Conference,

Today, Europe celebrates the 10th Annual European Day of Languages, a European Union initiative to appreciate linguistic diversity in Europe and promote language learning.

You might think it a bit of an anorak subject, and perhaps it is, but as a trainee interpreter of French and Spanish, it’s my anorak subject.

Britain cannot afford to lose languages, and it cannot afford to rely on the popular myth that everybody speaks English.

Ironically, it is only because English is widely spoken that we have a responsibility to promote, learn and use foreign languages.

As the party of openness and diversity, this should be a core Labour principle in foreign policy and in British diplomacy.

In the European Union, if a meeting cannot find any available English interpreters, that meeting is cancelled. Delaying the exchange of ideas, slowing down government, and hindering reform.

That’s bad for Europe, and bad for Britain.

In Brussels, Britain is often underrepresented because of a lack of language professionals.

In Business, Britain loses out to foreign enterprise because of a lack of language professionals. That means Labour loses the job creation and economic growth that goes with it.

English may be the lingua franca in many countries, but companies have to speak to customers in their own language.

So the business that do well are the business that go global.

As globalisation continues, languages are an obviously vital tool. Forging friendships, breaking barriers and sealing deals.

The Labour Party must be open to Europe.

Britain in the world needs languages, which is why, on the 10th European Day of Languages, Labour must not let Britain get tongue-tied or lost in translation, but be ready to promote, encourage and develop languages professionals.

Thank you.

A is for… Afghanistan

NATO forces are fighting insurgents in Afghanistan with casualties increasing; each week the Prime Minister announces a few more British troops who have lost their lives.

B is for… Brussels

The Government plans to introduce a “Sovereignty Bill” to require a referendum every time power is moved from Westminster to Brussels. They have broken away from their natural sister parties in the European Parliament to form their own group.

C is for… Cuts

Cuts dominated the election campaign and the Chancellor is pushing for up to 40% budget cuts in government departments, as well as public sector pay and jobs.

D is for… Deficit

The government claims to be dealing with the largest peacetime deficit (ignoring Afghanistan and Iraq) in history, forgetting the massive bailout required to stop economic collapse during the financial crisis.

E is for… Emergency Budget

A manifesto commitment, the Chancellor announced an “Emergency Budget” within 60 days of taking power. It announced cuts and tax hikes in an “80-20” ratio.

F is for… Fisking

A debate technique for internet nerds, whereby one article is ripped apart and argued with point by point, usually producing very long, boring and anal responses.

G is for… Gulf War

The Iraq war remains a controversy; the Conservatives forgot they voted in favour of it, Labour tries to distance itself from it and the Lib Dems can’t criticise it anymore because they’re now in government.

H is for… Harriet Harman

The Deputy Leader of the Labour Party who is now Acting Leader until the end of September, she took over when Gordon Brown suddenly resigned after the election.

I is for… Immigration

Always a subject of debate; from asylum seekers to polish plumbers.

J is for… Johannesburg

Where the World Cup took place.

K is for… Kremlin spies

Russian Spies from the Cold War were caught operating in a small house in the USA, 20 years after the Berlin Wall came down.

L is for… Labour Leadership

Following Gordon Brown’s resignation, the Labour party is now in the process of electing its new leader.

M is for… Milibands

David and Ed Miliband, two brothers, two former cabinet ministers and two leadership contenders.

N is for… NHS

The National Health Service is apparently to be ring fenced from damaging cuts.

O is for… Obama

The American President is under pressure to save the world, and then a massive oil disaster washes onto his shore.

P is for… Petraeus

The general who masterminded the “troop surge” in the Iraq War, he is now in command of the troops in Afghanistan, replacing General McChrystal who was fired for a series of unwelcome remarks.

Q is for… The Queen

This was the first election where it was thought that the Queen might need to intervene. She didn’t though.

R is for… Referendum

The Lib Dems wanted PR, then a referendum on PR, then AV. In the end, they got a referendum on AV. The conservatives plan to campaign for the “No” side and Labour should do likewise.

S is for… Smoking Ban

The Labour government had planned a review of the Smoking Ban five years after it was introduced. This will not happen under the new government.

T is for… Twitter

This was supposed to change the election. All it did was change the columns in the Guardian. A “social networking site” for political obsessives.

U is for… Underdog

During the election, Gordon Brown and the Labour Party tried to present themselves as the “underdog”. It worked for Rocky, after all.

V is for… VAT rise

One of the main features of the Emergency Budget was to raise Value Added Tax to 20%, after the previous government lowered it from 17.5% to 15%

W is for… Website

Please vote for mine in the Total Politics Blog Poll. Click the button on the right or this link here.

X is for… X-factor

Simon Cowell, famous for manufacturing Pop Tarts through TV “talent” shows came out and supported, to everone’s surprise, the Conservative Party.

Y is for… Youtube

YouTube never really took off in politics, after the Tory Party launched “WebCameron” featuring the Conservative leader washing dishes.

Z is for… Zac Goldsmith

The Tory MP who ousted former Lib Dem London Mayoral candidate Susan Kramer, it was published in 2009 that he had “non-domiciled” tax status.

In a move which resembles the recent ban on Minarets in Switzerland, the Bulgarian Prime Minister, Boiko Borissov, and his ruling party GERB have publicly endorsed the campaign launched by the ultra-nationalist party, Ataka, which states:

Bulgarian is the official language of Bulgaria and there is no place for news in Turkish on the public broadcaster.

The subtext behind all of this really comes down to the role of state broadcasting, and the suppression of the Turkish (that is to say Muslim) minority. It is a standard act of aggression against an ethnic minority, misguided and twisted into a regressive stand against Islam and immigration.

Ethnic Turks make up 15% of Bulgaria’s population.

