Map of Transoxania (Source: Wikipedia)

Editor’s note: Arabic language learning is experiencing a revival in many parts of the world, such as China, where it may be a source of empowerment for impoverished Muslim women. This post by Mehrinigor Akhmedova (Bukhara State University, Uzbekistan) and Rizwan Ahmad (Qatar University, Qatar) takes us to Uzbekistan, a part of the post-Soviet world, where some aspects of Transoxania’s multilingual past are being revived for religious and economic reasons.

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Mehrinigor Akhmedova, Bukhara State University, Uzbekistan
Rizwan Ahmad, Qatar University, Qatar
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Recently, interest in the learning of Arabic language and script among the young generation of Uzbeks has been rising. Young Uzbeks are learning Arabic not simply because of their faith, Islam, but also because it is desirable in the domestic job market and opens a window of opportunities in the Arabic-speaking Gulf states.

In September 2023, the Department of Islamic History Source Studies, Philosophy at Bukhara State University invited a professor from Egypt’s Al-Azhar University to teach courses in Arabic. This is a significant change in the history of Arabic and Islamic learning in Uzbekistan. During the Soviet rule and early years of independence in 1991, Uzbekistan witnessed many ups and down regarding the place of Islam in the constitutionally secular Uzbek society. In 1998, fearing radical Islamic ideologies, the government closed many madrasas, traditional schools of learning, established soon after the independence.

Liquidation of Madrasas and Teaching of Arabic in Uzbekistan

Although the repression of Islam in the former Soviet republics, including modern-day Uzbekistan, began during the Tsarist regime, it reached its climax during the Soviet rule following the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. The state repression of Islam took many forms, including the persecution and killing of mudarris and ulama, teachers and scholars of Islam, nationalization of vaqf properties, Islam endowments, and forceful removal of veils from Muslim women, known as the hujum campaign.

Dome of the Mir-i-Arab Madrasa (Image credit: Wikipedia)

On the educational and sociolinguistic fronts, the repression led to the dismantling of the centuries old traditional Islamic educational system of maktabs and madrasas where students learned to read and recite the Qur’an in Arabic. In 1928, the Fourth Meeting of the Central Executive Committee of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic issued an order on the liquidation of all old method schools and madrasas. According to Ashirbek Muminov and Rinat Shigabdinov, before the 1928 decree, there were 1,362 madrasas in Uzbekistan with 21,183 students enrolled in them.

Another measure that damaged Arabic teaching and learning was the decision to replace the traditional Arabic script of Uzbek with a Latin-based writing system in 1927. Ten years later in 1937, as a measure of Russification, the Cyrillic script replaced the Latin script. These measures dealt a death blow to the teaching of Islam and Arabic language and script in Uzbekistan. In 1945, as a token of acceptance of religious institutions, Stalin allowed Mir-e-Arab madrasa, established in the 16th century, in Bukhara, to reopen with a limited number of students. Subsequently, two more institutions of Islamic learning were established; namely, madrasa Baraq Khan in 1956 and Tashkent Islamic Institute of Imam al-Bukhari in 1971.

Arabic within Multilingual Transoxiana

Present-day Uzbekistan, which in pre-modern times, was part of the larger Transoxiana region in Central Asia, was a thriving center of Arabic language and literature. The Persian-speaking Samanids (819-999 AD), who ruled Central Asia from their capital in Bukhara under the suzerainty of the Arabic-speaking Abbasids, maintained Arabic as the language of administration, Islamic learning, and sciences. The Samanids simultaneously encouraged use of Persian in the court. Under their patronage, many Arabic texts were translated into Persian, including the Quranic tafsir, exegesis, of Al-Tabari (d. 923 AD) and the Kalila wa Dimnah, a collection of fables, originally written in Sanskrit.

1958 Soviet stamp celebrating the 1100th birthday of Rudaki (Image credit: Wikipedia)

Rudaki (858-940), born and raised in Bukhara and regarded as the founder of New Persian Poetry, was granted the esteemed position of the court poet of the Samanids.

In this multilingual linguistic and intellectual environment, there emerged in Bukhara two towering figures among the scholars of Hadith, the most foundational Islamic text after the Quran, namely Muhammad ibn Isma’il al-Bukhari aka Imam Bukhari (810-870 AD) and Muhammad ibn Isa known as Al-Tirmidhi (824-892). Both were born in the Bukhara region of what is today Uzbekistan. In pursuit of the compilation of the Hadith, the sayings of Prophet Muhammad, they travelled widely to different parts of the Muslim world. They wrote their collections of hadith in Arabic, known as Sahih Al-Bukhari and Sunan Al-Tirmidhi respectively.

To the illustrious history of Bukhara as a center of Arabic can be added the polymath and physician Ibn Sina (980-1037), known as Avicenna in Latin Western sources. He is considered to be the father of early modern medicine. Born in Afshona in Bukhara, Ibn Sina, had memorized the whole of the Quran before the age of ten. Later he turned his attention to the study of medicine. He authored many books in Arabic on philosophy, mathematics and other branches of knowledge. In medicine, his famous work is Al-Qanoon fi Al-Tib, “The Canon of Medicine.” This work consists of five volumes with over 1 million words. He was the physician of the Samanid ruler Nuh II (976-997).

In September 2023, in a speech delivered in the UN, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the president of Uzbekistan, named Imam Bukhari and Ibn Sina, among others, as scholars who richly contributed to science and showed that Islam was a religion of knowledge and peace.

Rise of Interest in Arabic in contemporary Bukhara

After the repression of Arabic and Islamic teaching during Soviet rule, there are signs of change in today’s Uzbekistan. In addition to official institutions such as Bukhara University encouraging the teaching of Arabic, many private language centers have also recently emerged in the city of Bukhara. There are over 50 private language centers in Bukhara, including popular ones like Takallum, An-Nisa, and Naqshbandi School.

Drawing of viscera from Ibn Sina’s “Canon of Medicine” (Source: Wellcome Collection)

On their Facebook page, Takallum invites students as follows, “…reciting the Qur’an with Tajweed is our obligatory deed and our deed will lead us to Paradise! Lead your friends to paradise, help them read the Quran, be a true friend for them”. Evidently, for Takallum the learning of Arabic is coupled with Islamic beliefs and practices.

Based on a pilot study conducted in September-October 2023, we found that there are clear signs of the rise in the interest in Arabic learning. First, we discuss a survey that was given online to an active Telegram group called NIسA_School, Ayollar Maktabi, with over 14,000 women members. The use of the Arabic letter س in the first word of the group is indexical of the fact that it brings back the Arabic language and its history in Uzbekistan.

Next, we discuss statistics of students who received Arabic language proficiency certificates from Davlat Test Markazi Buxoro Viloyat Bo’limi, National Test Center, Bukhara Region.

In response to the survey question ‘what was your goal of learning Arabic?’, an overwhelming 82% of the participants (N=347) answered that they considered learning Arabic as most important knowledge for their self-development. Related to this personal/spiritual goal of learning Arabic was the response from 14% of the participants who learned Arabic in order to teach it to others.

It is important to mention here that Muslims believe that God rewards those who read the Qur’an in the original Arabic, even if they do not understand its message. This means that the original Arabic text has spiritual value that cannot be gained by reading it in translation.

The remaining 4% learned Arabic because they wanted to live and work in an Arabic-speaking country.

Another indicator of the rising interest in Arabic comes from the data of students who have received a proficiency certificate in Arabic based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). In 2022, Uzbekistan started to use the six-point CEFR proficiency levels from A1-A2, basic user, through B1-B2, independent user, to C1-C2, proficient user. Since the implementation of CEFR in 2022, the total number of students receiving CEFR enrolled in different Arabic language teaching centers in the Bukhara region alone was 3,079. The vast majority of them (92%) received B1 and B2 and the remaining 8% received the higher proficiency level C1. No Uzbek students attained C2, the highest-level proficiency.

Post-Soviet transformations

Bukhara, Old City (Image credit: Wikipedia)

Another important factor propelling people’s interest in Arabic learning is that the Government of Uzbekistan encourages learning of foreign languages and rewards those who earn high-level proficiency certificates in them. According to a presidential decree of 2021, teachers of Arabic and other foreign languages with a C1 certificate will be paid an additional bonus of 50% of their basic salary. Similarly, employees in any government agency possessing any national or international certificate in a foreign language will receive an extra bonus of 20% on their basic salary. Furthermore, students applying for admission into master’s and Ph.D. in the philological studies must show a C1 level proficiency in a foreign language and those in non-philological fields must have a B2 level proficiency.

The discussion above clearly suggests that the changes following the collapse of the Soviet Union have transformed the linguistic and educational fields. Uzbekistan, one of the great centers of Arabic language during the medieval era is witnessing a renaissance in the learning of Arabic after a long period of state suppression. Many young Uzbeks are rediscovering their history by learning the Arabic language and its script. The government’s incentives of learning a foreign language make Arabic learning even more attractive.

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Akhmedova Mehrinigor Bahodirovna is Associate Professor of Linguistics in the Department of English Literature & Translation Studies at Bukhara State University. Her research covers issues related to translation, literature, spirituality and sociolinguistics.

Easter chocolates in the supermarket (Image credit: Wikimedia)

I’ve been thinking a lot about chocolate lately. Maybe because it is Easter and supermarkets in my part of the world are laden with chocolate products.

Chocolate is good to think with

Chocolate is good to think with – and I don’t mean just because chocolate is known to make our brains release endorphins, chemicals that make us feel good.

Chocolate is good to think with because it provides an easy-to-grasp explanation of the workings of global capitalism and the persistence of a colonial world order.

Global chocolate

The global chocolate industry is worth over 100 billion US$ per year. That wealth accumulation starts with the cultivation of the cacao bean and ends with the Easter egg melting in your mouth.

Cacao grows in tropical climates close to the equator. The world’s largest producer and exporter of cacao beans are two West African countries, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Together with Ecuador, Cameroon, Nigeria, Indonesia, Brazil, and Papua New Guinea they grow most of the world’s cacao.

Virgin forest cleared to make way for cacao plantation (Image credit: Peru Reports)

Cacao farming is a fast-growing plantation monoculture and a major factor in deforestation. 80% of Côte d’Ivoire’s rain forest, for instance, has in the past few decades been cut down to make way for cacao plantations.

Even though Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana dominate global cacao production, your Easter egg is not going to say “Made in Côte d’Ivoire” or “Made in Ghana.”

The label on your Easter egg is most likely to read “Made in Germany” because Germany is the world’s largest chocolate producer and exporter, followed by Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and Poland.

Cacao – the raw product – is shipped from Africa to Europe to be transformed into the valuable chocolate.

The main consumers of chocolate are in North America and Europe. Over 10% of the world’s chocolate is eaten in USA alone, followed by Germany, France, United Kingdom, and Netherlands.

Per capita chocolate consumption in some of these countries is truly staggering. The average Swiss person, for instance, eats a whooping 8.8 kilos of chocolate per year. The thought alone is enough to give me constipation (although Australians are in no position to point fingers: each of us eats 4.9 kilos of chocolate per year).

The biggest multinational corporations running global chocolate are based in USA (Mars, Mondelēz, Hershey), Italy (Ferrero), Japan (Meiji, Ezaki Glico), Switzerland (Nestlé, Lindt & Sprüngli), UK (Pladis), and South Korea (Orion).

The back-breaking work of cacao production is done in the (supposedly former) colonies (Image credit: Insider)

The global division of labor could not be clearer: those who do the work and suffer the degradation of their environment are completely separated from those who grow rich on their exploitation and those who enjoy the fruits of their labor.

The chocolate profiteers and chocolate victims remain invisible

Despite the ubiquity of chocolate in supermarkets of the global north, few people know how the chocolate got there.

Most of us are ignorant of the money behind chocolate. Italy’s richest man, for instance, is Giovanni Ferrero, of the Nutella chocolate spread. Giovanni’s fortune is estimated to be 32 billion US$. By contrast, the average cacao farmer earns less than one US$ per day.

Now that we have the economics of global chocolate straight, let’s turn to language. The way we think about the word “chocolate” can tell us as much about language and culture contact, as it does about capitalism and colonialism.

