AFS Intercultural Eyes: Language Learning

Issue 24. May 23, 2008.

Fri, 23 May 2008 15:50:03 GMT

Language Borders

Writing last time about the Quebecois AFS students preparing to go abroad led me to think more about the reality of language borders, which are often not identical to political borders. In Nigeria, for example, colonialism lead to borders with no cultural or linguistic basis and a colonial language (English) became the common and official language. Canada, Belgium and Switzerland all recognize two or more official languages within their borders and have chosen a variety of political methods to protect language communities. With the Canadian solution mandating a wide range of official and commercial text be provided in both English and French, it is not surprising to find that translation skills are in demand in all sorts of jobs in Canada. Many countries have distinct regional languages that have official status, such as Catalan in Spain. India is another example, where, according to the CIA World Factbook, "English enjoys associate status but is the most important language for national, political, and commercial communication; Hindi is the national language and primary tongue of 30% of the people; there are 21 other official languages."

Regional or minority languages within a nation are frequently not encouraged, and are sometimes their use is even prohibited. Recently the New York Times focused Liedekerke, a small Flemish town in Belgium with language issues in their story "Seams of Belgium's Quilt Threaten to Burst." It seems there is concern about French speakers from Brussels "taking over" and changing the nature of the town. Here in the New York City area we remember something similar a couple of years ago when Steven M. Lonegan, the Republican mayor of Bogota, New Jersey, tried to force McDonald’s to remove a Spanish billboard advertisement and make English the official language of his town, whose name is pronounced very differently from the capital of Colombia. See: A Sign of the Times.

English doesn't seem to be far from any danger of dying out as a language and certainly is not threatened in its dominance by an advertisement directed to Spanish speakers. Similarly, the Flemish-speaking portion of Belgium has traditionally been more prosperous than their Walloon neighbors, making efforts like these to legislate against the use of other languages seem xenophobic, mean-spirited or racist. Mary Ann Zehr's blog, "Learning the Language" is about the many issues surrounding the teaching of English as a Second Language in the United States. Discriminatory legislation frequently emerges. Recently her blog focused on the stories of refugees in the United States. Perhaps the stories of these refugees now in an exhibition at the Vermont Folklife Center, called "In their own words" can encourage more sympathy and compassion for people who were forced to leave their own culture and language. But this may not solve the real fear associated with linguistic "invasions" in a formerly mono-lingual territory.

Should we try to preserve languages? And how would we do so? In Language extinction, Doug O'Harra quotes University of Alaska Fairbanks professor emeritus Michael Krauss on his view that the world is faced with a catastrophic loss of most of the world's 6000 languages. You can also watch an entertaining trailer for the film "The Linguists" in which a pair of university professors track down and record the last speakers of some of these languages. National Geographic has a similar piece in an on-line video: Last Speaker of "Extinct" Language Found. They record the few words this last speaker of an aboriginal language can remember from his childhood. It's respectful of his origins and it documents a small relic of what was once a rich communication system. But this is not enough to preserve that system.

A living language evolves and the meaning of individual words or phrases changes as they are used. For example, the word "cute," shortened from "acute" (meaning sharp or pointed in the 16th Century) didn't always make you think of Hello, Kitty! (who is very rounded) and the very existence of such a phenomenal character as that white kitten cartoon without a mouth is likely to alter the context in which one can refer to a person as "cute."

Yesterday I found a very useful on-line tutorial created and maintained by Dr. Dennis O'Neil of the Behavioral Sciences Department, Palomar College, San Marcos, California, that talks about language and perception and helps to show why the language we use is a large part of how we organize our understanding of the world and ourselves. Learning a new language as an adult may mean never fully becoming fully fluent in all the richness and context that native speakers enjoy. It may also make you feel less competent as you struggle to, say, give your phone number in another language. Yet at the same time it opens your ears and mind to another perspective on the world and enables you to relate to others in a different way, outside of your usual context. And perhaps if Spanish and English speakers in New Jersey, or Flemish and French speakers in Liedekerke actually start conversations with each other, new expressions will show up in both languages and a new, living communication system could emerge.

Next week I will be blogging from the NAFSA conference.

Bettina Hansel

Director of Intercultural Education and Research

AFS International

Eyes on France. April 22, 2008.

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:18:11 GMT

Spending time with my host sister and her family in Alsace is always a special time of fond memories and extensive language practice. Because I live in New York where there are daily opportunities to hear and speak Spanish, that has become my second language by instinct, but because I learned French in my childhood and through years of study in high school and at the university I continue to have a deep connection with the language and culture. But now it frequently happens that, simply as part of my conversation with my French friends, a variety of Spanish words and expressions sprinkle the text, while only very seldom do I use an English word, and then always deliberately.