It is the responsibility of the state broadcaster to promote and encourage diversity, it is the channel not for a minority, or a majority, but the entire nation. Compare the situation with the state broadcaster in Britain, and the relationship between Wales and the United Kingdom. The BBC has several broadcasts in the Welsh language for cultural and linguistic purposes, which are not restricted to factual programs, despite the general decline in native Welsh speakers. However, the Turks are not demanding that their language is compulsory in schools or that sign posts are bilingual, the issue pertains to one news program.

Here, we see that language is the key barrier to society and it is typically reactionary to suggest that these news broadcasts entrench segregation. In fact, I would suggest that the newscasts improve cultural cohesion. The Turkish population will better understand Bulgarian news which enables them to appreciate and participate in community activities, helping them to integrate with the majority. In addition, it is also useful for native Bulgarians to familiarise themselves with Turks and the Turkish language.

Thus this proposed ban on a single 15 minute long newscast is purely symbolic. The state broadcaster’s schedule is not packed with Turkish-language programs any more than the Swiss cityscape was infested by the five minarets.

The timing is also entirely cynical. Though the campaign was started five years ago, it has only gained real traction thanks to the fear of globalisation and migration exacerbated by the financial crisis. Politically, the cause has gained credibility and profited from the result of the Swiss referendum.

This referendum, like most referenda, will not be democratic. It will bring out the tyranny of the Majority designed to enforce conformity. The only consequence will of the ban will be to strike a blow against the Turkish (again, Muslim) population and make them less welcome in their own country, which in turn makes them less inclined to participate, which strengthens segregation and fragments society.

This post was written on the request of a Bulgarian associate of mine who asked me to investigate the issue. If you have any ‘requests’ or issues you would like me to turn my attention to, please send me a message via the contact page and I’ll be happy to oblige.

I find the debate too focused on teachers and parents as if it were a manufacturing industry where the teachers toil tirelessly on the production line to produce ready-made intellectuals to the customers’ satisfaction. Teachers are known as the whing along with postmen and farmers, while parents want more and more choice and involvement.

Innovation is something that creeps more and more into teaching methods, which I have experienced firsthand. Having studied French, Spanish, Drama and Geography in sixth form, my teaching was vary varied in its approach.

Geography was evidently towards the classic end of the scale. For Dramas, not only were the teaching methods “innovative”, the marking was even more creative.

Languages are the best model though. There are four simple elements to the teaching; Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. For the last two, there is a classic you-have-two-hours exam paper; for the first two, a recorded one to one interview and a listening to a tape exam.

The emphasis between my generation and that of my parents in Languages has been from rote-learning of grammar to the more spoken elements. That’s innovation for good. Innovation for bad has been the throw the tennis ball around the room to conjugate the verb style exercises, of which I was always deeply cynical. It’s the latter type of innovation that seems to prevail in schools now, fun-and-games to get kids interested.

Before I condemn games though, I will advise languages teachers to invent their own version of Blockbusters. “What P is the third person of the verb that means to be able to do something?”

(No, I’m not in this one, our “language lab” didn’t have glass at the front of the booths)

Returning to my metaphor about the factory, which is the key in the education debate, education is (thanks to parental involvement) not about educating but training and that the purpose of a good degree is for students to be able to survive on the job market.
Since the 80s, when prestige pointed towards the City, the role of University has been to mass manufacture business graduates (of all flavours) and pump them out so they can get “a good job”, where good is use innovatively to mean “well paid” rather than the classic use to mean “to the benefit of society”. (Don’t give me the argument that ‘big business provides jobs and high salaries are good for taxing’ speech, I’ve heard it)

I’m proud to study languages. At the University of Bath, I actually study languages through cultural and political context, so there is plenty of history and suchlike as added bonus.

The aim of my degree is perfect in terms of education, where I was encouraged and given the means to innovate for myself through research and ideas. In the first year, I thought that I was been examined on whether I had listened to them in lectures, and my studies were based on remembering and repeating the notes.

This year passed, I changed strategy. For written exams, I wrote nothing down and instead read the books and journals in the library. For essays, I wrote in very much the same way I write my blog, focusing on my own ideas and solutions to common problems. The result was roughly a 10% improvement, and in some cases 20%, because the more I went about the subject in my own “innovate” way, the more I became interested in it.

As a warning though, that improvement was not across the board; I also found that you just can’t improvise your own grammar and invent your own words.

Contrast this attitude with my experience of political science. Most people wrongly assume I am a student of politics because I am a student involved in politics. Usually it’s the inverse and the people I meet who study politics are least inclined to answer political questions and join parties and DO political activities.

I’ve taken one module from the politics department, which was a classic 100% grade based on the exam. The approach could not have been more different. Not only was the course a lesson in “politics without politics” we had even had a set “textbook” , to learn from, and repeat, which won me a surprisingly respectable 65.

This article was inspired by “The Good Morrow” and his article “The Tyranny of Innovation” in the capacity of my membership of the RSA Bloggers’ Circle.

In English, the word “after-noon” is comprised of two words, “after” and “noon”. In French it is exactly the same, “apres-midi”.

Though linguistically it means the same, culturally they are very different.

In France, they (we) commence lunch at noon. If you are still working at 1202 somebody will enter the office and ask you “Tu [ne] mange pas?” (You’re not eating?) in a way that you might accuse someone of being anorexic or bulimic.

This pause for lunch, as you will no doubt have heard, does indeed last two hours, minimum.

I was asked, in the course of my job, to go to and see someone in another building “early in the afternoon”. I meant to arrive at 1230 but my current task wore on and I was unable to get there before 1330.

It was completely shut.

Except for establishments that sell food, everything is shut between 1200 and 1400. You have been warned.