“Chocolate” is a universal word

One of the most foundational ways to think about languages is to classify them into many different languages, each separate from the other.

From Afrikaans to Zulu, there are 6,000 languages or so. Each different from the other and each tied to a particular nation, ethnicity, or culture.

The word for “chocolate” and “cacao” in 56 languages (sourced from Google Translate; Latin alphabet used throughout for easy comparability)

Now consider the word for “chocolate” and “cacao” in those languages.

The table shows 56 translation equivalents of “chocolate” and “cacao”, all based on Google Translate, and all written in the Latin alphabet for easy comparability. One glance suffices to see that “chocolate” and “cacao” are essentially the same word in all these languages. There are pronunciation differences, for sure, but it is obvious that that is all there is.

Does it make sense to say that “cokollate” is an Albanian word, that “shukulata” is an Arabic word, that “tsokolate” is a Cebuano word, that “qiǎokèlì” is a Chinese word, that “chocolate” is an English word, that “Schokolade” is a German word, that “chokollis” is a Korean word, that “shoklat” is a Persian word, and that “ushokoledi” is a Zulu word?

Of course, each of these forms is adapted to the phonology of each language but it is equally clear that the most salient aspect of each of these words is not their difference but their similarity.

The German philological tradition has a term for these types of words that are pretty much identical across languages: wanderwort. Wanderwort literally means “wandering word” or “migrating word.” Such migrating words are “items that are borrowed from language to language, often through a long chain of intermediate languages” (Hock & Joseph, 2009, p. 484).

A textbook example for a wanderwort is “sugar” – another key ingredient in chocolate – which probably started out in Sanskrit as “śarkara” and moved westwards to become Persian “shakar,” Arabic “sukkar,” Greek “sákkharon,” and Spanish “azúcar.” The word did not stop with Spanish but hopped over to French “sucre”, Italian “zucchero”, German “Zucker”, and English “sugar.” The Greek version “sákkharon” took an additional route into Western Europe and also gave us English “saccharin”.

Migrating words – and there are many of them – remind us that the borders between languages are not fixed but highly porous. Language and culture contact is the norm, and has been the norm since time immemorial.

That is the first language lesson of chocolate.

Chocolate is a colonized word that has become universal

The overarching narrative of language contact and language spread in our time is of the triumph of English. Language – like everything else of value – supposedly emanates from the European centre to the rest of the world. Colonial languages are powerless and dying away in the face of the English juggernaut.

There is certainly some truth to this story but it is not the only story. An alternative story is encapsulated in the word for “chocolate”.

Precolonial Mesoamerican depiction of a marriage ceremony involving a drink of chocolate (Image credit: UC Davis Library)

The cacao bean has been cultivated in Mesoamerica and brewed into a chocolate drink for thousands of years. Accordingly, the words for “cacao” and “chocolate” have a long and varied history in the precolonial languages of the region (Dakin & Wichmann, 2000).

The migrating words for “cacao” and “chocolate” that we encounter today in (possibly?) all the world’s language is based on Nahuatl “kakáwa” and “čokola:tl.”

While colonial languages have certainly been spreading, individual words from colonized languages have been on the move, too. Some, like “kakáwa” and “čokola:tl” have made themselves at home universally.

Like “cacao” and “chocolate,” many universal words come from the world’s most threatened and minoritized languages.

Another iconic example is “kangaroo.” This universal word comes from Guugu Yimidhirr, an Australian language from Far North Queensland with less than 1,000 speakers.

The second language lesson of chocolate is that language spread is not a one-way street and colonized languages have also made their tracks around the globe.

Eurocentric etymologies

The Spanish conquest of the Americas brought the cacao bean and its preparation to the attention of Europeans.

The internet is full of claims that “Cortés was believed to have discovered chocolate during an expedition to the Americas” or that “Christopher Columbus discovered cacao beans after intercepting a trade ship on a journey to America and brought the beans back to Spain with him in 1502” (my emphasis).

Europeans have long lied to themselves about chocolate: this 17th century treatise depicts an Indian princess handing over chocolate to the higher-placed Poseidon, the ancient Greek god of the seas (Image credit: Internet Archive)

This is incorrect – like most “discoveries” of the colonial period and the so-called “Age of Discovery,” the existence of the cacao bean and its use in chocolate preparation was well-known to the Aztecs.

In today’s terms, what Cortés, Columbus, and all the other “discoverers” did might be called plagiarism or intellectual property theft.

Words like “cacao” and “chocolate” bear witness to that grand theft in the languages of the world.

Not surprisingly, the colonizers have tried to erase those linguistic tracks.

“Kangaroo” was for a long time thought to be “unknown” in any Australian language, and the idea was that Captain Cook and Joseph Banks somehow made up the word. Another apocryphal story had it that “kangaroo” actually means “I don’t know” in Guugu Yimidhirr. In this anecdote, local knowledge is completely erased while Cook and Banks come out as the heroic discoverers who made sense out of local ignorance.

It was not until 1980, when the publication of R.M.W. Dixon’s The languages of Australia finally settled the debate and confirmed something the Indigenous people of North Queensland had known all along: that the universal word “kangaroo” came from their language.

A similar obfuscation takes place when you look up the etymology for “chocolate” in English. English “chocolate” is said to derive from Spanish “chocolate” or French “chocolat.” The latter in turn derives from Spanish “chocolate,” and only in another step does it go back to Nahuatl “chocolatl.”

The etymology of the German “Schokolade” similarly highlights inner-European transmission by deriving German “Schokolade” from Dutch “chocolate,” which derives from Spanish “chocolate.” Nahuatl is only mentioned at the end of that list.

In Imperial Eyes, Mary Louise Pratt writes that “an imperial tendency to see European culture emanating out to the colonial periphery from a self-generating center has obscured the constant movement of people and ideas in the other direction” (p. 88).

Amongst other things, colonialism has been a huge project of knowledge transfer from the colonized to the colonizers. The third language lesson of “chocolate” is to lay bare the big con that has made it look as if knowledge only travels in the other direction.

References

Dakin, K., & Wichmann, S. (2000). Cacao and chocolate: a Uto-Aztecan perspective. Ancient Mesoamerica, 11(1), 55-75.
Dixon, R. M. W. (1980). The Languages of Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hock, H. H., & Joseph, B. D. (2009). Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship: An Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics (2nd rev ed.). Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Pratt, M. L. (2008). Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.

Additionally, multilingual crisis communication has been the focus of the research projects conducted by Master of Applied Linguistics students at Macquarie University as part of their “Literacies” unit. We close the year by sharing some of their findings.

Here, Monica Neve explores the language requirements of registering a business as “COVID Safe” in New South Wales (NSW).

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(Image credit: NSW Government)

As restrictions rapidly increased during the beginning of Sydney’s lockdown in March 2020, the small yoga studio, which I had been attending for a number of years, closed its doors. Not just for the period of lockdown, but for good. Without students attending class and with no rent reduction in sight, the studio owner could no longer keep the business afloat. However, in June, with restrictions easing, a new yoga teacher took a leap of faith and reopened the studio.

When it reopened, the studio was identified as “COVID Safe” and sported the NSW “COVID Safe” logo that has by now become a ubiquitous sight in the business precincts of NSW.

For my research project, I wanted to discover how a business becomes “COVID Safe” and whether all businesses have an equal chance of being registered as COVID safe.

What is “COVID Safe”?

Under NSW Public Health Orders, COVID Safe registration is mandatory for hospitality venues (including cafes, bars and restaurants), gyms, and places of public worship. Penalties of up to $55,000 apply for businesses failing to comply.

Non-mandatory registration is encouraged for all other businesses.

The COVID-safe logo

COVID Safe registration requires the creation of a COVID safety plan in which businesses explain how hygiene and safety measures are being implemented on their premises. Once registered, businesses receive a digital COVID Safe logo for use on online platforms, as well as COVID Safe hygiene posters for display.

Language and literacy skills of NSW business owners

About a third of Australian small businesses are owned by migrants who speak a language other than English, according to the Migrant Small Business Report published by the insurer CGU.

While the English language proficiency of this cohort is unknown, it is reasonable to assume that some members of this group are among those 4% of the Australian population – or 800,000 to one million people – who do not speak English well or at all (Piller, 2020a).

It is also safe to assume that a number of business owners have low levels of literacy, as about 13.7% of the Australian adult population – or approximately 2.3 million people – possess literacy levels that equate to only elementary level schooling (OECD, 2012).

Seen against this background, COVID Safe registration for businesses in NSW is also a language and literacy hurdle, for some larger than others.

Registration as COVID safe business

To gain insight into the registration process, I followed all the steps on the website (stopping just short of the final step of application submission) and developed a COVID safety plan for an imaginary business, “Monica’s Café.” I also interviewed a small business owner who had undertaken registration.

Initially, registration seems relatively straight forward. It involves providing details of the business and developing a COVID safety plan related to wellbeing of staff and customers, physical distancing, hygiene and cleaning, and record keeping.

Sample COVID safety plans are available in English as well as Arabic, Simplified Mandarin, Korean, Thai, and Vietnamese.

However, things get more complicated once you actually have to fill out the safety plan form.

Before you do, you need to work your way through the regulatory language surrounding registration, as in the following excerpt from the introductory COVID Safe registration statement:

“COVID-19 Safety Plans are comprehensive checklists designed by NSW Health and approved by the Chief Health Officer. The plans provide clear directions on how businesses and organisations should fulfil their obligations under Public Health Orders to minimise risk of transmission of COVID-19 on their premises.”

(Image credit: NSW Government)

Multisyllabic vocabulary such as comprehensive, obligations, transmission and premises, and long sentences demand a high level of English language proficiency. This is confirmed by the Flesch reading ease measure of 15, meaning this excerpt requires the reading skills of a university graduate.

The excerpt above is an example of regulatory language used in official health communication. This register – or type of language – is particularly difficult to understand for those with low levels of English language proficiency (Grey, 2020a; Grey, 2020b).

The difficulty of the overall guidelines and instructions renders the relative ease of the actual registration form void.

How can COVID safe registration be improved without compromising safety?

I suggest that the process of COVID-safe registration could be simplified and made more accessible to a readership with varying levels of English language proficiency and literacy through the implementation of the following improvements:

• Provision of simple, plain English and high-quality, comprehensive multilingual information
• Provision of English and multilingual safety plan blueprints that are easy to locate

More importantly, I suggest that communicating COVID safety online is not enough.

Providing alternative communication channels

In its current form, COVID Safe registration does not necessarily guarantee compliance. To achieve that, inspections of premises are needed.

Inspections would offer a good way of tailoring COVID safety to local needs, not only practically but also linguistically.

Inspections could be undertaken by multilingual officers. Inspections in language other than English (LOTE) would provide an opportunity to convey personalised LOTE advice relevant to a particular business. They would be a practical implementation of an approach that values NSW’s linguistic diversity as a resource.

References

Grey, A. (2020a, June 1). How to improve Australia’s public health messaging about Covid-19. Language on the Move.
Grey, A. (2020b). How do you find public health information in a language other than English. Submission to the Australian Senate’s Select Committee on COVID-19’s inquiry into the Australian Government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Piller, I. (2020a, October 13). More on crisis communication in multilingual Australia. Language on the Move.

The Phoenician abjad – the ancestor of almost all scripts in use today (Image credit: Wikipedia)

Today, literacy has become near universal with the global literacy rate around 85 percent. Even the minority who remain illiterate are likely to be aware of the existence of written language (and their exclusion from its benefits). Mass literacy is a relatively recent phenomenon in the history of humanity and dates from the 19^th century, with literacy rates steadily increasing over the past 200 years. Before then, literacy was restricted to a tiny elite in those societies where literacy existed and there were many societies that were not familiar with written language at all.

Can you image living in a society that does not have any writing? Why and how would anyone in such a society invent writing?

Inventing writing by imitation

Most writing systems that have been invented through the ages took inspiration from another writing system: the Latin alphabet was inspired by the Greek alphabet; the Greek alphabet was inspired by the Phoenician abjad; the Phoenician abjad was inspired by Egyptian hieroglyphs. In another line of transmission, the Phoenician abjad (which, with the exception of the Chinese script, is the ancestor of all writing systems in use today) also inspired the Old Hebrew script (ca. 1000 BCE), which inspired the Aramaic script, which inspired the Syriac script (ca. 500 CE), which inspired the Sogdian script, which inspired the Uighur script (ca. 800 CE), which inspired the Mongolian script (1200 CE).

