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

Vol/51 No/2 2012APRIL/MAYTheLinguist7FEATURESOur look at 50 years ofThe Linguistbegins withan overview of the first 10 years. By Tony BellIn 1961, the IoL Council decided its journal,theLinguists' Review,'could no longer meetadequately the challenge of the future orachieve the aims of the Institute'. TheIncorporated Linguist(TIL) was born. TheEditorial in issue 1, January 1962, declaredthat it was to be 'a more "outward looking"journal which, in catering for the needs of arapidly growing membership, will be alsoserving commerce and industry'. It would be'to a large extent the "official proceedings" ofthe Institute'; and it would devote more spaceto the interests of the teaching profession.The 1960s was a time of great social andtechnological change, and the journal reflectsthis in interesting ways. Edited by S C Cave(1962-65), B G Hulsen (1965-66), R A F Wallis(1967-1970) and Felix Liebesny (1970-1975), itwas optimistic about the place of languages -reflecting the optimism of the time, focusedon technological, economic and socialprogress. At the start of the decade,negotiations were under way for Britain's entryinto the Common Market. The Cold War wasa constant preoccupation, and the impact ofthe launch of Sputnik I in 1957 resonatedthroughout the 1960s in international political,scientific and industrial competition. This hada marked effect both on language teachingand on technical translation and abstracting,with Russian assuming a new prominence. In 'The Relative Importance of VariousLanguages in Scientific and TechnicalLiterature' (TIL 4,1, 1965), A Tybulewicz and F Liebesny referenced surveys that 'placeRussian quite clearly as the most importantlanguage after English'. The authors advisethat 'those authorities responsible for theprovision of linguists for industry andcommerce should re-examine the balance ofof institutions with the resources to run hugemainframes). See, for example, 'Problems inTyping Foreign-Language Material' (1965)and the intriguing 'Pocket-size SimultaneousInterpreting System produced by theNational Coal Board' (1964) - the NCB, alongwith the National Physical Laboratory, figuredregularly in the journal at this time.This was also an exciting time in linguistics,as theories of transformational-generativegrammar began to exercise their influence.Interestingly, however, the first academically-oriented paper in the journal ('Translation and Linguistics: A search for definitions' by J G Ebel) did not appear until vol 7 (1968)and, while briefly referencing Chomsky, drewmostly on Whorf and Sapir.In addition to articles about languagelaboratories and their use, pattern drills andadvice on buying a new system, the promiseof more space devoted to language teachingwas fulfilled in the book reviews, which oftentook up eight pages or more. Dictionariesand specialised glossaries, such as theDictionary of Metal-Cutting Machine Tools(1966), were frequently covered, reflectingthe growth in technical translation. Thejournal has often featured cultural or historical discussion, and the first decade sawarticles such as 'Regionalism in High German'(G D C Martin, 1964) and 'Language andNation-Building' (N Hartley, 1969).Largely, the journal achieved its aim to bemore 'outward looking'. At the same time, itis clearly talking to IoL members,professionally and (increasingly) institutionally,with the publication of remuneration surveys,the Diamond Jubilee Reception and, startingin July 1971, The Chairman's Page (the first ofwhich was actually a page and a third).50 years in printlanguage teaching and place greateremphasis on producing men and women withproficiency in Russian'. To some extent this wasalready happening, as the many articles onlanguage teaching in the journal demonstrate.An Editorial in 1962 announced aSymposium on 'Language Matters. Theimportance of languages in the Europeancontext', co-sponsored by the Institute andBritain in Europe, and noted 'the tremendousdemand in industry for language servicesgenerally, and for guidance on specificaspects'. A G Readett, Head of Translating andInterpreting at the National Coal Board and aformer IoL Chair of Council, commented,with apprehensive enthusiasm, that 'the rateof publication [of published specialistjournals] is rising at an amazing and indeedfrightening rate'. The growth in demand forspecialist technical translation is a recurringtheme throughout the period. Machine Translation (or, sometimes,'Mechanical Translation') was beginning toshow its potential and its challenges.Technical aids to translators and interpreterswere published, but the focus was thetypewriter (computers were still the domainTheLinguists' Reviewbegan in 1924 andran until the launch ofThe IncorporatedLinguistin 1962, when the format alsochanged. In 1986, the name changedagain, to The Linguist, and it has continuedto evolve under that banner to the presentday. For a more detailed history seeProfessionally Speaking: The CharteredInstitute of Linguists Centenary 1910-2010. THE BACK STORY