requirement.

Naj vas vprašam: »Kaj se je zgodilo s prevajanjem?«

And so it goes on.

I ask you, what happened to translation?

Če pomislite na zlato dobo islama,

If you think about the Islamic Golden Age,

so takrat ogromno prevajali.

Prevajali so iz latinščine in grščine

there was lots of translation then.

v arabščino, perzijščino

They translated from Latin and Greek

in nato so prevajali dalje

into Arabic, into Persian,

v germanske jezike Evrope

and then it was translated on

in tudi romanske jezike.

into the Germanic languages of Europe

In tako je svetloba posijala na evropsko temno dobo.

and the Romance languages.

And so light shone upon the Dark Ages of Europe.

Ne razumite me narobe; ne nasprotujem učenju angleščine,

Now don't get me wrong;

vsi vi učitelji angleščine.

I am not against teaching English,

Všeč mi je, da imamo svetovni jezik.

all you English teachers out there.

Danes ga potrebujemo bolj kot kdajkoli.

I love it that we have a global language.

We need one today more than ever.

Nasprotujem pa temu, da ga uporabljamo kot prepreko.

But I am against using it

Res želimo imeti na koncu 600 jezikov

as a barrier.

Do we really want to end up with 600 languages

in angleščino ali kitajščino kot glavnega?

and the main one being English, or Chinese?

Potrebujemo več kot to. Kje potegnemo črto?

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

Sistem enači inteligenco

This system

equates intelligence

z znanjem angleščine,

with a knowledge of English,

kar je precej arbitrarno.

(Aplavz)

which is quite arbitrary.

(Applause)

Želim vas opomniti,

da gigantom na čigar ramenih stoji današnji sloj inteligence,

And I want to remind you

that the giants upon whose shoulders

ni bilo treba opraviti preizkusa iz angleškega jezika.

today's intelligentsia stand

did not have to have English,

Tipičen primer: Einstein.

they didn't have to pass an English test.

Case in point, Einstein.

Njega so šteli za učenca z učnimi težavami,

He, by the way, was considered remedial at school

saj je bil disleksik.

Ampak, na srečo celega sveta,

because he was, in fact, dyslexic.

mu ni bilo treba opravljati izpita iz angleščine,

But fortunately for the world,

kajti niso se začeli pred letom 1964,

he did not have to pass an English test.

Because they didn't start until 1964

ko se je uveljavil TOEFL, ameriški test angleškega jezika.

with TOEFL,

Zdaj pa so eksplodirali.

the American test of English.

Now it's exploded.

Ogromno je testov iz angleščine.

In na milijone študentov

There are lots and lots of tests of English.

opravlja te teste vsako leto.

And millions and millions of students

Lahko si mislite, vi in jaz, da te šolnine niso tako visoke, so v redu.

take these tests every year.

Now you might think, you and me,

Vendar so nedostopne milijonom revnim ljudem.

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

but they are prohibitive

In tako jih sproti zavrnemo.

to so many millions of poor people.

(Aplavz)

So immediately, we're rejecting them.

(Applause)

To me spomni na naslovnico, ki sem jo videla pred kratkim:

It brings to mind a headline I saw recently:

»Izobrazba: velika ločnica.«

Jasno mi je,

"Education: The Great Divide."

razumem, zakaj se želijo ljudje osredotočiti na angleščino.

Now I get it,

I understand why people would want to focus on English.

Svojim otrokom želijo nuditi najboljše možnosti v življenju.

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

In da bi jim to uspelo, potrebujejo zahodnjaško izobrazbo.

And to do that, they need a Western education.

Saj najboljša delovna mesta gredo tistim,

Because, of course, the best jobs

ki prihajajo iz zahodnjaških univerz, ki sem jih omenila prej.

go to people out of the Western Universities,

To je začarani krog.

that I put on earlier.

It's a circular thing.

Naj vam povem zgodbo o dveh znanstvenikih, angleških znanstvenikih.

Okay.

Let me tell you a story about two scientists,

Izvajala sta eksperiment, ki ima opravka z genetiko,

two English scientists.

