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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6 The Linguist Vol/55 No/2 2016 www.ciol.org.uk NEWS & EDITORIAL Did you know that the UK has a strategy for increasing the international mobility of its university students? This was launched in 2013 and is being implemented by the UK HE International Unit (IU). Anne Marie Graham, who heads the programme, presented her work to the APPG, alongside Lizzie Fane, Founder of ThirdYearAbroad.com. The UK ranks only sixth in terms of the number of students taking part in the Erasmus programme, behind Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Poland. Nevertheless, mobility is increasing: 1.2% of UK students each year are now internationally mobile, and it's not just modern foreign language (MFL) students (in fact MFL entries have been decreasing). Recent research by the IU suggests that internationally mobile graduates enjoy better employability and better starting salaries, are more likely to start in senior roles, and more likely to achieve a 1st or 2:1. This trend is detectable among different student profiles, including non-MFL graduates and graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds. Higher Education institutions believe that UK students' lack of language skills prevents them taking up these opportunities. Students themselves report that languages (when they have them) are a major motivator for international mobility, and (when they don't) a major barrier. Participation statistics show that much can be done to widen participation among the UK student cohort. Most international mobilities concern undergraduates rather than graduate students, and involve study rather than work; 84% of participants are from the top four socio-economic class codes. ThirdYearAbroad helps by providing advice on a wide range of issues; it also runs a Q&A platform and will soon be launching Global Graduates, a website to bring graduates with languages and international experience into contact with employers who value those skills. Most opportunities are taking place in the EU (especially France and Germany) and there remains a lot of untapped potential for opportunities across the globe. The dependency on the EU's Erasmus+ programme is a risk: if the UK votes to leave the EU, the programme may cease to be available to UK students after 2020. A more immediate challenge is Hefce (Higher Education Funding Council for England) reviewing its subsidy to reduce students' fees during their year abroad to 15% of the full amount. The APPG agreed that the subsidy is key to student mobility. At its last meeting, the All-Party Group considered student mobility. Philip Harding-Esch reports Inside parliament Philip Harding-Esch works on behalf of the British Council to support the APPG on Modern Languages. TL What do you think of when I say the word 'rabid'? One option, according to the dictionary publisher Oxford Dictionaries, is 'feminist'. The publisher has been criticised for a sexist bias in its illustrations of how certain words are used… Why choose 'feminist' over, say, 'rightwinger', 'communist' or 'fan', though? As if not quite convinced by its own explanation, the OUP is now "reviewing the example sentence for 'rabid'…" 'A Dictionary entry Citing "Rabid Feminist" doesn't Just Reflect Prejudice, It Reinforces It', 26/1/16 What the papers say… Machines will grow exponentially more accurate and be able to parse the smallest detail. Whenever the machine translations get it wrong, users can flag the error – and that data, too, will be incorporated… In 10 years, a small earpiece will whisper what is being said to you in your native language nearly simultaneously as a foreign language is being spoken. The lag time will be the speed of sound. Nor will the voice in your ear be a computer voice, a la Siri. Because of advances in bioacoustic engineering measuring the frequency, wavelength, sound intensity and other properties of the voice, the software in the cloud connected to the earpiece in your ear will re-create the voice of the speaker. 'The Language Barrier is About to Fall', 29/1/16 A flurry of news reports about how census data included a tally of people in the [Hawaii] islands who said they spoke Pidgin… helped spark a sense of pride among those who speak the language in their homes and among friends, and a discussion about its use and the stigma that limits its wider acceptance in the state… Some saw the census numbers as recognition for the language. 'Data Inspires Pride for Pidgin, a Hawaii Language', 18/2/16