Comments on: Is English stealing the home of Mongolian?

By: Aaron

Aaron — Tue, 04 Sep 2018 19:51:06 +0000

Inner Mongolia and Mongolian isn’t an official language? Get the heck out. Also, if they were in the company of a sick elderly woman, airport security should’ve helped them out to help speed up the process. This is unacceptable.

By: Hanna Torsh

Hanna Torsh — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 04:23:33 +0000

A fantastic account and one that I can’t find any English-language news on after a quick Google search. Interesting that it wasn’t picked up at all – usually the media love airport stories. I am especially impressed that something was done about it, that the family was both taken care of and there was a change in policy. I observe very often in Sydney that there is a mismatch between languages of citizens and institutions and there is rarely a sense that it’s the institutions who need to change.

By: Gegentuul

Gegentuul — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 22:03:52 +0000

In reply to David Marjanović. Yes, I agree with you. However it is exactly this banal lived experience of cosmopolitanism turned a vernacular and less powerful language either symbolic (in most cases denoting local authenticity)or invisible. I believe trilingual announcement will be welcomed by Mongols, at least it is a locally-rooted cosmopolitanism celebrates Mongolian alongside English and Chinese.

By: Lameen

Lameen — Mon, 23 Apr 2018 13:14:08 +0000

That was a very interesting account – thanks for posting it. In “elite” contexts like air travel, the temptation to look down upon people who don’t speak the prestige language seems to be particularly strong. A few years ago I discussed similar experiences in Algeria: http://lughat.blogspot.fr/2015/08/discrimination-against-arabic-in-algeria.html .

By: David Marjanović

David Marjanović — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 09:53:44 +0000

In reply to Gegentuul.

Imagine if he explicitly blamed the attitude and the standard Mandarin policy of the state would it be possible for us to read his story ?

Good point, of course.

On another note, English is indeed irrelevant to most travelers in Inner Mongolia, which renders it a major accomplice here.

I don't think there's any airport worldwide, certainly not an international one, where English isn't used. English, or rather a carefully crafted code composed of English words, is the official international language of aviation...

By: Gegentuul

Gegentuul — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 01:20:38 +0000

In reply to Mus. Thank you for your comment, Mus! How the perception and visualization of a space, in this case airport, selectively appropriates certain images and languages while suppressing others is worthwhile to explore if we are to understand top-down multicultural and multilingual policy as well as bottom-up responses and negotiation.

By: Gegentuul

Gegentuul — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 01:10:23 +0000

In reply to Laura. Thank you, Laura! Yes, it seems banal cosmopolitanism is desirable everywhere.

By: Gegentuul

Gegentuul — Thu, 19 Apr 2018 01:06:39 +0000

In reply to David Marjanović. Thank you for the comment! I agree with your point and I think the young man whose account I shared in the post also want to express the same point and emotion as you, though in an implicit manner. Imagine if he explicitly blamed the attitude and the standard Mandarin policy of the state would it be possible for us to read his story ? His story might be snapped off before we could read it let alone having a real influence on the ground. That's why it is a very sensible and clever way to negotiate with the state by emphasizing the legal regulation regarding both Chinese and Mongolian in Inner Mongolia. On another note, English is indeed irrelevant to most travelers in Inner Mongolia, which renders it a major accomplice here.

By: Mus

Mus — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 12:34:49 +0000

Gegentuul’s interpretation of the predominance of the white travelers on the concept image as a symbol of “the vision of the airport as a “global” rather than “home” space” is very interesting. Where would the symbolic possession of a space with ‘international’ in its name be? How does that perceived possession affect the linguistic choices made from above in multi-cultural regions? These are pressing issues in developing countries where identities and space haven’t been ever more fluid. Gegentuul exemplifies such struggle over issues with identity and space as they are manifested in the linguistic choices in a minority region whose majority of the population is Han Chinese. A very intriguing piece indeed.

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 10:45:34 +0000

What a powerful example of the impact of language policy that excludes minority language users. On this blog, we’ve seen posts and had discussions about banal cosmopolitanism and about how sometimes languages are used in public spaces without really having the intention of communicating a message but rather for what they symbolise, e.g. Multilingual welcome signs=Being a modern, global, multilingual space/company etc. In the case, however, we see the detrimental effects when choosing languages to use (and not to use) when communicating information that the audience really needs to understand! Further the symbolic effect is equally striking: by excluding Mongolian this sends a powerful message to monolingual Mongolian speakers that they are not expected to be found in this space.

Thanks for sharing this story and your analysis.

By: David Marjanović

David Marjanović — Wed, 18 Apr 2018 09:07:07 +0000

I don’t think the presence of English is to blame. There are many airports worldwide where announcements are made (and signage is written) in two local languages plus English (plus, often, the language of the place the flight is going to). What seems to be to blame is the usual attitude of the People’s Republic that all citizens ought to be fluent in Standard Mandarin, and if they’re not, they’re probably irrelevant and can be safely ignored.