The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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@Linguist_CIOL FEBRUARY/MARCH The Linguist 29 REVIEWS by a year. Portugal is following the same path. Applicants need to establish historical family links with the peninsula. The Portuguese Embassy specifies acceptable records, ranging from family documents to pictures of gravestones, and provides an interesting list of surnames which are considered to be of Sephardic origin. In Spain, the Federation of Jewish Communities provides assistance – and offers tests in Ladino. It is interesting to see that the Spanish Royal Academy, so long resistant to any aspect of language deviating from standard Castilian, is now keen to establish a Judaeo-Spanish branch in Israel to add to the 23 existing academies around the world. Firm steps are also being taken to consolidate and strengthen the use of Ladino via the Ladino Preservation Council. It is a shame that the Ladino-language Israeli magazine Aki Yerushalayim ceased publishing in 2016. The Ladino El Amaneser still appears as a monthly supplement in Salom, the newspaper of the Jewish community in Istanbul, where Ladino continues to be spoken – a vestige of the Ottoman Empire. It is also encouraging to see that Radio Nacional de España now does a broadcast in Ladino. Elsewhere, the language is to be found principally among older speakers but, as with Yiddish, interest is now being expressed more widely and Ladino has become a university subject in various countries. Professor Tim Connell FCIL is a CIOL Vice-President. KEEPING FAITH Bevis Marks Synagogue in London maintains the Sephardic tradition At first sight, English Language Ideologies in Korea: Interpreting the past and present seems to be a rather specialised topic and of little interest for the general reader. It is based on a PhD thesis and although both the style and presentation reflect that, it is actually accessible and easy to read. It focuses on the demand for English-language skills across Korean society from a historical perspective, and shows how this has been driven by the pivotal position of English in the development of Korea as a key world economy. The history of modern Korea is covered, from the opening up of the country in the 19th century and the impact of American missionaries, through to the government of Korea after the Second World War – a story which is of particular value in understanding the current situation of the two Koreas and the emergence of yeongeo yeolpung ('English fever'). The pressure to achieve is clearly enormous and pervades the whole of the education system, particularly with regard to achieving high scores English Language Ideologies in Korea Jinhyun Cho Springer 2017, 181 pages; ISBN 978-3-319-59016-5 Hardback £63.99 in English. Aside from introducing English at an early stage in school, families are keen to send their children abroad to study and that, in turn, creates a gap in status between haewaepa (those who have learnt their English abroad) and guknaepa (those who have learnt at home). The focus in the book is on translating and interpreting, as the broad sweep of English-language learning would go beyond the scope of a single study. Professional training and work opportunities in both areas are covered, as are the practical realities of working as a translator or interpreter. These are seen as glamorous jobs but the reality is often of low- grade workers being exploited. It is particularly disheartening to see that there is a crossover between high- profile international work and what is discreetly termed 'aesthetic labour', where women are employed for their looks as much as for their skills. The status of women in the workplace is a key aspect of the discussion, as is the conflict between the Confucian view of women as the mainstay of the family, and modern- day preoccupations with self- fulfilment and the need to contribute to family finances. This creates a situation where women outnumber men in higher education but are below the OECD average income for women with higher degrees who are economically active. English Language Ideologies in Korea is well written, contributes to discussions about the role and status of language professionals, and is a useful addition to the Multilingual Education series published by Springer. Tim Connell FCIL