Vol/51 No/2 2012APRIL/MAYTheLinguist5NEWS & EDITORIALOn a recent trip to the local mall, I noticedthat one of the (many) mobile phone storeshad a sign offering the week's deals, writtenin Polish only. In my East Londonneighbourhood, it is normal to see shopsigns in other, primarily Eastern European,languages, but what struck me about thisparticular sign was that, although thebusiness is multinational, it was handwritten in store. Clearly, a localapproach is running alongside any wider language policy. According to aninsightful study on multilingual business practices in Europe, this approachto the language challenges of international businesses is common (p.20).The East End is also preparing for the Olympics, and a pop-upcampsite in my area is expecting up to 5,000 visitors. London 2012 hadbeen tight-lipped about the languages preparations for the Games, sowhen the Organising Committee agreed to answer my long list ofquestions at what must be their busiest time so far, I was pleasantlysurprised. They offer a real insight into how the challenges of putting ona massive international sporting event can be met (p.10). For me, themost exciting related cultural event is Globe to Globe, in which 37Shakespeare plays will be performed in 37 languages. I was fascinatedto learn about the Urdu translation, which sets The Taming of the Shrewin modern Pakistan and sounds incredibly inventive and funny (p.18).In this issue we launch a new 'Speak to the future' section, which willfollow the campaign as it progresses and develops. Its HigherEducation Working Group Leader, Pam Moores, and Project Manager,Dominic Luddy, begin by looking at the challenges ahead (p.8). STF isworking with a number of initiatives that have similar aims, among themThirdYearAbroad.com. Set up to help languages students on their yearabroad, the website also promotes languages degrees more widely, inpart by making them 'less intimidating' (p.24). Prof Moores notes that language students are the highest earnersamong arts graduates shortly after leaving university, but that this is notwidely known or promoted to secondary school pupils. Interpreters andtranslators will be interested to find out about their comparativeincomes in the comprehensive and much anticipated Rates and SalariesSurvey (p.12).Tellingly, rates have not generally kept up with inflation; yetlinguists working in sales, marketing and public relations are faringrelatively well (p.16). A friend of mine who works in publishing travelsregularly to meet with clients in their own country and language; it's aglamourous-sounding, if exhausting, role.Miranda MooreBranded by its creators as 'the next chapter inhuman computation', the goal is to translatevast amounts of web content into a variety oflanguages while at the same time providingfree language lessons for millions of users. Thelogic runs like this: Over 1.2 billion people arecurrently learning a foreign language whereaslarge sections of the web exist only in asingle language, usually English. So why notcombine these two activities and create anonline language course in which the learnerstranslate web texts as part of the learningexperience? . If this all sounds too good tobe true, that's because it is.'Learning through Crowdsourcing is Deaf tothe Language Challenge', 14/2/12What thepapers say.It is a baleful sign of our times that one ofNewt Gingrich's most effective attacks onMitt Romney is that he is so un-American hedares to speak French. [In the UK] thehangover from Empire and the legacy ofgreat power, along with the comfortingreality that the US is English-speaking,deludes us into still thinking that speaking aforeign language is a nice-to-have ratherthan a must-have asset.'Why do we Continue to Isolate Ourselvesby Only Speaking English?', 5/3/12Thousands of pounds are being wastedevery day because of problems caused by anew system of providing interpreters forcourts. Campaigners say the company[ALS] is offering a substandard service andstruggling to find interpreters as many refuseto work for it, resulting in it actually costingmore money. Interpreters for Justice -setup to get the framework scrapped -calledfor the immediate end of the arrangement.'Foreign Suspects are being Released from Police Custody due to Lack ofInterpreters', 3/3/12EDITOR'SLETTER

6 TheLinguistAPRIL/MAYwww.iol.org.ukNEWS & EDITORIALOnly two percent of teachers in Namibiapassed recent competency tests in English,fuelling criticism that the country's languagepolicy is 'poisoning' its children. English hasbeen the main language of instruction since1990, but according to a leaked document,98 percent of teachers did not pass nationaltests in basic English. When the countrygained independence from South Africa,English was chosen to replace Afrikaans asthe main language of education, eventhough it was spoken by just eight percentof the population. The government has beencriticised for failing to train teaching staff to asufficient level of proficiency.System 'fails'Namibian pupilsLatvia votes onofficial languageLatvia will not adopt Russian as an officiallanguage after the proposal was rejected by75 percent of those who voted in a Februaryreferendum. Russian is the mother tongue ofabout 700,000 Latvians -or a third of thepopulation -but the result was notunexpected. Although Russian-speakerscomplain of discrimination, ethnic Latvians fearan increase in Russian influence 20 years afterthe end of the Soviet Union occupation.Twitter expandsTwitter has launched its services in Arabic,Farsi, Hebrew and Urdu. To make the micro-blogging site available in scripts written fromright to left, the company called on users tohelp translate menu options, support pagesand other features. 13,000 volunteersresponded to the call, posted on the TwitterTranslation Center in January. According tothe company: 'Our engineering team built anew set of special tools to ensure theseTweets, hashtags and numbers all look andbehave correctly.' Twitter is now available in28 languages, including Japanese, Spanishand Russian. Language requests can be filedat http://translate.twttr.com/lang_request.The latest from the language worldBritish Academy demonstrates thevalue of the year abroadProven valueOn 27 March, the British Academy held aconference on the value of the year abroad.It examined both the current state of studyabroad programmes in the UK and the mainissues facing British universities, and thestate of study abroad programmes overseas,with the aim of sharing best practice.Speakers included Chris Millward of Hefce(the Higher Education Funding Council forEngland), Martin Davidson of the BritishCouncil, David Docherty of CIHE, SirDrummond Bone and Professor Wang Lifei.The event also served as a platform tolaunch a joint British Academy-UCML(University Council of Modern Languages)Position Statement on this very topic.Supported by a graduate survey and casestudies collected by ThirdYearAbroad.com,the Position Statement outlines the value ofstudying abroad, making recommendationsto government, universities, employers andstudents at a time of significant change tothe higher education landscape. Of the nearly 600 graduates surveyed,two-thirds felt that their residence abroadwas a significant factor in getting their firstand subsequent jobs, and 86 percentconsidered the year abroad to be the mostvaluable part of their degree. The Statement outlines the variety of skillsdeveloped as a result, including languageskills; intercultural understanding andopenness; personal confidence anddevelopment; and skills for competitiveness,professional development and employability.As one graduate put it: 'It is not justimportant linguistic competencies which arethreatened by failing to support year abroadprogrammes, but the UK's engagement in ageneration which looks across borders, in itspolicies, research and debates.'Baroness Coussins had raised concernsabout funding for the year abroad during adebate in the House of Lords in October. AsChair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groupon Modern Languages, she urged thegovernment to extend the fee waiver thatuniversities receive for students taking theiryear abroad, to courses beginning in thenext academic year and beyond. © ISTOCKPHOTO