The details of most of these relationships of inspiration and imitation are lost in history and must be credited to anonymous traders, missionaries, or soldiers. Individual inventors of a writing system are rare exceptions, such as King Sejong, who invented the Korean script. King Sejong took inspiration from the Chinese script.

Creating a new writing system for a language by drawing on an existing model from another language, as King Sejong did for Korean, is undoubtedly an enormous achievement. However, it pales in comparison to the achievement of those inventors who created writing from scratch, at a time when writing did not exist anywhere else in their known world.

Why was writing invented?

Proto-Cuneiform tablet, ca. 3000 BCE (Image credit: Metmuseum)

Living in a highly literate society, it is tempting to imagine that those first inventors wanted to write down stories and transmit them to posterity. Unfortunately, you’d be mistaken. The transmission of stories worked really well orally. Our ancestors had much better memories than we have (and how literacy has affected our brains is another story), as is evidenced from the great epics or the extensive Aboriginal Dreamtime stories that were transmitted orally over thousands of years.

This means that in a preliterate society no one had any need to write down the knowledge that was encoded in stories, myths, legends, or genealogies. And we can be sure that no one just thought one day, “Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if we could write down spoken language?”

Writing is a technology that emerged together with urbanization. The first city states constituted a new form of social organization that created specific problems of record keeping: how to account for the surplus created by agriculture and trade, and the activities it resulted in. As humans founded city states and empires, practical problems such as these arose: How much arable land is there? How many heads of cattle can be kept on a particular plot of land? How much tax should be extracted from a farming household of a particular composition? How can we be sure that Farmer So-and-so has already paid his taxes and does not just say they paid? How many slaves need to be captured to build a new temple? How many soldiers need to be kept in the army to protect the city, and how much provisions and equipment will they need to invade the next city down the river and incorporate it into one’s kingdom?

Not necessarily pretty questions that inspired writing invention! Writing was not invented for some lofty intellectual pursuits but as a technology of power. Writing was invented as a means of record keeping. It is an information technology that emerged in the domains of state administration and bureaucracy, trade and commerce, and religion.

Early writing had little to do with language and everything to do with keeping a quantitative record of something. Think of it this way: our writing-inventing ancestors needed spreadsheets. It was only over time that these “spreadsheets” became writing: a visual form of language associated with a particular spoken language.

Who invented writing?

In fact, not all “spreadsheet systems” became fully-fledged writing systems. So, who invented writing? The answer you’re probably familiar with is: the Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia. That’s true but it’s not the whole story because writing was invented multiple times, in response to social developments similar to those I outlined above.

Mayan glyphs (Image credit: Ancient History Encyclopedia)

To the best of our knowledge, writing was invented independently at least three times: Sumerian cuneiform in Mesopotamia (ca. 3400 BCE), Chinese characters in China (ca. 1200 BCE) and Mayan glyphs in Mesoamerica (ca. 300 BCE). Of these, only the Chinese script is an unbroken living tradition.

I’m saying “at least three times” because it may well have been more often. Our knowledge is limited in three ways.

First, the archeological record is incomplete and only the most durable early writing (pressed in clay or chiseled in stone) has survived while the record for less durable materials (drawn on paper, velum or bark in natural colors, scratched in bone) has disintegrated and only accidental fragments may or may not have survived.

Second, the relationship between different writing systems is unclear. For instance, there is debate whether Egyptian hieroglyphs (the earliest of which date back to ca. 3250 BCE) constitute an independent invention or were inspired by Sumerian cuneiform. Similar uncertainties exist related to the Indus Valley script (ca. 2600 BCE) or Linear B from the island of Crete in Greece (ca. 1450 BCE).

Third, the history of writing has largely been written by Europeans and is embedded in colonial epistemologies. This limits our knowledge in various ways.

These limitations are well illustrated by our scant knowledge of Mayan writing. To begin with very little research efforts are dedicated to that striking writing system, which only survives in a small number of stone inscriptions and four book manuscripts. This small number is not only due to natural degradation but is the result of active destruction by the Spanish colonizers. “We burned them all”, as Bishop Diego de Landa reported in 1566. Not only the products of Mayan writing were destroyed but transmission was suppressed and eventually knowledge of Mayan writing disappeared.

Deciphering ancient scripts became a European passion in the 18^th and 19^th century. The French scholar Jean-François Champollion deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1822 and the German scholars Karsten Niebuhr Georg Friedrich Grotefend deciphered Sumerian cuneiform in 1837. These developments created a lot of excitement and working on ancient documents became all the range in certain academic circles. However, interest in Mayan glyphs remained limited. Partly this was due to the fact that documents written in that script were far less accessible to European scholars than Middle Eastern documents. But it was also due to the fact that – in yet another colonial way of seeing – they thought the glyphs weren’t really a script and just some non-linguistic code. Mayan glyphs were only deciphered in the late 20^th century by US scholar David Stuart, drawing on work by Russian scholars Yuri Knorosov and Tatiana Proskouriakoff.

In the end, not even a topic as seemingly straightforward as the invention of writing has a single story.

Want to learn more?

If you want to find out how our clever ancestors turned their “spreadsheet proto-writing” into visual language, head over to Youtube to listen to my lecture about “The invention of writing” (36:23 mins)

If you don’t have that kind of time, “The invention of writing” also exists as a Twitter thread.

Listen up, boys and girls, because I'm going to tell you the story of the greatest inventors of all times: the inventors of #writing

Can you imagine a world without writing? No writing on screens, no writing on paper, no writing on stone, no writing on clay tables, nothing … pic.twitter.com/9SDjQWONeh

— Language on the Move (@Lg_on_the_Move) August 3, 2020

Although the content of these three versions is largely the same and although all three versions have the same author, myself, the “story” changes even within these narrow parameters of identical topic and author. Can you spot the differences? How does content and presentation change across the written, spoken, and digital formats? And, with it, how does your learning experience and response change? What are the affordances and limitations of each medium?

(Image credit: Farooqi & Aftab, 2018)

Editor’s note: As Confucius Institutes are closing in western countries, as Jeffrey Gil analysed recently, Chinese language learning continues to expand across the global South. As an example, Kashif Raza reflects on the linguistic implications of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) here.

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The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a multimillion dollar project between Pakistan and China through which both countries aim to develop bilateral economic, cultural, social and military ties. However, none of the 68+ Pakistani languages are being used for information creation and dissemination in the operationalization of the project. In its current form, the project only enables participation by speakers of two languages, English and Mandarin Chinese, which have been adopted as official languages for the project. This is a missed opportunity for both countries to benefit their multilingual populations. With proper language policy development and implementation, this project could become an ideal multilingual economic model of South-South cooperation, where a multilingual workforce is engaged, recognized and benefits.

CPEC and Language Use

CPEC has many benefits for both Pakistan and China. However, the project has also posed a serious question for both countries: What languages are people going to use to communicate with each other? In correspondence with an official of the CPEC, I was told that there are three types of scenarios happening at the CPEC:

1. Chinese officials and stakeholders communicating with Chinese workers through Mandarin or other Chinese languages
2. Chinese officials, stakeholders and workers communicating with Pakistani worker through English, Urdu, or through interpreters
3. Pakistani officials, stakeholders and workers communicating with each other using English, Urdu, or any of the other local languages

Although Mandarin is used by the Chinese, and Urdu and other Pakistani languages by Pakistanis, English dominates the operationalization of the CPEC project for policy development and implementation with Mandarin taking the second place. Evidence of this comes from the use of English and, to a lesser degree, Mandarin in the production and dissemination of the information related to the CPEC. The Long Term Plan for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor 2017-2030 states:

This Agreement is copied in duplicate, each of which is written in Chinese and English, and both versions have the same meaning and will have the equal effect. 

Urdu learning in China

Both China and Pakistan are trying to promote each other’s languages at different levels. These language exchange initiatives, some of which started long before the inauguration of the CPEC, are led by governmental agencies (e.g., embassies) and private institutes.

Considering the importance of relations between Pakistan and China, different initiatives have been taken by the Chinese authorities to promote Urdu at multiple levels in China. One of these endeavors is the promotion of Urdu in education through major and minor courses that are mostly taught by Urdu-speaking Pakistani faculty and are offered by multiple universities in China. In an attempt to increase the number of Urdu speakers in China, several works have been translated from Urdu to Mandarin and Urdu language courses are being delivered at different institutions.

Peking University, in particular, has undertaken considerable work in this regard where efforts are being made to increase resources for Mandarin and Urdu language learners. After establishing the first Urdu Department in 1950 to offer basic Urdu language courses and translating multiple works from Urdu to Mandarin, the institute developed the first ever Mandarin-Urdu dictionary in the 1980s.  Similarly, Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU) has been teaching Urdu language courses since 2007. In order to provide an interactive Urdu language acquisition atmosphere, BFSU has been organizing various competitions in calligraphy and speech to familiarize Chinese students with Pakistani culture and history. Recently, Urdu Departments were established at Xi’an International Studies University and Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. We also see a lot of videos circulating on social media like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp etc. where Chinese speakers of Urdu share their views in Urdu on contemporary topics like COVID-19, Pakistani culture and cuisine, tourism in Pakistan, and the Sino-Pak friendship in general.

Tea ceremony at Confucius Institute Islamabad (Image Credit: Xinhuanet)

The two main reasons for the popularity of Urdu in China since the CPEC inauguration are economic and cultural benefits. In terms of economy, many Urdu learners see either employment opportunities or chances of starting their own businesses. Since Chinese companies doing businesses with Pakistani counterparts need people that can help in communication between the two parties, learning Urdu can provide job opportunities for many as translators, Urdu language teachers, bilingual contract writers, and managers. Similarly, knowing Urdu can also help run businesses like import/export, manufacturing, and educational institutions (similar considerations with regard to Arabic in China are discussed here). On the other hand, attraction towards Pakistani culture, its tourist and religious destinations, food, and people are other reasons for the popularity of Urdu in China.

Chinese learning in Pakistan

As Chinese are learning Urdu, Mandarin Chinese is becoming popular among Pakistanis. We see governmental institutes as well as private entities involved in the promotion of Mandarin in Pakistan. A few examples of governmental support are the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan, Confucius Institutes, Pakistan Television, Sindh government memorandum of understanding with Chinese Education Department, Pakistan Senate Resolution in favor of teaching Mandarin in Pakistan and scholarships for Pakistani students and teachers who wish to develop Mandarin learning and teaching skills. Private institutes are also playing pivotal roles in promoting Mandarin.

As far as the benefits for Pakistanis learning Mandarin are concerned, the biggest incentive is the economic opportunities. Since CPEC is attracting a lot of Chinese businessmen and workers, Pakistani students of Mandarin find it as an opportunity to secure work as bilingual translators, interpreters, lawyers as well as supervisors. Similarly, there are educational, political and social factors that are encouraging Pakistanis to master Mandarin as a foreign language.

Economic Approach to Language Development for CPEC

As CPEC is a long-term economic project and has multiple advantages for both Pakistan and China, its success requires a deeper understanding and cooperation between Pakistan and China at social, cultural, educational, defense, economic as well as linguistic levels. A pragmatic approach that can guarantee the achievement of the objectives of this project is decision making through discussion and dialogue on all of the issues that both countries face. Language as a medium of communication is one of these issues that needs to be discussed and negotiated from both sides. This is not only important for increased communication between the two sides but also mandatory for strengthening other areas of cooperation.

Since Sino-Pak relations have a long history, both countries have been trying to promote each other’s languages through different means to strengthen multi-layered relationships between the two governments as well as its people. Nevertheless, language exchange has never been as critical as it is now. This calls for a proper language policy development that can resolve the medium of communication issue between the two neighbors and can pave the way for smooth people-to-people relationship development.

There are a lot of debates and discussions on the economic and military benefits of the CPEC project for both Pakistan and China. Although a few voices are also heard discussing the language issue related to CPEC, most of these articles portray the imposition of Chinese languages and the suppression of Urdu. None of the work done in this area looks at language issues through the lens of economic benefits for both countries in terms of increasing employment, enhancing people-to-people relations, developing cultural exchanges and promoting each other’s languages.