They were doing an experiment

sprednjimi in zadnjimi udi pri živalih.

to do with genetics

and the forelimbs and the hind limbs of animals.

Ampak nista dobila želenih rezultatov.

Nista več vedela, kaj bi naredila,

But they couldn't get the results they wanted.

dokler nista naletela na nemškega znanstvenika,

They really didn't know what to do,

until along came a German scientist

ki je spoznal, da sta uporabljala dve različni besedi

who realized that they were using two words

za sprednji in zadnji ud,

medtem ko genetika tega ne razlikuje

for forelimb and hind limb,

whereas genetics does not differentiate

in prav tako ne nemški jezik.

Zadetek v polno,

and neither does German.

problem rešen.

So bingo,

Če se ne moreš nečesa domisliti,

problem solved.

If you can't think a thought,

si obstal.

Če pa se lahko drug jezik domisli tega,

you are stuck.

potem lahko, s sodelovanjem, dosežemo in se naučimo veliko več.

But if another language can think that thought,

then, by cooperating,

we can achieve and learn so much more.

Moja hči je prišla v Anglijo iz Kuvajta.

My daughter

came to England from Kuwait.

Študirala je znanost in matematiko v arabščini.

She had studied science and mathematics in Arabic.

Torej v arabski srednji šoli.

V gimnaziji je morala prevajati v angleščino.

It's an Arabic-medium school.

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

In pri teh predmetih je bila najboljša v razredu.

And she was the best in the class

Kar nam pove, da tujim študentom

at those subjects.

Which tells us

morda ne priznavamo dovolj vsega, kar znajo.

that when students come to us from abroad,

we may not be giving them enough credit

in to znajo v svojem jeziku.

for what they know,

and they know it in their own language.

Ko umre jezik,

ne vemo, kaj vse izgubimo hkrati s tem jezikom.

When a language dies,

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

Ne vem, če ste to videli pred kratkim;

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

CNN je podelil nagrado Heroes mlademu kenijskemu pastirju,

they gave the Heroes Award

to a young Kenyan shepherd boy

ki se ponoči ni mogel učiti v svoji vasi, kot vsi ostali vaški otroci,

who couldn't study at night in his village,

ker je dim kerozinske svetilke škodoval njegovim očem.

like all the village children,

because the kerosene lamp,

Tako in tako pa ni bilo nikoli dovolj kerozina.

it had smoke and it damaged his eyes.

Kaj pa lahko kupiš za dolar na dan?

And anyway, there was never enough kerosene,

because what does a dollar a day buy for you?

Tako je izumil brezplačno sončno svetilko.

So he invented

a cost-free solar lamp.

In zdaj otroci v njegovi vasi dobivajo enake ocene v šoli kot tisti,

And now the children in his village

ki imajo elektriko doma.

get the same grades at school

as the children who have electricity at home.

(Aplavz)

(Applause)

Ko je prejel nagrado, je izrekel te čudovite besede:

When he received his award,

»Otroci lahko povedejo Afriko iz tega, kar je danes

he said these lovely words:

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

― temni kontinent,

v svetli kontinent.«

a dark continent,

Preprosta ideja, ki lahko ima daljnosežne posledice.

to a light continent."

A simple idea,

but it could have such far-reaching consequences.

Ljudje, ki nimajo svetlobe,

pa naj bo ta fizična ali metaforična,

People who have no light,

whether it's physical or metaphorical,

ne morejo opraviti naših izpitov,

cannot pass our exams,

mi pa ne moremo nikoli izvedeti, kar vedo oni.

and we can never know what they know.

Ne zadržujmo njih in sebe v temi.

Let us not keep them and ourselves

Slavimo raznolikost.

in the dark.

Let us celebrate diversity.

Skrbite za svoj jezik.

Uporabljajte ga za širitev velikih idej.

Mind your language.

Use it to spread great ideas.

(Aplavz)

(Applause)

Najlepša hvala.

(Aplavz)

Thank you very much.

(Applause)