Comments on: English in Iran

By: Seyed Hadi Mirvahedi

Seyed Hadi Mirvahedi — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 05:44:24 +0000

Dear Ingrid,
Thank you for accepting and sharing my idea about the ATMs in Iran. The presence of English in the linguistic landscapes in Iran is really intersting for two reasons: First, as you mentioned, there are almost no foreigners, at least in cities other than Isfahan or Shiraz. Second, in many cases, the shopkeeper himself/herself does not know English. I mean neither the agent nor the audience knows English. English, then, is playing a great symbolic role, I guess.

By: Hongyan

Hongyan — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 14:20:24 +0000

Thanks, Ingrid, for sharing the interesting linguistic in
Iran. Your post reminded me of what I saw and heard in Dayan
Ancient Town of Lijiang, China. All the shop names are presented in
three languages: Chinese characters in the first line, Dongba
pictographic characters (the written language for the local ethnic
minority Naxi people) in the second and English translation comes
on the third line no matter whether the English translation of the
name is proper or not. The shopkeepers and street vendors can speak
at least two languages (mandarin Chinese and English) to bargain
with tourists from home and abroad. Some can speak German,
Japanese, French, etc just for bargaining. Only a few of them can
speak Naxi mainly because most of the shopkeepers are from other
places outside Lijiang and most of local Naxi people seldom shop
there!

By: Liu Hailin

Liu Hailin — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:42:28 +0000

Dear Ingrid, I am happy to learn your story in Iran.

By: Dariush Izadi

Dariush Izadi — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 04:46:20 +0000

The reason for such clear or at least growing dominance of
the” collective fetish for English” in Iran , I personally think,
could be its stereotype that whoever graduates from an English
speaking country is knowledgeable or sophisticated.

By: Lachlan Jackson

Lachlan Jackson — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:49:54 +0000

Facinating post Ingrid! I wish I were there. Keep ’em coming!
Lockie.

By: Behnam Keimasi

Behnam Keimasi — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 21:13:54 +0000

Well, as you have noticed, English is the foreign language mostly used even between the students of the non-English departments of UI’s faculty of foreign languages . You know, The main reason for this might be the type of the University Entrance Exams held in Iran. I don’t know about other countries, but, here in Iran, most of those who study German, French or any other foreign languages in university are good in English and select English as the foreign language for their University Entrance Exam; and then they have low scores for being accepted to study English in college so they choose French, German etc.
It is interesting for me that you say German is used more frequently in Naqsh e Jahan Sq. ’cause as far as my experience tells me, the usage of English and German does not differ that much there hearing lots of words spoken in German is not that odd there, though.

By: Anna

Anna — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:50:20 +0000

Dear Ingrid;
First things first, we’re all glad to see you here in ” Nesfe jahan” and enjoyed your ineffably nice lectures!
As for this recent post of yours, I do agree with you on the paucity of other languages in Iran though they’re as widespread as English, if not more!
I think the phenomenon of ” being international” is misunderstood by lots of people. Why is it always English that wins?!!!! Just because of its number of speakers or because it is the world’s number one language!!!
I’ve also seen such cases so far in which some languages are sacrificed for the sake of others. They’re so much overlooked sometimes that you may feel they do not exist at all! It’s just when there’s a defense session announcement that we see a sheet written in a language other than English in the faculty.
I guess bazaaris and hawkers are brilliant enough to know the knacks of attracting tourists, especially those whose language is not English. As you said, “this is the way their bread is buttered”!

By: khan

khan — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:06:43 +0000

Dear Ingrid

Thanks for sharing your perspective observations about our neighboring country. Besides sharing geography, history and culture, Pakistan also shares the two broad social meanings of English in Iran as you rightly pointed out: Passport to higher education and the Access to wider world. In addition to these, it is strong social class marker in Pakistan. Society bracket you in different social classes based on the variety of Pakistani English you speak. Pakistani English seems to move along a continuum with broad informal accented English at one end and formal educated Pakistani English on the other end. As one moves along the continuum, one finds difference in domain, norms, social prestige and power. The closer it is to the so-called myth of Standard English, the better are the socio-economic benefits. Though linguists try their best to deconstruct such myths, their views, findings and suggestions are rarely valued by the society. What should we do?