In addition to the sprinkling of Spanish, my French is far from perfect, but getting some practice non-stop for several days has already helped. Old vocabulary words return to my active use, but above all I can feel the physical difference in the way I use my mouth. My lips get a bit more exercise, but in truth I'm a rapid but somewhat lazy speaker of French, particularly in this very informal context. The real difference in sensation is closer to my throat, in the back of my mouth in a place I never use with either English or Spanish. French is formed here for me. Since I can't hear my own accent, I may not use exactly the right place, but this is how it feels for me.

The other difference I find is in the conversations with myself, which now take place in French, or maybe in my combination of French and Spanish. But the instinct has moved toward the French side.

I learned French in a conversational style and struggled later in another school with my French papers that bled with the red ink of so many corrections in spelling, in diacritical marks, in the agreement of nouns and adjectives and the like. This is not so different from the way AFS participants learn the language. When I rehearse a conversation, which I sometimes do, small bits of random conversations run through my mind: some from the film strips we used to watch where the fictional Paul and Catherine Thibaut lived with their parents at No. 10, Place d'Italie, à Paris. I visited this address on my last trip to Paris and my husband took my photo. The building really exists, and back then it could well have had a grocery on the left and a pharmacy on the right, or vice versa. I count on these conversation snippets to guide me with the right intonation and the most complex verb forms in my spoken language, though for writing in French, I depend greatly on Word Reference because my memory is often faulty and I remember very well all the red ink on my written school assignments.

What I don't have in my French is the emotional range, or the volume range, of conversational style that I find in my host family. I speak in a New York voice, with a bit of what we'd call "deadpan" humor thrown in from time to time but mostly at a very even level in terms of volume, and I am generally very calm in terms of my emotional expression. Not so my friends. Within the course of a half hour and the same conversation there will be near whispers and near (or actual) shouts. Usually at the loudest points I feel impelled to make a small joke, but this is not necessary, of course. Disagreements in this family do not simmer on the stove the way mine do. Instead they form part of the rich texture of the conversation, a little spark, un etincelle; part of the musical dynamics of their own improvisation. Everyone is intimately connected and tightly so, and I'm included as well by the stories and adventures we've shared over 38 years now. I can tell their children stories about when they were little, and also a few selected stories about when their mother and I were even younger than they are now. I don't divulge our secrets.

Seeing me off at the train station there are some special hugs and tears shed -- by my host sister, though mine will come later on their delayed cycle -- though we will surely see each other in a year or two, maybe three. And maybe the next time it will be in English, and in New York.

Bettina Hansel
Director of Intercultural Education and Research
AFS International

Issue 11. February 19, 2008

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:15:12 GMT

A big "Thank You" and welcome to my guest blogger, Leo Hitchcock from New Zealand, pictured here with a former AFS student that he had hosted. Leo is currently researching the assessment of intercultural competence. His reactions to the Intercultural Eyes blogs seem to call for a bigger space than the semi-hidden "comment" boxes. Here is Leo's first full posting.

Betsy Hansel

The significance of language, social networks, and food to study abroad sojourners

I read with interest Betsy’s language posts, and thought I’d share with you data from some readings I have recently completed along with some thoughts.

Language is central to human communications, therefore host language proficiency is assumed to be one of the most important determinants of successful cultural adaptation [1]. It is considered ‘cultural capital’, and is a source of status and power for study abroad students (sojourners) [2]. Sojourners who expected to speak the host language but had low language skills, interpreted unwillingness on the part of the hosts to speak in return as exclusion from the local culture! [1].

Learning and speaking in another language can present challenges to a person’s sense of themselves, as this quote illustrates:

In order to be a wit in a foreign language you have to go through the stage of being a half-wit – there is no other way. If the problem is not addressed explicitly, learners may be just aware of it as a constant resistance against opening their mouths! [3].

To learn a new language is to create a new identity, as it is the principle process by which identity formation takes place [1, 4]. Eva Hoffman, a Polish 13 year old who moved to live in Canada, and struggled with whether to write her diary in English or Polish remarks;

This language is beginning to invent another me. However I discover something odd. It seems that when I write (or for that matter, think) in English, I am unable to use the word ‘I’. I do not go so far as the schizophrenic ‘she’, but am driven, as by a compulsion, to the double, the Siamese-twin ‘you’ [4].

