Language Distribution, Europe

i found this via hacker news. Language Distribution in Europe. Very fascinating, don't you think?

Not Just Language, but Context is Important

A few hours ago, ran across "Speaking English" harder than just speaking English from Ars Technica. It talked about the complexities of a world standardizing in English. Nate Anderson argues that it isn't just knowing the language but also adding context to it--- especially with regard to local culture (or the person's culture to whom you are engaged in conversation with).

Here's a snippet (I strongly suggest reading the piece in its entirety):

English has long been the dominant language for international business and technology; heck, even a hat I picked up in the Czech Republic that was made and sold there said "Made in Czech Republic" on the label. When English becomes an adjunct to a native language, it can be a powerful tool for business and cross-cultural communication. The focus on English has its critics, though, who worry that it will eclipse other tongues, especially in immigrant communities in English-speaking countries. Such a view, long a staple issue in postcolonial literature, was put forward again today by Rep. Mike Honda (D-CA), who wrote in a newspaper column that keeping another language and culture even has economic and political benefits.

"Contrary to what anti-immigrants argue, I know Vietnamese, Filipino, Indian, Latino and Chinese children in my district who have actually lost their family's native tongue," he wrote in a piece for the Mercury News. "When they grow up, they would be better equipped to carry out business relationships south of the border or in the Pacific Rim, had they kept their native languages. This would be even more important if they went on to help shape global U.S. policy."

The Dying: Languages

National Geographic News says that more than half of the Planet's 7,000 or so languages will be dead by the next century and a lot of that human knowledge about our "natural world," the article says will die with it. This race to extinction will mean that the knowledge that isn't written down will be gone.

why are we still talking about languages?

It is funny really, all this hoopla about what medium of instruction to use: English or Filipino, but what I really mean is: rather disappointing.

MLQ3's Misplaced Emphasis on English and Dean Jorge Bocobo's Philippine Commentary are all about the medium is a mess. apparently there is some controversy arising between which language to use as a method of instruction. so much so that it has been raised to the Supreme Court.

Correct me if i'm wrong, wasn't the Philippine Constitution drafted in English?

From my point of view the petitioners are pleading the case to get the Government to set the mode of instruction to Filipino. All those scientific journals, would have to be translated to Filipino if we want our kids to learn. That's a volume of information that must be churned out, converted. Then there is the Internet. That's huge.

From my point of view, it is both practical and far cheaper to train people both in English and in Filipino that they may understand written work in English far better than to translate those English works to Filipino for school children and their teachers to better understand.

My understanding of Intelligence is that once you learn in English or whatever source, you could teach it in another: English to Filipino or Filipino to English. Isn't that the barometer by which to know, you've understood the material?

People say, kids learn better because they use the national language. People learn better when you've conveyed the material in easy to understand form. The Petitioners I think have clearly no idea how the world is. They're still locked in 18th century ideas, imprisoned by old methods. Their views are similar to how Windows operates in my humble opinion because Nationalism went out the way of the dinosaurs.

I say, don't dumb our people down. Don't lower the bar of expectation and put limits where there should be none. In my humble opinion, we should be teaching kids in English. We should be teaching kids in Filipino. if we can squeeze in that bit of Spanish (it was never taught to me in school) or French or Japanese or Mandarin (one of the things my mother told me to study but never did)--- or if we can teach them math and science in musical sonatas or through visual aides or whatnut, pardon my French: why the hell not?

I think the greater problem is that those who are teaching kids aren't that well equipped and hence, we must train them up. Mastery in a subject matter no matter its source can be conveyed if the instructor knows it well and can simplify it for minds to learn.

That said, I learned Math and Science in English. Many of you reading this blog did the same. What makes our generations (mine isn't far off from the kids in school) different from the ones that followed ours?

Instead of squabbling over what language to instruct kids in, we must be talking about how intelligence is both a function of literacy and of creative thinking.

My understanding of all this mess is that we still place high regard for simple literacy. It may have been enough, twenty years ago but in this brave new world, simply knowing how to read and to write is no longer just enough!

We must encourage children to be creative. And by that, I mean: creativity is about combining vectors from multiple disciplines and weaving them in a whole new fashion.

Take Heroes--- a hit series and this interview by Wired Magazine on the series creator, Tim Kring and Masi Oka, which was being quoted by the site, Heroes Revealed. It's creator was not a comic geek, yet his show is a mash up (a combination of) different literature, different mythology from across the world and of different medium and style.

here's a quote from the article that you may find interesting:

Oka (who plays central character Hiro in Heroes) himself is a geek made good. Before he pursued acting, he was a CG artist at Industrial Light & Magic, crafting f/x for films like War of the Worlds and Revenge of the Sith. (He still does occasional work for the company - no one else knows how to use the programs he coded.)

spoiler warning: video is a three minute preview of Heroes, Chapter 20: "Five Years Gone"

What about industrial designer Ross Lovegrove? His work is about pragmatic design: beautiful, and functional objects but his forms are inspired by nature. Here is his TEDtalk:

Take a look at this technical blog from well-respected Filipino software developer and Test Driven Development evangelist cruizer, on "I hate PHP Gotchas". Whether you're Greek, Itallian, Japanese: the underlying principle is based on mathematics but the human readable code is written in English. Everyone who knows how to code in PHP get that and a lot of Filipinos do and a creative understanding of how code, system and software interact is highly essential for a good hack.

(Added) What is the wold coming to, when even having a Playstation 3 and playing games all day is also about enabling to double computing power, helping medical researchers and so many other projects?

From heroes to industrial design to software development to solving the world's problems, what is my point in writing about these three seemingly unrelated stories? These are all incredibly talented and creative people and the measure of their intelligence is that they are able to combine multiple disciplines and insights and apply them to their respective fields.

In a world where everyday is a new dawn of new learning discovery, like finding out the possibility of New Earth. One of the challenges of tomorrow is to figure out how to get there and learn. It may be through NASA's Warp Drive or some other way.

Apparently, New Earth revolves around a red sun. As Tom Merrit of Buzz Out Loud in their episode, Sanjaya for President was mulling: a day after Kryptonite was discovered these guys say a new world revolves around a red sun... two and two together, pretty soon, might Kal-El be flying around?

Hey, can you not dream? it could happen, couldn't it?

That said, challenge kids to learn! Get them to think creatively! How can we expect an entire generation of children who won't be able to compete in the world where rapidly, things are being looked at from different points of view?

In the next 30 years, according to a TEDTalk by Sir Ken Robinson, UNESCO is projecting that more people will be graduating with degrees than in all of history. Just imagine the competition that a whole generation of Filipinos will be facing. Suddenly that Bachelor of Science or that Bachelor of Arts will be as useful as a high school diploma, maybe less. Frightening isn't it?

It is time to think outside the box.

Yesterday, I wrote: "Can the Future be Designed?" Which, is all about education, and intelligence and how we must rethink our basic assumptions on both education and intelligence and how by doing so, use it to leverage the future. Apparently, it is a post well timed.

Ignorance is bliss. The Filipino's lack of understanding, and vision for what is to come will not better prepare a whole generation for tomorrow. Do not dumb down kids. Do not put the least of expectations on them. It has only created mediocrity and incapacity. Challenge them! If you say, money is an issue, then would you agree with me that it be high time we get our act together and reconsider our national priorities as well?