The Linguist

The Linguist 55,2

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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thelinguist.uberflip.com APRIL/MAY 2016 The Linguist 5 The latest from the languages world Research on the benefits of native language study Brain gain? Two-thirds of secondary schools in England and Wales are using non-specialist language teachers, according to a new report by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL). Of the 885 schools surveyed, 73% said they struggled to find teachers trained in core subjects. Sir Michael Wilshaw, Chief Inspector of Schools, warned of a "brain drain", while ASCL President Allan Foulds claimed: "We are in the midst of a teacher supply crisis." The Department for Education failed to meet its teacher training recruitment targets in 2015 for the fourth consecutive year, with new entrants to training courses for language teachers at 87% of the target. The subjects most affected are maths, science, English and languages, in that order. However, the rise of the EBacc, awarded to pupils gaining A*-C grades in GCSE English, maths, science, a foreign language and a humanity, is likely to increase demand for languages and humanities teachers in particular, said Foulds. NEWS & EDITORIAL New evidence of the benefits to the brain of studying minority languages has been revealed by a researcher at the University of Edinburgh. Antonella Sorace, of the university's Bilingualism Matters Centre, compared a group of people aged 60-70 on an intensive ab initio Gaelic course with groups studying other subjects intensively, and found that the Gaelic cohort did better in mental agility tests after one week. Previous studies have shown that language learning and multilingualism can improve learning ability and stave off dementia. Professor Sorace hopes the research will persuade people of the value of learning their heritage or community language. "Many of these languages are not valued and so they are not supported," she said. "If a language is not learnt by children, that language is dead." Her findings came as global experts met for a three-day conference at the UN in January to discuss ways to preserve and revitalise the 6,000-7,000 languages spoken by native peoples around the world. It is believed that one indigenous language dies every fortnight. Recommendations included a global fund to support native language initiatives, especially community-driven projects; a commitment for national governments to record the number of speakers of native languages in their countries; and the implementation of the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by national governments. The final report is due in May (see www.un.org/indigenous). Wired to learn? Researchers at McGill University in Montreal claim they can use brain scans to tell whether or not a person has an aptitude for learning languages. They scanned the brains of native English speakers before and after an intensive 12-week French course, and also tested their language abilities. Where there was greater communication between two parts of the brain associated with language, the ability to learn the second language was enhanced. Teaching crisis: fears deepen French spelling In Wales, 164 new rules protecting workers' rights to use Welsh were due to come into force in March. However, two of those rules, relating to documents for public use and oral announcements, were contested by the Welsh Assembly, which had passed the reforms just two years previously. Campaigners fear this could weaken people's rights to use Welsh. An Australian MP was rebuked for using her native Warlpiri during a parliamentary debate. Bess Price, a minister for the Northern Territory with a 75% indigenous constituency, was told that interjections in a language other than English were "disorderly". Native tongue 'disorderly' Welsh rules Changes to the spelling of around 2,400 French words caused controversy in February, despite being approved by the Académie Française in 1990. Compound nouns such as week-end will lose the hyphen; alternative spellings will be accepted for many words; and the circumflex will no longer be used on 'i' and 'u' where it does not affect meaning or pronunciation (as in coût; 'cost'), leading to a #JeSuisCirconflexe Twitter campaign. Speakers of Klallam photographed in c.1914, 100 years before the Native American language became extinct

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