One is drawn into the interactive nature of language and culture, going beyond mere structure and grammatical rules, and learning to unravel the inner meaning of the language that leads to refining and extending one’s knowledge of the culture. The educational implication is an imperativeness to become a sensitive user of the other language, which includes recognition that a different language can lead to a different way of expressing or experiencing oneself [4].
But there is a paradox [1]. As sojourners become adapted they often find difficulties around language, with the result that the more culturally adjusted they become, the more they tend to feel excluded! While high language skills provide for a deeper level of communication it does not automatically facilitate cultural adjustment. Instead, it brings one into an ambiguous realm where neither host nor sojourner is clear of the extent of fluency, with hosts treating them either as unable to speak the language, or expecting native-like fluency, treating mistakes as deliberate and insulting. Neither attitude encourages cultural adjustment. Deeper involvement with the host culture entails a different ‘cultural logic’ that has been recognised as the most challenging level within cross-cultural encounters, sometimes producing negative attitudes to the host culture (Culture Shock!) [5]. All sojourners that were researched encountered this at some stage, but those with higher language proficiency brought it on sooner and had higher expectations of being able to deal with it [1].

Recognition of intercultural competence, however, need not include a corresponding learning of a foreign language for those who do not have a second language component in their sojourn [6]. If a second language were a prerequisite to gaining intercultural competence, how would a sojourner ever achieve it if their sojourn was to a culture that speaks the same language, yet may be substantially different culturally (for example Spain/Spanish speaking Latin American countries; New Zealand and Australia/English speaking North America). Notwithstanding the obvious significance of the adaptive demands of language as an important element of attaining intercultural competence, intercultural competence can certainly be attained without it.

Social networks play a major role in determining how a person interprets and responds to their new environment. Three social network types have been identified: monocultural (your own culture), bicultural (the host culture), and multicultural (other foreigners in the host culture) [7]. Additionally, contact with home family and friends is another social network that places demands on the sojourner [1].

Movement from left to right across the networks represents adjustment away from the sojourner’s reliance on home, and increases the number and closeness of host culture ties.

Willingness to accept change in social relationships is essential for adjustment to another culture [8]. Relationships formed within the host culture social network results in the sojourner feeling part of the host culture. Such relationships must develop beyond the superficial level, be of equal status, satisfy the needs of individuals, and be free from discrimination and negative attitudes [1].

And food has been shown to be of central importance in developing and maintaining social intercultural relationships [9]. Changing one’s food preferences is a conscious expression of changing identity. Since food and its associated rituals embody a culture’s values [10], the sojourner’s reactions often indicate the extent they understand and appreciate their host culture’s core cultural values, and are an important part in participating in the culture. Rejection of the local culture’s food seems like rejection of the local culture!

All of this is based on solid research of study abroad students, and I believe are very important notions to become aware of and become familiar with within the pre-departure preparation stage.

References:
[1] Pearson-Evans, Aileen; 2006, Recording the Journey: Dairies of Irish Students in Japan. In Michael Byram & Anwei Feng, (Eds), Living and Studying Abroad: Research and Practice. Multilingual Matters Ltd,Clevedon, U.K.
[2] Kim, 1988, in [1]
[3] Harder, 1980: 269. In [4]
[4] Alred, Geof; 2003, Becoming a Better Stranger: A Therapeutic Perspective on Intercultural Education and/as Education. In Geof Alred, Mike Byram, & Mike Fleming (Eds), Intercultural Experience and Education. Multilingual Matters Ltd,Clevedon, U.K.
[5] Condon, 1974, in [1]
[6] Zarate, Genevìeve; 2003, The Recognition of Intercultural Competences: From individual to certification. In Geof Alred, Mike Byram, & Mike Fleming (Eds), Intercultural Experience and Education. Multilingual Matters Ltd,Clevedon, U.K.
[7] Bochner et al, 1986, in [1]
[8] Anderson, 1994: Kim, 1988; in [1]
[9] Bourdieu, 1986; Fischler, 1988; in [1]
[10] Douglas, 1966: Levi-Strauss, 1968; in [1]

Update: Found in Translation

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:22:38 GMT

After our staff training in Istanbul last September, I found a new interest in Istanbul and Turkey. So recently my daughter gave me a copy of Orhan Pamuk's The Black Book, which I am now reading. I happened to turn to the "afterward" by translator Maureen Freely, and I want to thank her for giving me this insight into the Turkish language:

There is no verb to be in Turkish, nor is there a verb to have. It's an agglutinative language, which means that root nouns in even the simplest sentences can carry five or six suffixes. ("Apparently, they were inside their houses" is a single word.) There are many more tenses--you use one mode for events you have witnessed with your own eyes, for example, and another for anything you know by hearsay. There is a special syllable you can add to a verb to emphasize the active role someone played in whatever you are describing. The passive voice is as graceful as the active voice and rather more popular, with the result that a fine Turkish sentence may choose to obscure exactly who did what. (from the Vintage International Edition, 2006)

To learn Turkish, I certainly would need to adjust my thinking, and so I marvel at the work Ms. Freely has done with this book. After reading the "afterward" I needed to go back to different passages and reconsider how they might have been constructed in the original Turkish. And in doing this I connected more with the mindset of the main character and the character that he is pursuing and imitating.