It is time to rethink multilingual language policies beyond established truths.

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Editor’s note: In our series of language aspects of the COVID-19 crisis, we today switch perspectives away from health communication to the economy: how is the crisis affecting translation and interpreting service providers, as well as other language services? Findings from a survey of Chinese language service providers conducted at the end of February provide some preliminary insights.

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Language services are a thriving industry in China but have been hit hard by the corona crisis

As an emerging service industry, China’s language services industry has grown quickly in the last decade into a sizable industry which provides different kinds of services and products to facilitate multilingual and cross-cultural exchanges (Luo et al., 2018). By estimation of the Translators Association of China, in June 2018, there were 320,874 language-related enterprises in China, among which 9,652 are specialized in language services and translation. In 2018, the total output value of China’s LSPs reached 35.93 billion yuan, with an average annual growth rate of 10% (Translators Association of China, 2019).

How has this burgeoning language services industry been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis?

To provide relevant information to stakeholders and offer language service providers (LSPs) helpful suggestions, the Academy of Global Language Services Sciences (AGLSS), and the School of Translation and Interpreting(STI), Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) , and the Institute of Language Services, Hebei Normal University for Nationalities (HBUN) jointly launched a survey to assess the impact of the epidemic on LSPs in China. The joint team started the survey of companies specializing in language services throughout the nation in the form of online questionnaires on February 23, and surveyed 113 LSPs by February 25.

The following provides an overview of some of the results.

Composition of the survey participants

Participants of the survey comprise 113 language service firms from the Chinese mainland, including eight state-owned enterprises (SOEs), 14 joint-stock companies, 89 private companies, and two foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). 31.86% of the surveyed LSPs have more than 100 employees, and 68.14% have less than 100 employees. About one-third of the total number have a staff of less than 20 persons. The data are basically in line with the composition of LSPs in China.

In terms of main business, 76.11% of the surveyed companies provide mainly translation and interpretation services, followed by those engaged in localization services (35.40%) and in language technology services (32.74%). Those in R&D of software, consulting services, and foreign language training have a relatively low proportion, accounting for 23.01%, 19.47%, and 17.70%, respectively. In terms of the scope of services, most of the companies offer a package of services, covering interpretation, translation, localization and language technology services.

Orderly resumption of operation

Our findings show that over 90% of companies had resumed work through telecommuting, and nearly half had started work in-office by the survey date. Most of the companies resumed operation to a large degree through the Internet, cloud-based computer aided translation (CAT) platforms, and online business management systems. The resumption rate of work through telecommuting exceeded 90%. Only 3.54% of the firms chose to suspend their business. Conversely, 4.42% reported 100 percent staff back at work in the office; all of these firms are in the provinces of Jiangsu, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Shandong, which had good control of the epidemic and were less severely impacted. They include two SOEs, one joint-stock company, and two private companies.

53.98% of the surveyed LSPs required all their employees to start work from home. Through checking on work attendance and holding video conferences regularly, they actively carry out online production for self-help and overcome the adverse effects caused by the epidemic. In some less-affected areas, due to a contraction of business, 19.47% of the LSPs required only a part of their staff back to work in the office, and 15.04% choose to work through telecommuting with part-time attendance.

It is evident that companies in the language service sector, as largely supported by internet and information technology, have the advantage of being able to conduct online business under the stress of the epidemic. They have relatively strong capability to respond to emergencies compared with the business model of physical stores, and therefore, COVID-19 has had limited impact on them.

Contributing to the fight against COVID-19

It is worth noting that more than 70% of the LSPs surveyed had contributed to the fight against the epdidemic in various forms and to different extents. Specifically, 46.02% of them provide online interpretation and translation services; 13% even offer on-site interpretation services in the epidemic-hit areas at great risk, showing the spirit of selflessness and dedication.

In addition, 23.01% provide language services related to overseas donations; 16.81% offer consulting services to foreigners. A small part of the services are about epidemic-related training and the R&D of anti-epidemic mobile products. For example, following instructions issued by the Ministry of Education, a 40+ strong “Language Service Corps”, comprising professionals from Transn, one of the country’s leading LSPs, and several higher education institutions such as BLCU and other organizations, has developed online platforms and a mobile app, Hubei Dialect Guidebook, to help medical workers from other parts of the country who do not understand Hubei dialects.

As COVID-19 spread quickly from Wuhan to the rest of the nation, countries all over the world have assisted China in different ways to combat the coronavirus, and many overseas Chinese have donated money and supplies, which have created a growing demand for emergency language services. The LSPs in China, actively responding to the government’s call, have made use of their strength in providing specialized interpreting and translation services to support the battle against the epidemic and assume their social responsibilities.

Impacts of COVID-19 on the surveyed LSPs by business forms

Loss of business

Nearly 80% of participants were worried about a decline in business due to a sharp fall of on-site language services. The survey indicates that the operating income of the LSPs is closely related to that of their clients. With the spread of COVID-19 virus around the world, both domestic and international clients of language services are affected by the epidemic to varying degrees and face the risk of income decline. As a countermeasure, they are likely to cut their less urgent needs and lower the cost of urgent services.

According to the survey, 64.6% of the participants consider the “drop or loss of existing translation business” as the major challenge, as it will bring high uncertainty to their operation. Furthermore, “funds shortages” is also a bottleneck restricting the LSPs’ development (accounting for 42.48%).

China’s language services industry has a cup lid-shaped structure (China Language Service Industry Development Report, 2018); that is, 98% of companies in the industry have a registered capital of less than 10 million yuan, and are comparatively weak in fending off risks. A lesser concern are layoffs, resignation of employees, or breach of contracts by their partners, as the LSPs have sufficient supply of labor. During the epidemic prevention and control period, part-time employees and freelancers have a lot of free time, leading to an abundant supply or even oversupply of workforce.

The survey shows that the on-site business of LSPs has suffered a severe blow, as have on-site services or exchanges in other sectors, because of control measures like isolation, closed-off management, and lockdowns of cities. On-site interpretation is worst hit (62.83%), followed by public relations (PR) (52.21%), on-site translation (34.51%), and marketing (29.20%).

Hard-hit English language services

The survey finds that services related to English are struck hardest by the coronavirus epidemic, to a high rate of 67%, while the figure for services involving other languages is below 20%. This is mainly because more than 90% of Chinese LSPs are providing English-related services (China Language Service Industry Development Report, 2018), which are easily impacted by the strict restrictions imposed on China by English-speaking countries such as the United States and Australia.

It is estimated that the withdrawal of nationals, suspension of flights and issuance of visas and other restrictive measures will directly or indirectly hamper the development and cooperation of overseas business. Some English-speaking nations may stop or cancel deals with the language service firms in China, striking a heavy blow to English-related services.

It appears that the epidemic has much less influence on business related to other languages, but given the fact that such businesses overall take a small share and some companies do not have multilingual business at all, a rate of 13-17% is rather high.

Overall, the epidemic has had a large impact on the language services industry in China. Without strong support from central and local authorities, a number of companies might close down or go bankrupt, and a lot of people will lose their jobs. The relevant authorities, therefore, should pay close attention to the conditions of the businesses.

Post-epidemic recovery

Projected Impacts of COVID-19 on performance of the surveyed LSPs

According to the survey data, the coronavirus outbreak has hurt multiple activities of the surveyed businesses, affecting the communication between LSPs and clients by 51.33%, financial settlement by 46.9%, and contract signing by 40.71%. As a result, the operating income has dropped and liquidity has tightened. Nevertheless, by enhancing internal system building, the LSPs have remained strong in providing service solutions and delivering services. As long as the LSPs continue to strengthen their capacity building and keep good communication with their clients, they will surely recover business after the end of the epidemic.

The epidemic will eventually end and things will get back to normal, just as the winter has gone and the winter jasmine are in full bloom. People who go through the difficult time will continue their life with an even stronger will.

Businesses are making every effort to resume operation by themselves, but meanwhile, they hope to get help from the government. The survey data show that 75.22% of the participants expect tax reduction or exemption; 57.52% want to get rent reduction or exemption; 46.02% hope to receive job subsidies; 35.4% are eager for loans and financing.

As for aid directly related to fighting the virus, 38.05% want to receive masks and other protective supplies, and 20% need effective guidance on epidemic prevention and control to ensure the health of their staff.

Behind the data is the determination of companies to restore production and their general expectation for support from relevant government authorities and trade associations. To this end, we call for a joint action by the government, the public and the trade associations to help the businesses rise to the current challenges. At the same time, the companies themselves should also do what they can to pull themselves through.

Adjusting business models

More than 90% of companies surveyed put adjustment of business models on their agenda. Comprising mostly micro and small enterprises, the language service industry in China has been confronted with many problems.

The outbreak of COVID-19 brings these problems to the surface. They mainly relate to business portfolio (47.79%), crisis response (42.48%), capital chain (42.48%), and strategic planning (26.55%).

The disaster gives companies a chance to review the mix of their business and identify weak areas, and then to adjust their strategies and business models to meet the challenges posed by globalization and the 5G era. Efforts may include strengthening capacity building in risk tolerance, strategic planning, human resources, technology development, and crisis response.

The survey finds that 94% of the companies surveyed think it is necessary to change their business models, and 59.29% plan to improve the layout of online business. The participants also put the following issues on the agenda: improving efficiency and efficacy of telecommuting (52.21%), raising digital marketing capabilities (41.59%), increasing investment in intelligent technology and products (35.4%), and providing more remote services (38.94%). In this sense, the epidemic is not just a disaster, but a driving force to make companies seek changes, expand growth space, open up new business areas, and lead the digital era.

Conclusion and Suggestions

The survey results indicate that COVID-19 epidemic has had a huge impact on LSPs in China. The language services industry will face certain downturn pressure in the full year of 2020. The adverse spillover effect will surface in the second half of the year and pose severe threats to some companies. On the basis of the results of this survey, we put forward the following suggestions for China’s LSPs:

1. Regions affected less by the disease should resume work as early as possible for self-help instead of overreacting or waiting too long. They should seize the day to minimize the losses and costs caused by the epidemic. Our recommendation is to conduct dynamic management based on real conditions and take business-specific measures. Through resuming operation in an orderly manner, companies are expected to sustain their activities to prevent “secondary disasters” like closure and layoff.
2. As upstream or downstream companies to support the large enterprises, the LSPs under safe conditions should resume operation as early as possible to ensure the production restoration of big firms.
3. Both the central and local governments have already introduced a slew of measures to help enterprises affected by the epidemic. Major incentives include reducing or exempting the social insurance payment for SMEs from February to June and halving such payment for large companies, among others. Nevertheless, to help businesses sustain production and operation, more flexible and targeted measures should be applied to reduce the financial burden on SMEs, including tax and fees cuts, financial support, and rent subsidies or reductions.
4. The LSPs should endeavor to explore the market, seek new opportunities, and develop new business, with a view to turning the impact into an impetus for their growth. Efforts could be made to enhance strategic planning and carry out training on improving telecommuting ability for employees, changing business models, and improving layout of Internet-based business.

Acknowledgment

We record our sincere thanks to the people involved in translation and proofreading, and all the participants of this survey.

References

• 2018 China Language Service Industry Development Report. Beijing: Translators Association of China, 2018.
• Luo H, Meng Y, Lei Y, et al. China’s language services as an emerging industry. Babel, 2018, 64(3): 370-381.
• Translators Association of China, China academy of translation industry development strategies. 2019 China language service industry development report. Beijing: Translators Association of China, 2019.

About the authors

Lifei Wang is Professor in the School of Translation and Interpreting, Beijing Language and Culture University, China. His research interests include language services studies, business lingua franca, and applied linguistics.

Jiangwei Sun is a PhD candidate in the School of Translation and Interpreting, Beijing Language and Culture University in Beijing, China. His research interests include language services studies and translation economics.

Jie Ren is a PhD candidate in the School of Translation and Interpreting, Beijing Language and Culture University in Beijing, China. Her research interests include language services studies and business lingua franca.

