The Linguist

How to motivate young people to learn languages is a perennial problem in the UK, and one of the considerations of the Curriculum and Assessment Review (p.6). Anna Rioland's research into how language learning and wellbeing are linked focuses on adult education, but her insights into what creates a healthy and effective learning environment are no less relevant to under-18s (p.11). Christiane Ulmer-Leahey presents a teaching model that uses some of the key elements identified, such as differentiated learning materials and independence, to engage students (p.14). One of the drivers of language study that Anna notes is a connection to home and family. Nassim Barakat took this a step further when he moved thousands of miles from his native Lebanon and started learning Syriac as a cure for homesickness (p.18). His beautiful account of how tightly bound language is to the sights, sounds and emotions of home explores the ways languages can anchor us. It is this sense of community bound up with language that motivated Kimia Zabihyan to support Farsi speakers in the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire. She describes the far- ranging language needs of the survivors and relatives, how a lack of provision made things harder for them, and the practical changes needed to ensure appropriate language services for future tragedies (p.8). It's that time of year when we take stock of recent events. Remind yourself of 2025's language developments with our quiz (p.20) – and check out some of the year's best books, films and games in our 'gifts for linguists' section (p.28). All the best for the New Year! Miranda Moore 4 The Linguist Vol/64 No/4 ciol.org.uk/thelinguist NEWS & EDITORIAL CHAIR OF COUNCIL'S NOTES This summer I returned to a familiar event in a favourite spot in what, for me, has become a very familiar country. BledCom is an annual academic PR and communication symposium where a fairly small but truly global cast of academics and practitioners come together on the shores of beautiful Lake Bled in Slovenia, a country that I've been visiting for work, study, sport and holidays for more than 20 years. This year's theme – AI: Boon or curse? – gave me an opportunity to synthesise some of CIOL's own well-researched findings and insights, and make a presentation about AI's impact as a disruptor in language services. On CIOL's governing Council, we have debated this theme several times in recent years, and CIOL continues to curate and share a range of useful resources on the topic. So I was well-prepped to offer CIOL's take on one of the great preoccupations of our time. BledCom's business language is English so I had the advantage of presenting in my native language. However, I do speak some Slovene and attempt to use it when I can, while accepting that the level of English language proficiency in Slovenia is high. I have to make a quick decision – to persist or concede – every time a colleague, waiter or shopkeeper responds to my modest Slovene in well-practised English. In everyday settings (shops, trains, restaurants) I can normally prevail in my use of Slovene (Slovenians are polite and patient), less so where conversational contexts are less predictable and require more complex language use. Unlike other languages which are also assets in my business, I decided to learn Slovene largely as a cultural choice. Finding somewhere to learn it was a challenge – few universities taught a language spoken by the inhabitants of a tiny country of just 2 million people together with a few communities in neighbouring borderlands plus a small international diaspora. However, I discovered the University of Nottingham's postgrad diploma in Slovene and somehow fitted in a weekly trip from my home in Birmingham one academic year for a highly intensive day of grammar and spoken language practice in the East Midlands. Sadly, the course no longer runs. Worse, Nottingham announced in November a proposal to suspend all modern foreign language teaching, a decision that has stunned so many who regard the provision of MFL as a fundamental part of the higher education offer in the UK. Other universities have made clear their intention to do the same. In a private capacity I can voice my own personal dismay at the ever-shrinking opportunities to study a language at highly regarded universities, just as I lament the signal this conveys about the UK's sense of how it will interact with the wider world in future. As a chartered body, it is part of CIOL's mission to contribute towards international goodwill by encouraging the effective study and practice of languages. While we are not a campaigning organisation, and being the bearer of a Royal Charter precludes us from acting as such, I believe we should continue to advocate for language learning and for recognition of the value that linguists bring to our exchanges with the world. I have no doubt that we will. Steve Doswell EDITOR'S LETTER Share your views: linguist.editor@ciol.org.uk

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