So often we are dependent on interpreters, and I am grateful for those who are able to do this. We are now working with a small group of AFS staff from several countries, trying to learn together how to interpret our own cultures to each other so that our behaviors, values and beliefs make sense to each other. Tonight (in New York, but already tomorrow in Hong Kong, India and New Zealand) we will have our first conference call for this "seminar." It is an experiment I hope will succeed.

On a related note: in Issue 10 I talked about some research on language learning through study abroad. Both studies I cited can be found in Barbara F. Freed's book, Second Language Acquisition in a Study Abroad Context.(Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 1995).

Issue 10. February 8, 2008

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 22:51:00 GMT

Learning a Language and Learning a Culture

The research that Mitchell Hammer conducted with AFS students in 2002 included a very simple measure of language facility provided by the host family at the beginning of the experience and again after the students returned home at the end of their year. (For a summary of the results of this study, please go to the AFS Research and Education section of the AFS web site where versions of "Assessment of the Impact of Study Abroad Experience" can be found in English, Spanish or Portuguese.) This language rating by host families turned out to be an important one.

We found that the host families who rated their students as more fluent also tended to rate them as having a better knowledge of the host culture.
Students who stayed with the same host family all year tended to be given higher fluency ratings by those host families.
Japanese students were assessed by their families as having the greatest improvement in language ability over the course of the year.
Students who felt more comfortable and confident around other cultures also tended to have higher fluency ratings from their host families.

We discussed this last outcome extensively. Was it that the ease of language use made the students more comfortable and confident with people from other cultures, or did more confident students become more fluent simply because they were not afraid to use the language? Or, since he research also showed that this comfort and confidence around other cultures increased strongly (and anxiety declined) as a result of the AFS program, was it simply a case that both are related to participation in the program?

I tend to favor the interpretation that the sense of confidence these students have makes them unconcerned about making mistakes, and leads them to focus on building their communication skills through conversation. The host families are more likely to report that they are speaking with greater fluency because they have had deep and meaningful conversations with these students. No one is really assessing whether they have properly used the subjunctive case.

Linguists, of course, are much more interested in the appropriate use of the subjunctive and other forms specific to the language. Barbara Lafford's research among students learning Spanish shows that those who studied abroad were better than classroom learners in using many of the appropriate subtle conversational cues and patterns that are necessary for real communication with another person. She found that they had picked up more of the social context of their conversations and could "improvise" a conversation better than those who only studied in the classroom. They also stumbled less and sounded more like native speakers. Even those who had been beginner seemed to be able to gain much of this competence through study abroad experiences.

Vera Regan made an interesting study of how students in the classroom and those studying abroad differ in their use of the French form "ne....pas" and related forms of negation, as found in Piaf's "Pink Martini" song ("Je ne veux pas travailler") that for some reason seems to be played these days in New York restaurants, and can be found in multiple forms on You-Tube. As I learned as an exchange student in France, native French speakers will often drop the "ne" part of the two-part construction when speaking to each other, so that "je ne sais pas" can become something like "chai pas" with very casual speech, the way in English one might say "dunno" instead of "I don't know." Regan's research found that the study abroad students in France picked this up quite readily and were more likely to drop the "ne" than those who had studied the proper form in the classroom. On the other hand, when native speakers of French knew that someone was monitoring their speech, they were more likely to use the "correct" form, while the study abroad speakers were not so likely to self-correct to a more formal speech, even when they knew their speech was being monitored.

It seems that maybe we're more than half way there with the language learning. We know that our students become more confident and more fluent with the learning by experience and they clearly sound more fluent. However, as they imitate more the casual styles of speech that they use with their friends and host families, they may need some classroom instruction or maybe just some additional feedback to help them shift appropriately to more formal speech when this is expected.

I'm certainly going to be watching my own tendency to drop the "ne" and hope that I can self-correct when needed.

Bettina Hansel

Director of Intercultural Education and Research

AFS International