Yongye Meng, PhD graduate from the University of International Business and Economics, is Dean of Institute of Language Services, Hebei Normal University for Nationalities in Chengde, China. His research interests include language services and internationalization of standards.

Related content

To view the full Language-on-the-Move coverage of applied and sociolinguistic perspectives on the COVID-19 crisis visit our COVID-19 series.

Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Language Resources and Research Center for Standardized Use of Chinese Language, Beijing Language and Culture University

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Editor’s note: This is a translated and shortened version of an article first published in Chinese as “战疫语言服务团的故事” in the CPPCC Newspaper on March 9, 2020. Translated by Dr Zhang Jie, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, and Dr Li Jia, Yunnan University, Kunming.

In this article, Professor Li Yuming not only recounts the rapid linguistic response of Chinese applied sociolinguists to the COVID-19 epidemic but also outlines a program for “emergency linguistics,” a research specialisation devoted to language and communication aspects of disaster preparedness.

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Handbook of Hubei Dialects for Medical Assistance Teams

Doctor-patient communication in Hubei dialect, online resource

The outbreak of COVID-19 has required the whole of China to stand together against the epidemic with the mobilisation of national resources to assist Hubei, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. One of the difficulties in mobilising trans-provincial resources is the language barrier between doctors and patients in clinical communication. To solve the urgent needs of language communication between doctors from other parts of China and local patients, the medical assistance team of Qilu Hospital of Shandong University compiled The Guidebook of Wuhan Dialect for Medical Assistance Teams, Audio Materials of Wuhan Dialect for Medical Assistance Teams, and The Handbook of Doctor-Patient Communication within 48 hours after the team arrived in Wuhan. This is an instance of the provision of language services as part of the emergency response.

The example demonstrates the necessity for linguists to participate in fighting COVID-19. As linguists, we should not let medical personnel be distracted by also having to deal with language and communication barriers.

On February 10, 2020, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Language Resources of BLCU and the National Institute of Chinese Language Matters and Social Development of Wuhan University, together with more than a dozen research institutes and enterprises, initiated a program to join the fight against COVID-19 by offering language services.

Under the guidance of the Department of Language Information Management of the Chinese Ministry of Education, the Handbook of Hubei Dialects for Medical Assistance Teams was compiled to facilitate communication between medical assistance teams and patients in Hubei province. The Handbook includes 76 sentences and 156 words which are commonly used in diagnosis and treatment along with their equivalents in the dialects of Wuhan, Xiangyang, Yichang, Huangshi, Jingzhou, E’zhou, Xiaogan, Huanggang, and Xianning.

Although team members lived in different localities, they performed the tasks with tacit cooperation and managed to play to their respective strengths. With their devotion for three days and three nights, seven types of language service products were made available on WeChat, a dedicated webpage, converging media, video clips, Tik Tok, a 24/7 telephone hotline, and instant translation software.

The Handbook of Hubei Dialects for Medical Assistance Teams was of significant help to front-line medical personnel. Not only was it suitable for different groups of people in various scenarios, but also bolstered the confidence of medical workers. It was very well received. Almost 30 WeChat official accounts related to linguistics re-posted the handbook, setting a precedent for WeChat official accounts in fighting against the epidemic. So far, the total clicks of the handbook on WeChat have amounted to nearly 30,000; for the recording, around 340,000; and for the online version, more than 100,000. Furthermore, nearly 6,000 copies of pocketbooks published by the Commercial Press were distributed free of charge directly to the medical assistance teams in Hubei.

Bilingual Greek-Chinese diagnostic sheet

Apart from compiling the handbook of Hubei dialects, language services later expanded to foreign languages targeting international students and foreign residents who began to return and come to China with the effective prevention and control of the epidemic and the resumption of work and production. To better inform these foreigners of the updated information about the coronavirus and to protect their safety, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Language Resources of BLCU, as a core member of the program, developed A Guide to the Prevention and Control of COVID-19 Epidemic in Foreign Languages promptly and efficiently on February 27.

The Guide includes 75 sentences commonly used in daily precautions, entry precautions, medical treatment, and personal protection. So far, the Guide has been written in more than 20 languages including Japanese, Korean, Persian, Italian, Arabic, English, German, Russian, and French, with versions including video clips, multimedia cards, and software system.

Since the launch of the Guide, not only has it received attention and support from the Ministry of Education, the State Language Commission, the National Center for Disease Control, the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Beijing Municipality, the Chinese embassies and consulates abroad, but has also been welcomed by overseas Chinese students.

As the novel coronavirus has been spreading in other parts of the world, the Guide has now also been shared by foreign communities over the Internet and won positive feedback from some Chinese diplomatic missions.

Through such practices, China’s anti-epidemic progress and experience can be disseminated abroad, serving as humanitarian assistance for the international community in the prevention and control of the virus.

The Guide will continue to be updated based on the latest development of the epidemic at home and abroad, with more languages being added.

Another project we are working on is named Plain Chinese. Plain Chinese was successfully developed and is currently being tested. The project is tailored to international students and foreigners in China in the hope that they could be better informed about COVID-19, even if their Chinese language proficiency is limited. It is also helpful to those Chinese people who lack proficiency in Putonghua.

During and after any public emergency, mental health and psychological well-being is vital. Therapeutic interventions constitute another area for the provision of language services, and therefore constitute another duty for linguists to take on. Psychologists and linguists are expected to work hand in hand to deliver strategies for “linguistic comforting” during and after the COVID-19 disaster.

It is too early to draw conclusions as the disaster is yet to end, but I do wish to offer my reflections based on our provision of language services over the past 20 days.

First, being a scholar should not confine us to writing papers and imparting knowledge, but must include having a sense of social responsibility, the awareness and capability to solve practical problems. In recent decades, a group of Chinese sociolinguists have been calling people’s attention to language in social life (yuyan shenghuo).

This group has been advocating for attention to language-related problems in social development. Collectively, these linguists are known as the school of language in social life (语言生活派 yuyan shenghuo pai).

Professor Li Yuming’s original article “战疫语言服务团的故事” in CPPCC Newspaper, March 09, 2020

The reason why the language services program was able to rally so many volunteers, at a single call, is that these scholars actually were spurred to action by their convictions, i.e. to put their academic strength into the practice of the great cause of the motherland. Apart from the mission for research and education, scientific and educational studies also carry a social responsibility. In the fight against the epidemic, we should not simply care about self-protection, but instead, contribute ideas and exert efforts for the containment of the virus.

Second, information technology needs to be given full play in the prevention and control of epidemics. The current epidemic is characterized by immobility of people and commodities, but free flow of information.

Without information technology, it would have been far more difficult to fight this disaster. As a matter of fact, members of the language services program have not yet met each other in person, but have done an outstanding job with the help of online group chat.

Moreover, the development and promotion of language service products effectively utilized the previously established corpus, the modern language technology developed, and the inter-disciplinary talents cultivated during the construction of language resources. The progress made highlights the significance of China’s achievements in terms of the Internet and modern information technology.

Third, a plan on language services in emergency response needs to be included in the prevention and control of public emergencies. It is a critical test for the national governance system and management competence to effectively handle public emergencies. In recent years, the prevention and control of public emergencies in China have made remarkable progress, with many statutes and contingency plans enacted, such as the Emergency Response Law of the People’s Republic of China, the National Plan on Emergency Response, and the Regulation on Response for Public Health Emergencies. Meanwhile, particular units specializing in public emergency management and services have also been established. However, linguistic contingency plans are still absent from those solutions. Through the current public health emergency, importance should be attached to filling this gap as soon as possible.

It is proposed that the plan on language services in emergency responses shall include at least three aspects, namely:

First, we shall formulate the National Mechanism and Plan on Language Services in Public Emergency Response, or simply revise the current statutes, regulations and plans, such as the Emergency Response Law of the People’s Republic of China, the National Plan on Emergency Response, by adding relevant content.

The details of language services in public emergency response, however, remain to be investigated. The following might be worthy of consideration: the selection of channels through which the information is released, e.g. telephone, radio, television, network media (Weibo and WeChat included); the languages that are supposed to be used in information dissemination, including Putonghua, plain Chinese, Chinese dialects (varieties), ethnic languages, signed languages, and foreign languages; possible communication barriers and concrete solutions; application of various modern language technologies; mechanisms and plans on language services in emergency response at different levels; and, other language-related content in various aspects of emergency response, such as prevention and preparedness, monitoring and early warning, emergency response and rescue, post-emergency recovery and reconstruction.

Second, a standing language service institution for public emergencies will need to be set up. During ordinary times, only a few in-service staff or researchers will be needed while others hold their original posts. When an emergency arises, they can be urgently summoned to offer various language services.

Third, greater importance will need to be attached to language-related studies in public emergency response. Language services in emergency response is actually a problem of language application within a particular sphere and for a specific purpose. It is a special type of language situation. We should draw on the practical experience of such language services at home and abroad and take advantage of the academic achievements made in applied linguistics, to actively conduct research in this domain and establish the discipline of “emergency linguistics.” In doing so, linguists are able to contribute more to public emergency response. What is more, research centers devoted to language access in emergency response shall be founded, which are aimed at dealing with different types of public emergencies such as natural disasters, accidents, public health incidents, social security incidents, and to cultivate specialized talents by integrating with the existing departments of public emergency management and services.

From inside Jaume Plensa’s House of Knowledge, Bordeaux, France (Photo by Shirley Yeung)

In much of Western and Northern Europe, we find ourselves in the wake of a widespread retreat from—and backlash against—“multiculturalism”, with “Brexit” as one poignant and palpable example of how such backlashes materialize in real politics and in the lives of people. Similar trends are detectable in the Unites States, where imaginaries of walled borders are instrumentalised as promising a renewed sense of security against national “others”.

Instead of the discarded idea of “multiculturalism”, “integration” has emerged as a new and dominant immigration policy paradigm in many of these contexts, dramatically transforming frameworks and practices surrounding the social, legal, and professional inclusion of immigrants in Europe and abroad. A sustained critical and ethnographic engagement with “integration” paradigms and practices will be undertaken in an upcoming special issue of Multilingua; the title of the special issue is “Discourses of Integration: Language, Skills, and the Politics of Difference,” and it will be published in November 2016.

“Integration” needs to be critically examined due to the ubiquity of integration discourses in the migration policies and programs of various states. These discourses demonstrate the flexibility of the integration concept as well as its complexity. This makes the concept highly contested, exceedingly difficult to pin down, and, as such, tremendously productive for arguments across the political spectrum. While in some contexts “integration” invokes the promotion of tolerance, equity, migrant/human rights, and diversity, its proponents more often than not also espouse a rhetoric of activation which strives to cultivate, among immigrants, varied intercultural “capacities”, communication skills, and a sense of personal responsibility for social mobility (often reflecting particularly neoliberal concepts of agency). Furthermore, in the wake of this “integration trend”, the majority of states have placed a policy focus on both promoting and assessing the linguistic competences of migrants in national language(s), commonly arguing that linguistic integration cross-cuts and enables all other forms of inclusion, such as employment-related, educational, and cultural inclusion. In this way, concerns over how to regulate and ensure migrant “integration” both produce and rely on situated ideologies of language, intercultural communication, and mono- and multilingual repertoires (and social orders).

It is not the aim of the special issue to provide an exhaustive panorama of such measures and language policies, but to present succinct and in-depth case studies which address some of the aspects and dilemmas of “integration” across various sites and regional/national contexts: English-speaking Canada, Catalonia, Finland, and French- and German-speaking Switzerland. The contributions by Kori Allan; Maria Sabaté Dalmau; Maiju Strömmer; Shirley Yeung; and Mi-Cha Flubacher, Renata Coray, and Alexandre Duchêne explore and analyze the practices, discourses and dilemmas of “integration” as constituted by, and constitutive of, a (trans)national politics of difference—a politics which incites multiple strategies for managing social diversity across various linguistic and communicative domains. The contributions variously explore logics of integration in relation to agency, citizenship, employment, economic and linguistic investment, language acquisition, multicultural orders, nationhood, skill, and social networks.

