The Linguist

6 The Linguist Vol/61 No/2 2022 thelinguist.uberflip.com NEWS & EDITORIAL In the media PHILIP HARDING-ESCH The news has been dominated by the war in Ukraine and several stories included a linguistic angle. Many were moved by the interpreter who broke down in tears as she interpreted a powerful speech by President Zelenskyy. The clip went viral and brought home the emotion of the situation, as well as how difficult the job can be. There was repeated discussion about the correct usage of words and names, such as Kyiv not Kiev, as the latter is associated with the 'Russification of Ukraine'. An interesting piece in Politico provided an analysis of the history of Ukraine as distinct from Russia, including insights into the importance of the Ukrainian language for the nation's identity. As the refugee crisis unfolded, we saw stories detailing UK initiatives to support Ukrainians. The BBC spoke to students at Exeter University helping to translate documents for people trying to flee, while the Education Secretary announced that the Oak National Academy would provide Ukrainian versions of its online lessons. The Express covered Irish becoming an official language of the EU; while The Independent reported that long-awaited but controversial legislation on language, and identity in Northern Ireland, including the establishment of commissioners for the Irish Language and Ulster Scots, is likely to be introduced before the Stormont elections in May. In England, SchoolsWeek reported on the decision to go head with reforms to language GCSE content, with some amendments and a one-year delay. Readers will likely not have escaped the explosion of the online word game Wordle, with The Guardian highlighting non-English versions in everything from Urdu to Old Norse. Linguist fans of Love Island saw their dreams come true as C4 launched The Language of Love, a matchmaking show for Spanish and British singles. In a humorous item, a Guardian reviewer was "engrossed" by "the inherent human impulse to try to get off with someone even if you can't confidently tell them where the library is." Philip Harding-Esch is a freelance languages project manager and consultant. The all-party group hears that investing in four languages would boost GDP by up to £12.6bn Inside parliament In January, parliamentarians received a briefing on important new research about the economic value of languages to the UK, led by Wendy Ayres-Bennett at the University of Cambridge and Marco Hafner at RAND Europe. The report, Talking Business: How increasing languages education in the UK could benefit the economy, looks in detail at the benefits of increasing the nation's abilities in Arabic, Chinese, French and Spanish. Its key findings from include: • An increase in secondary-school pupils learning one of the four languages could increase UK GDP by billions over 30 years. • The benefit-to-cost ratio for promoting Arabic, Mandarin, French or Spanish education estimated to be at least 2:1. • A decline in language learning in UK schools is likely to have negative effect on Global Britain's ability to compete internationally. • English is not the sole driver in certain key services and trade sectors, such as energy. Other languages matter equally, if not more, in reducing trade barriers. The report is significant for policymakers for several reasons. First, it updates existing research which estimated that a lack of language skills costs the UK 3.5% of its GDP. Second, it is innovative in that it ascribes measurable costs and benefits to specific interventions, which can be translated into realistic policy aims. For example, the researchers calculated that a 10% increase in UK pupils learning Arabic at KS3/KS4 (ages 11-16) could cumulatively increase UK GDP by between £11.8bn and £12.6bn over 30 years, corresponding to about 0.5% of GDP in 2019. Talking Business also evaluates an existing intensive language learning initiative – the DfE's Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP), which currently has over 5,000 students in 75 UK schools – and uses it as a model for achieving similar ambitions in other languages. This results in the very robust figure of a 2:1 benefit-to-cost ratio for implementing such a model more widely, as the costs associated with the MEP are well understood and it has been proven to work well in a range of state schools. Another advantage of the MEP is that the model does not put any pressure on curriculum time for other priority subjects, such as English or STEM subjects. Available at www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/ RBA1814-1.html, the report is well worth reading and distributing as widely as possible. Philip Harding-Esch works on behalf of the British Council to support the APPG ML (cutt.ly/appgml). TL

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