• Yeung and Flubacher highlight in their introduction the salience of critical ethnographic analyses for understanding “integration” beyond policy realms. In particular, they propose to untangle this complex by describing three central processes inherent to regimes of “integration”: processes of categorization, selection, and activation.
• Allan examines practices of labour-market integration in multicultural Canada, analyzing a program which strives to enhance the marketability of professionally qualified immigrants through “soft skills” education.
• Sabaté Dalmau reveals how the hegemonic monolingual order of peninsular Spanish and its ideologies of integration are simultaneously reproduced and contested in the translinguistic practices of undocumented labor migrants in a call shop, or “locutorio,” in Catalonia, Spain.
• Flubacher, Coray & Duchêne examine how logics of “investment” construct differing entitlements to language instruction, and thus different potentials for integration, among migrants in an unemployment office in the Swiss canton of Fribourg/Freiburg.
• Strömmer demonstrates how the invisibility of cleaning work prevents migrants from developing the language skills that are deemed necessary for social mobility in Finland, revealing “integration” as an ideal that is difficult to achieve. An extended overview of this article is available here.
• Yeung looks at how recent migration policies in Switzerland yield two social types in Geneva, “migrants” and “expatriates,” which reflect, on the terrain of language and culture, contrasting assessments of risk and profitability.

In view of their in-depth ethnographic approaches, these contributions provide a close reading and nuanced understanding of the effects and consequences that integration policies and language regimes have on the ground – and for migrants, especially. In this, this special issue aims to offer a complementary reading to purely discourse oriented analyses of language policies, language testing and regimes and, in its totality, presents new dimensions to the study of integration.

The articles previewed here can already now be accessed through the Multilingua “Ahead of print” page. Make sure to watch out for the full special issue when it comes out in November as Multilingua 35(6).

The Sociolinguistic Economy of Berlin

Imagine you want to study language diversity as a phenomenon of contemporary society. Where do you start? You can, for example, ask teachers to count the number of languages that are spoken by their pupils (as has been done for, e.g., Hamburg, see Fürstenau et al. 2003, and for London, see Baker & Eversley 2000). While this is useful for practical purposes, like designing local school curricula, and for knowing which languages are spoken in which areas, it is less helpful for understanding why some places are more diverse than others – and it is often simply taken for granted that cities are the best places to document and study diversity.

But why actually is it that cities seem to be more diverse than other places? Even more basic, what actually is a city? And what does urban diversity tell us with regards to the links between language, social relations, and transnational social structures? In sociology and cultural anthropology, cities have been described as related to economic practices (Sennett 2005, Urry and Gregory 1985), and it is argued that cities have a central role in the global economy (Sassen 1994). Cities are constitutive of global economic relations and are themselves an effect of economic practices. In simpler terms: people who want to earn money oftentimes go to cities to find jobs and other people decide to locate companies where they hope to find a suitable workforce, favourable economic conditions and enough people to buy what they offer. The whole scenario may, of course, change in the future due to online work and online sale but so far, the places where economic value is produced also affect what is considered as social value – things and practices (including linguistic ones!) associated with New York, for example, are cooler than those from the countryside. At the same time, where wealth is produced, many less well-paid jobs are created to cater for the needs of those who earn a lot – who employ cleaning staff and nannies, eat in restaurants, and go to late night shops (see also Sassen 1994). The more poorly-paid workers tend to reside in places further away from the city centre where rent is cheaper and often come from places in the world where living conditions are even less favourable. To cut a long story short, local and global economic conditions have an effect on socio-spatial relations, in micro and in macro terms, and are therefore relevant for language as a social practice, for linguistic prestige and for language diversity. And, indeed, cities are interesting (even if not the only) social and spatial entities to study this.

To explore these questions around language diversity in the city, Britta Schneider, Theresa Heyd and Ferdinand von Mengden from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, have organised a symposium that delves into the linguistic situation of one city: Berlin.

The Sociolinguistic Economy of Berlin takes place on 30^th September and 1^st of October 2016 and we are pleased to invite you to attend. The symposium includes contributions on traditional and recent dialectal diversity, new and old migrant multilingualisms, as well as emerging linguistic élites in the city, a combination that inspires to conceive of and compare languages in their local but transnationally conditioned socio-economic embeddedness. Additionally, we have invited scholars whose theoretical expertise will help to explore the topic on a more abstract level, including Monica Heller and Barbara Johnstone.

Berlin as a city to study language diversity is compelling – its history as a divided place sheds light on the role of the political-economic system in shaping conditions of language diversity. There are still-felt effects of the Berlin Wall, such as local dialectal repertoires in German and specific formations of ethnic patterning, both differing in eastern and western parts of the city. This makes visible that diversity is no ʻnaturalʼ effect of a city, but caused by market conditions and political systems. It furthermore shows that we can observe not only demographic shifts but also the durability of some social discourses. Finally, we can contrast the cosmopolitanism of some social spheres (e.g., Berlin’s Anglophone hipster culture) with anti-cosmopolitan moves of linguistic gatekeeping that erupt in contexts of urban power struggles such as gentrification, the tourism industry, in education and in job market accessibility.

Taken together, the symposium brings insight into language diversity under conditions of globalised economic relations and histories in local places, in exploring diversity beyond methodological nationalism and in understanding the city as one potential lens through which we can understand such phenomena.

References

Baker, Philip & John Eversley. 2000. Multilingual Capital: The Languages of London’s Schoolchildren and their Relevance to Economic, Social and Educational Policies. London: Battlebridge.

Fürstenau, Sara, Ingrid Gogolin & Kutlay Yagmur. 2003. Mehrsprachigkeit in Hamburg. Münster: Waxmann.

Sassen, Saskia. 1994. Cities in a World Economy. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Pine Forge Press.

Sennett, Richard. 2005. Capitalism and the City. Future City, ed. by S. Read, J. Rosemann & J.v. Eldijk, 114-24. London: Spon Press.

Urry, John & Derek Gregory. 1985. Social Relations and Spatial Structures. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Rashid al-Din Monument in Soltaniyeh, Iran (Source: Wikipedia)

Recently, I signed a contract for a revised second edition of my 2011 book Intercultural Communication: A Critical Introduction to be published in 2017. One way in which I am planning to extend the book is to have a greater focus on cultural mediators. What are the stories, experiences and practices of people who act as brokers between languages and cultures?

In some cases, people are pushed into the role of cultural mediators out of necessity, as is the case with child cultural and linguistic mediators. Others take on the roles of cultural brokers as an act of public service. In an age when most of our own political leaders seem to be more inclined towards erecting new borders, strengthening old ones and tearing down bridges, it is instructive to consider the case of two 13^th century statesmen whose friendship helped to connect east and west Asia: the Mongol Bolad and the Persian Rashid al-Din.

Rashid al-Din

Of the two, Rashid al-Din is today the better-known; as the author of the Jāme’ al-Tawārikh (“Universal History”) he is credited with having been “the first world historian” (Boyle 1971).

Rashid al-Din was born around 1250 CE into a Jewish family in Hamadān in north-west Iran. At the age of twenty-one or thirty (different accounts exist in different sources; see Kamola 2012), he converted to Islam and around the same time he entered the service of the then-ruler of Iran, the Il-Khan Abaqa (1265-81) as court physician. Under Abaqa’s grandson Il-Khan Ghazan (1295-1304) Rashid al-Din became vizier, one of the most influential roles in the state. Rashid al-Din also served Ghazan’s son and successor Öljeitü (1304-16). After Öljeitü’s death he became the victim of a court intrigue and was put to death in 1317, when he was around seventy years old.

During his long career he served his kings in many capacities: as physician, head of the royal household, military and general adviser, the mastermind of far-reaching fiscal and agricultural reforms, and, through his writing, as chief ideologue and propagandist of the Il-Khanids. In short, Rashid al-Din was a powerbroker, who did very well for himself and the realm he served:

He had become the owner of vast estates in every corner of the Il-Khan’s realm: orchards and vineyards in Azerbaijan, date-palm plantations in Southern Iraq, arable land in Western Anatolia. The administration of the state was almost a private monopoly of his family: of his fourteen sons eight were governors of provinces, including the whole of Western Iran, Georgia, Iraq and the greater part of what is now Turkey. Immense sums were at his disposal for expenditure on public and private enterprises. (Boyle 1971, p. 20)

Portrait of Kublai Khan (Source: Wikipedia)

Bolad

Thousands of miles to the east, Bolad’s career was very similar to that of Rashid al-Din: Bolad was about ten years older than Rashid al-Din and born around 1240 somewhere in Mongolia. His father was a man named Jürki, a member of the Dörben, a Mongolian tribe, who had submitted to Genghis Khan in 1204. Jürki quickly rose through the ranks of the imperial guard. In addition to his military distinction as a “Commander of a Hundred in the Personal Thousand” of Genghis Khan, he also became a ba’ruchi (“cook”) in the imperial household. While “cook” may not sound like much of a rank, in the Mongolian system this household position carried great prestige and showed close personal ties with the ruler (Allsen 1996, p. 8).

As a result of his father’s position, little Bolad was assigned to the service of Genghis Khan’s grandson Kublai Khan at age eight or nine. His education included the military arts and Chinese language and civilization. Bolad, too, forged a distinguished administrative career at the Yuan court. As he grew older, his duties and assignments included formulating court ceremonies, educating young Mongolians who entered the imperial service, and organizing the “Censorate,” the investigative arm of government. He became Head of the Bureau of Agriculture, which he helped establish; took on the role of Vice-Commissioner of Military Affairs; and headed a major anti-corruption investigation. His diverse appointments close to the centre of power at Kublai Khan’s court earned him the Chinese title chengxiang, “chancellor.”

In the spring of 1283, Bolad was appointed Kublai Khan’s ambassador to the Il-Khanids. The journey from Kublai Khan’s capital Khanbaliq (Dadu; modern Beijing) to the Il-Khan’s court in Tabriz took more than one year and Bolad and his embassy arrived in late 1284. He was supposed to return to China in 1285 but hostile forces made it impossible for a man of his rank to travel. He therefore stayed in Iran for the final twenty-eight years of his life. In addition to the role of ambassador, Bolad there assumed the role of chief advisor to the Il-Khan. During Öljeitü’s reign he became third minister and was in charge of logistics during a number of military campaigns. Active until well into his seventies, Bolad died in 1313 while he was in command of the northern garrisons.

Like Rashid al-Din, Bolad was a power broker. He distinguished himself not only at one but at two courts. Like Rashid al-Din, Bolad and his family, too, acquired significant wealth in their service to the Mongolian empire.

The context: the Yuan and Il-Khanid courts

Expansion of the Mongolian Empire, 1206-1294 (Source: Wikipedia)

Rashid al-Din and Bolad obviously met and became friends at the Il-Khanid court. But what was the broader context of their encounter?

After the death of Möngke Khan, a brother of Kublai Khan’s, in 1259, the unity of the Mongolian empire Genghis Khan had forged was permanently broken and the descendants of Genghis Khan fell into various succession wars. Kublai Khan held strong in Yuan China. The Il-Khanid line in Iran, founded by his brother Hülegü, formally acknowledged Kublai Khan’s sovereignty. Between these two allies, the Genghizid lines in Central Asia and Russia established various autonomous regional khanates, including the famous Golden Horde. These were at various times allied in various ways, at war with each other in various ways, and, particularly relevant here, often at war with China and Iran.

As nomadic aristocracy ruling two realms with a settled agrarian population and ancient civilizations, the Yuan in China and the Il-Khanids in Iran faced similar sets of issues: how would nomadic warriors be able to rule these complex agrarian societies?

Kublai Khan understood early that he would need Chinese support. His own Chinese language skills were not strong and he relied on interpreters in interactions with Chinese advisors (Fuchs 1946). However, he did seek out Chinese advisors and, more importantly, initiated the bilingual and bicultural education of young Mongolian courtiers such as Bolad. Bolad developed an intercultural disposition and “his frequent and active support for the recommendations of the emperor’s Han advisers indicates that he found much to admire in Chinese civilization” (Allsen 1996, p. 9).

Map of the Il-Khanate, 1256-1353 (Source: Wikipedia)

It is unclear when and how Bolad learned Persian but on his long trip to Iran and for the first few years there, he was accompanied by an interpreter, a Syriac Christian in the employ of the Mongols, who is known in Chinese sources as Aixue (愛薛) and in Persian sources as Isa kelemchi (“Jesus the interpreter”) (Takahashi 2014, p. 43).

The actual linguistic repertoire of Aixue/Isa kelemchi is uncertain; and that is an indicator of the linguistic situation in the Il-Khanate, which was even more complex than that at the Yuan court.

The preferred languages of Il-Khan Ghazan, for instance, were Mongolian and Turkish. Additionally, he happily spoke Persian and Arabic with his courtiers. Furthermore, he reportedly understood Hindi, Kashmiri, Tibetan, Khitai, Frankish “and other languages” (Amitai-Preiss 1996, p. 27).

Rashid Al-Din wrote in Persian, Arabic and Hebrew; from his style, it can be assumed that he also had some knowledge of at least Mongolian, Turkish and Chinese (Findley 2004, p. 92).

In sum, the nomadic Mongolian conquerors, whose strengths was military, needed to integrate their culture with that of the ancient settled civilizations of China and Iran in order to maintain the empires they had gained. They did so by fostering a new class of cultural brokers. These could either be drawn from the Mongolian population and raised bilingually and biculturally, as in Bolad’s case; or recruited from the local population, as in Rashid al-Din’s case. The latter must have been far more numerous because the nomads obviously did not end up imposing their language and culture on China nor Iran.

Fusion of East and West

The World History of Rashid al-Din, Exhibition of the Edinburgh manuscript

Bolad and Rashid al-Din ended up not “only” mediating between the nomad conquerors and the settled societies they came to rule, but their friendship is an example of the deep connections between east and west Asia that were forged during that time:

Their friendship was, without question, a crucial link in the overall exchange process, for Rashid al-Din, a man of varied intellectual interests and tremendous energy, was one of the very few individuals among the Mongols’ sedentary subjects who fully appreciated and systematically exploited the cultural possibilities created by the empire. (Allsen, 1996, p. 12)

The Jāme’ al-Tawārikh presents the culmination of their interactions. These chronicles were the first-ever attempt to write a world history and include information about the Muslim dynasties, the Indians, Jews, Franks, Chinese, Turks, and Mongols. Much of what is today known about the history of Central Asia up to the 13^th century comes from the Jāme’ al-Tawārikh. This could not have been achieved without extensive collaboration, and Rashid al-Din says about Bolad that he had no rival “in knowledge of the genealogies of the Turkish tribes and the events of their history, especially that of the Mongols” (quoted from Allsen 1996, p. 13).

Inter alia, Bolad translated information from a now-lost Mongolian source, the Altan Debter (“Golden Book”). Access to the Altan Debter was forbidden to non-Mongols, and Rashid al-Din even describes how their collaboration proceeded in this case: Bolad, who, as a high-ranking Mongol, had access to the Altan Debter, would extract the desired information and then, “in the morning before taking up administrative chores,” dictate the Persian translation of the desired passages to Rashid al-Din (Allsen 1996, p. 13).

Il-Khan Hülegü and his queen, Doquz Khatun, a Syriac Christian, as depicted in a Jami’ al-Tawarikh manuscript (Source: Wikipedia)

Given the wide-ranging interests and experiences of the two men, it is not surprising that their collaboration was not restricted to history but took in many other fields, too. Principal among these is agriculture. Rashid al-Din also produced an agricultural text (Āthār va ahyā’; “Monuments and animals”), which shows considerable Chinese influence (see Allsen 1996, pp. 14ff. for details). During this time an agricultural model farm was also established in Tabriz and, on Ghazan’s orders, new strains of seeds were solicited from China and India. While the details of these cross-fertilizations have been lost in the shifting sands of time, it “can be asserted with confidence that a considerable body of information on Chinese agriculture was transmitted to Iran and that Bolad was the principal conduit” (Allsen 1996, p. 15).

The two men also collaborated in the introduction of paper money to Iran (which would have necessitated knowledge of block-printing, only available in China at the time); the translation of medicinal treatises and the implementation of aspects of Chinese medicine in the Tabriz hospital Rashid al-Din had founded; and, of course, food. Rashid al-Din, in fact, developed such a taste for the delights of Chinese cuisine that he had a Chinese chef recruited for his household.

The mountains between India and China, depicted in a Jami’ al-Tawarikh manuscript (Source: Wikipedia)

The intense friendship of Bolad and Rashid al-Din is the story of a meeting of like-minded individuals who came together across what might seem a vast chasm of cultural difference. Their wide-ranging interests and intercultural dispositions allowed them to contribute extensively – and deeply – to the fusion of Asian cultures. The results were new heights of achievement in various spheres of life, as Basil Gray, the keeper of Oriental antiquities at the British Museum between 1946 and 1969, has argued with reference to painting:

The paradox which results from a survey of the history of painting in Persia before the Mongol invasions, is that it had not yet achieved the expressive and imaginative force which was to give it its special and unique quality only after it had come in contact with Chinese drawing. This is the agent which seems to have freed the Persian genius from its subordination to the other arts of the book by a mysterious catalysis. […] The “house style” of Rashidiya [the scriptorium in Tabriz founded by Rashid al-Din] is the most thoroughgoing example of Chinese artistic penetration into Iran. In it there is not simply a question of Chinese motifs, but radical adoption of the Chinese vision. [quoted from Robinson 1980, p. 212]

That the East-West fusion enabled by the Mongolian empire was not a one-way street is best exemplified by Bolad’s name: born into a high-ranking Mongolian family, the child was given a Persian name. “Bolad” is the Mongolian version of Persian pulād (“steel”).

References

Allsen, T. T. (1996). Biography of a Cultural Broker, Bolad Ch’eng-Hsiang in China and Iran. In J. Raby & T. Fitzherbert (Eds.), The Court of the Il-Khans, 1290-1340 (pp. 7-22). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Amitai-Preiss, R. (1996). New Material from the Mamluk Sources for the Biography of Rashid Al-Din. In J. Raby & T. Fitzherbert (Eds.), The Court of the Il-Khans, 1290-1340 (pp. 23-37). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Boyle, J. (1971). Rashīd al-Dīn: The First World Historian Iran, 9, 19-26 DOI: 10.2307/4300435

Findley, C. V. (2004). The Turks in World History. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Fuchs, W. (1946). Analecta: Zur mongolischen Uebersetzungsliteratur der Yuan-Zeit. Monumenta Serica, 11, 33-64.

Kamola, S. (2012). The Mongol Īlkhāns and Their Vizier Rashīd Al-Dīn. Iranian Studies, 45(5), 717-721. doi: 10.1080/00210862.2012.702557

Robinson, B. W. (1980). Rashid Al-Din’s World History: The Significance of the Miniatures. The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland 112(2), 212-222.

Takahashi, H. (2014). Syriac as a Vehicle for Transmission of Knowledge across Borders of Empires Horizons, 5(1), 29-52.

Do clouds over VW equal clouds over Germany?

The Volkswagen (VW) emissions scandal has received significant media coverage in and outside of Germany. Besides accounts of the developments that led to the discovery of Volkswagen’s unethical behaviour, the immediate impacts on the company’s finances, CEO Martin Winterkorn’s resignation and Matthias Mueller’s appointment as the new chief executive of the firm, a focus on wider impacts of the current affair quickly emerged. Not long and concerns were raised that the unethical actions of the car manufacturer could have negative consequences for the German automobile industry in general and the German and the European economy more broadly.

This has raised a related discussion and media anxiety about the implications of the Volkswagen affair for the trademark “made in Germany”. The German Handelsblatt (Daniel Delhaes 2015), for instance, cited various politicians expressing concern over the loss of the country’s reputation:

Auf alle Fälle ist das ein riesiger Schaden für die Industriemarke Deutschland. (“This is definitely a huge damage for the German industrial brand.”)

Es geht um die Glaubwürdigkeit des Gütesiegels‚‘made in Germany’. (“It is a matter of credibility of the quality label ‘made in Germany’.”)

Both politicians anticipate negative consequences not only for VW but for national reputation, too.

How do constructions of German cultural stereotypes and self-stereotypes become visible in the media reports concerned with the Volkswagen affair? How do they relate to the car manufacturer’s misconduct and how are they aimed at influencing the general public?

A careful analysis of the current media discourse may provide some insights into the discursive construction of “made in Germany” as a “quality label” and, more generally, the discursive construction of reputation as an economic asset. The discussion will be grounded in research in communication studies and applied linguistics that examines advertising as cultural discourse and shows how notions of national identities and ethno-cultural stereotypes are constructed and reproduced through discursive practices.

Volvo campaign: Breaking up with a German

German ethno-cultural stereotypes in advertising

Intercultural advertising has been shown to valorise languages in their symbolic rather than their communicative meaning. The symbolic function of languages is to be understood in this context as “the product of intercultural social, political, economic, historical and linguistic relations between countries” (Kelly-Holmes, 2000, p. 71). In what Kelly-Holmes defines as a deep-rooted ‘cultural competence hierarchy’, “Germans have been assigned the role of car-maker/engineer and brewer” (2000, p. 71). Piller notes that foreign languages in advertising are used “to associate the product with the ethno-cultural stereotype about the country where the language is spoken” (2003, p. 175). In the case of German, these are connotations of reliability, precision and innovation, above all regarding technology.

Hence, it is not surprising that it is a common marketing strategy amongst multinational companies to use the national language of their headquarters for advertising their products on the foreign market. Volkswagen and Audi are two successful examples of global corporations based in Germany that take advantage of this strategy by using the slogans ‘Volkswagen – Das Auto’ and ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, respectively, in print and audio-visual ads.

It is first and foremost the recognition of these words as German, rather than their literal meaning, that is important for their success. For instance, a monolingual English-speaking Australian recently cited the Audi-slogan ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ to me when he discovered that I was German. To my surprise, and despite the fact that he was able to pronounce the catchphrase quite well, he had no idea what it actually meant. I was German; the slogan was German; and that’s all that mattered.

It is not only German manufacturers who use ethno-cultural stereotypes to promote their products. A marketing campaign by the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo uses associations with German ‘efficiency’ and ‘order’ defensively to promote their own products.

How does all this relate to the Volkswagen scandal?

Volkswagen as a symbol for German cultural core values

Media reports about the Volkswagen scandal draw on the same ethno-cultural stereotypes of technological advancement and high quality:

A lot of Germany’s present economic success is based on engineering expertise, specialised technology and expensive heavy machinery sold to fire up China’s factories. […] But “Made in Germany” is supposed to be a quality trusted brand worth paying money for. (bbc.com; McGuinness 2015)

“Made in Germany is quality and trust. Now that trust is lost,” said Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer of the University of Duisburg-Essen. (autonews.com; Chambers 2015)

Thereby, the media reinforces the positive connotations with German national culture but, at the same time, mounts the argument that the company’s misconduct is threatening exactly these. This argument is strengthened by means of a link that the reports establish between Germany, “made in Germany”, the corresponding ethno-cultural stereotypes and Volkswagen itself. Autonews (Chambers 2015), as well as the German Handelsblatt (dpa 2015), provide good examples:

The great success of the export nation of Germany rests on the quality label ‘Made in Germany,'” said Marcel Fratzscher, head of the DIW economic institute in Berlin. “VW stands for this German quality — for perfection, reliability and trust.

Ob Volkswagen, ob Deutschland verlorenes Vertrauen zurückgewinnt, entscheidet sich auch bei der Aufarbeitung des Skandals. (“How the scandal is dealt with will determine whether VW and Germany can regain trust.”)

In examples such as these, Volkswagen is put into place as an emblem for the positive associations with Germany and “made in Germany”. But not only that: striking in these and the preceding excerpts is the recurring association with ‘trust’ that is put into place alongside the ethno-cultural stereotypes commonly connected with Germany and also Volkswagen. It seems to do two things. First, it enables the media, and the referenced commentators, to strengthen the argument that the positive connotations with German products have been challenged by the company’s wrongdoing. The use of ‘supposed to be’ in the second BBC comment indicates that one cannot be entirely sure whether the label “made in Germany” still stands for good quality. One of the commentators goes even further by saying that trust has already been ‘lost’. Second, and possibly even more important, it allows for a reinforcement and maintenance of the ethno-cultural stereotypes. It is not the quality that is ‘lost’ in the eyes of commentator Dudenhoeffer but the trust in this quality. In this way, quality is implicitly constructed as the dominant connotation.

What is achieved by introducing trust into this discourse?

Volkswagen. Das Auto.

The nation brand and Germany’s reputation are constructed as greater than just the sum of cultural values associated with the nation. ‘Reputation’ ties the belief in a certain moral standard to the cultural values which, only then, attain relevance. Therefore, trust issues regarding the positive cultural stereotypes must arise if a company like Volkswagen, which stands for the country’s reputation, acts against these moral standards. This construction of ‘reputation’ allows the media to paint Volkswagen as a ‘black sheep’ and to elaborate about possible nationwide consequences of the emissions scandal without saying that assumed high quality, reliability and precision of German products may no longer apply. That Volkswagen is the one to blame is also strongly expressed by the title of a Handelsblatt article:

Volkswagen und der “Anschlag auf den Standort Deutschland. (“Volkswagen and the ‘attack on Germany as a business location’.”)

“Anschlag” (“attack”) even has connotations of terrorism on the part of Volkswagen.

In sum, ‘reputation’ is an economic asset and a crucial aspect of Germany’s economic success. To minimize the risk of losing this national reputation a former national emblem can quickly become a villain.

The way in which language is used in the media coverage of the Volkswagen emission scandal has transformed a corporate issue into a nationwide cultural concern. Ethno-cultural stereotypes are not only questioned but also reinforced.

Media and political discourse are powerful institutions. However, they only constitute one side of the medal. If and how the receivers of their messages will be influenced by them, can only be seen in the long run. Since ethno-cultural stereotypes have slowly grown over time and are deep-rooted in people’s minds, it remains anyone’s guess whether the Volkswagen emission scandal will change people’s associations with Germany and German products.

References

Kelly-Holmes, H. (2000). Bier, Parfum, Kaas: Language Fetish in European Advertising. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 3(1), 67-82.

Piller, I. (2003). Advertising as a site of language contact Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 23, 170-183 DOI: 10.1017/S0267190503000254
Further reading

Chambers, M. (2015, September 22). Diesel scandal at VW threatens ‘Made in Germany’ image. Autonews.

Delhaes, D. (2015, September 23). ‘Made in Germany’ ist in Gefahr. Handelsblatt.

Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (2015, October 4). Volkswagen und der „Anschlag auf den Standort Deutschland“. Handelsblatt.

Bilingualism has a gender

A while ago, I reported on the findings of a US study that demonstrated that children of immigrants who achieve high-level bilingual proficiency in both English and their home language have, as young adults, a significantly higher earnings potential than their English-dominant peers (Agirdag 2013). A new study throws gender into the mix and complicates the relationship between bilingualism in adolescence and status attainment in young adulthood further.

Both studies use data from the US National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS). This is a nationally representative dataset based on a longitudinal survey of 12,144 young US Americans who were first surveyed in 1988 when they were in eighth grade. Subsequent follow-up surveys were conducted biennially until 2000, when the respondents were in the mid-to-late twenties.

NELS includes full-data sets (the participant has taken each survey and parent survey data are also available) for 1,245 Latinos, and this subset is the focus of the recent study by Jennifer Lee and Sarah Hatteberg. Like Agirdag (2013), the researchers ask whether bilingualism during adolescence has a long-term influence on education, occupation, and income. Additionally, they examine whether this relationship varies by gender.

The authors measure bilingual proficiency as follows:

• A biliterate is someone who has high levels of oral and written proficiency in both English and Spanish. 303 respondents (just under 25%) were biliterate.
• A fluent oral bilingual is someone who has high levels of oral proficiency in both English and Spanish but has little or no written proficiency in Spanish. 237 respondents (19%) were fluent oral bilinguals.
• A passive bilingual is someone who is English dominant but understands Spanish well without speaking Spanish well. 151 respondents (13%) were passive bilinguals.
• In contrast to a passive bilingual, an English dominant person does not understand Spanish well. 456 respondents (32%) were English dominant.
• A limited language proficient person is someone who is fluent in neither language. 71 respondents (6%) had limited proficiency in both languages.

Occupational prestige by gender and bilingual proficiency (Source: Lee & Hatteberg 2015, p. 17)

Boys and girls in the sample were equally likely to be English dominant and limited language proficient. However, there were notable gender differences related to bilingualism: girls were a lot more likely to be biliterate than boys (30% for females vs. 20% for males); but boys were more likely to be fluent oral bilinguals (22% for females vs. 27% for males) and passive bilinguals (9% for females vs. 16% for males).

What does this finding of gendered bilingualism mean for future life chances? Do girls’ higher biliteracy rates translate into higher high school completion rates, higher status occupations and higher incomes? The literature on the multiple benefits of bilingualism – for an overview of the cognitive, educational, and economic benefits of high level bilingual proficiency you can listen to this podcast on the Bilingual Avenue – would lead us to assume so.

Well, it did not quite turn out that way.

The researchers found that biliteracy did indeed do wonders for the high school completion rates of girls: biliterate girls in the sample were five times more likely to complete high school than English dominant girls. However, it did not work this way for boys: the high school completion rates of biliterate boys were almost identical to those of English-dominant boys. What is more, orally and passively bilingual boys were less likely to complete high school than their English dominant peers.

With regard to occupational prestige in young adulthood the findings were similar: biliterate women were significantly more likely to be employed in roles with higher occupational prestige than English-dominant women. Biliterate men, by contrast, were slightly less likely to be employed in roles with high occupational prestige than English-dominant men.

How can bilingualism be advantageous for females but detrimental to males? Surely the cognitive benefits of bilingualism – greater brain plasticity and better executive control – accrue to males and females equally.

The answer to this conundrum is that ‘bilingualism’ does not equal ‘bilingualism.’ The benefits of (high-level) bilingual proficiency are not absolute but social. What is means to be Hispanic in the USA is different for men and women. As the authors point out, “men and women experience race and ethnicity differently and indicators of ethnicity, like language, have different meanings for boys and girls, and for men and women” (Lee and Hatteberg 2015, p. 21).

That bilingualism is gendered is not a new finding (two overview articles about bilingualism and gender research by Aneta Pavlenko and myself are available here and here).

Girls in migrant families often act as language brokers and mediate between their family and mainstream institutions. Maybe such practices socialize them into the ‘feminine’ communicative styles built on cooperation, rapport building, sympathetic listening and showing empathy that are highly valued in contemporary service work, as Deborah Cameron has pointed out in Good to talk? Where such ‘feminine’ communicative styles are valued – as they are in schools and the workplaces of the service economy – it is perhaps not surprising that being able to deploy such styles in more than one language confers advantages.

By contrast, Spanish-speaking boys in the US schools are often stigmatized as trouble makers. For Latino boys and men, speaking Spanish is associated with working-class ‘macho’ styles that are not valued in educational environments nor in occupations that carry conventional prestige. Rather than being advantageous, bilingualism thus becomes a liability for Latino boys and men because it is associated with the ‘wrong’ kinds of masculinity; masculinities neither appreciated by school teachers nor by employers in the tertiary sector.

So, what about income? Does biliteracy pay? At least for the women? Unlike Agirdag (2013), whose research answered this question in the affirmative for participants from a variety of language backgrounds, Lee and Hatteberg (2015) found no relationship between bilingualism, including biliteracy, in English and Spanish, and income.

While surprising at first blush, this finding is really not unexpected. We know that “men have higher incomes than women despite having lower average levels of educational attainment and that the attributes that benefit women in school do not necessarily translate into labor market rewards” (Lee and Hatteberg 2015, p. 19). We also know that middle-class feminized work in education, health care or retail may be relatively prestigious but poorly remunerated compared to equally prestigious jobs in male-dominated industries.

Hispanics’ high-level bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish in the USA may well go the way of nursing and teaching: once it becomes feminized, it may well become ‘respectable’ and ‘prestigious’ but it will also become devalued economically.

Agirdag, O. (2013). The long-term effects of bilingualism on children of immigration: student bilingualism and future earnings. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 17(4), 449-464. doi: 10.1080/13670050.2013.816264
Cameron, D. (2000). Good to talk? Living and working in a communication culture. London: Sage.

Lee, J., & Hatteberg, S. (2015). Bilingualism and Status Attainment among Latinos The Sociological Quarterly DOI: 10.1111/tsq.12097

Pavlenko, A., & Piller, I. (2001). New Directions in the Study of Multilingualism, Second Language Learning, and Gender. In A. Pavlenko, A. Blackledge, I. Piller, & M. Teutsch-Dwyer (Eds.), Multilingualism, Second Language Learning and Gender (pp. 17-52). Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Piller, I., & Pavlenko, A. (2007). Globalization, gender, and multilingualism. In H. Decke-Cornill & L. Volkmann (Eds.), Gender Studies and Foreign Language Teaching (pp. 15-30). Tübingen: Narr.

Annastacia Palaszczuk and members of her family (Source: Couriermail)

Would Kirk Douglas be a Hollywood legend if he had kept his birth name Issur Danielovitch? Would Bob Dylan have achieved global fame if he had kept his birth name Robert Zimmerman? Would the current Australian treasurer Joe Hockey have had an equally successful political career if his father had not anglicized the family surname from Hokeidonian to Hockey? It is, of course, impossible to know the answer to these questions but it is fair to assume that the answer to these questions is ‘not likely.’

Anglicizing stigmatized ethnic names is often considered typical of an earlier era of immigration when assimilation prevailed. In The American Language (first published in 1919) H. L. Mencken famously observed that European immigrants were likely to give up their distinctive names in America for ‘protective coloration’ in order to escape ‘linguistic hostility’ and ‘social enmity:’

[…] more important than this purely linguistic hostility, there is a deeper social enmity, and it urges the immigrant to change his name with even greater force. For a hundred years past all the heaviest and most degrading labor of the United States has been done by successive armies of foreigners, and so a concept of inferiority has come to be attached to mere foreignness. […] This disdain tends to pursue an immigrant with extraordinary rancor when he bears a name that is unmistakably foreign and hence difficult to the native, and open to his crude burlesque. Moreover, the general feeling penetrates the man himself, particularly if he be ignorant, and he comes to believe that his name is not only a handicap, but also intrinsically discreditable – that it wars subtly upon his worth and integrity. […] The immigrant, in a time of extraordinary suspicion and difficulty, tried to get rid of at least one handicap. (Mencken 1919, p. 280)

A recent comparison of the earnings of European immigrants to the USA in the 1930s who did or did not Americanize their names has found that a name change during that period was indeed associated with earnings’ gains of at least 14% (Biavaschi et al., 2013).

But is all this of purely historical interest? How do ethnic names fare today after decades of multiculturalism and in a so-called age of super-diversity?

One thing that contemporary research has shown is that ethnic names continue to constitute a barrier at the point of entry into the job market; i.e. job applicants with ethnic names are less likely to receive a response or be invited for interview than candidates with non-ethnic names. For instance, a 2009 Australian study found that fictitious job applicants with Chinese, Middle Eastern and Indigenous names were less likely to be called back than those with identical CVs but Italian names. Fictitious candidates with Anglo-Saxon names had the highest call-back rate (Booth et al. 2009). A similar Western Australian study comparing accountant job applicants with Middle Eastern and Anglo-Saxon names reached similar conclusions (Pinkerton 2013) as did a German study with Turkish and German names (Schneider 2014).

Conversely, changing an ethnic name continues to pay off for some migrant groups as a 2009 Swedish study found: Middle Eastern and Slavic migrants to Sweden who changed their names in the 1990s obtained a substantial increase in labour earnings over similarly qualified migrants from the same origin groups who did not change their name to a Swedish or neutral name (a ‘neutral’ name is one that is not particularly associated with any particular ethnic or national group) (Arai & Skogman Thoursie, 2009).

These studies all focus on the point of entry into the labour market but we do not know much about how ethnic personal names are talked about in everyday life. Do ethnic personal names continue to matter for those who have established themselves? Do ethnic personal names attract disdain, rancor, enmity or crude burlesque in this day and age?

Questions such as these are usually difficult to research systematically but recent events in Australian politics have provided a perfect corpus of reactions to a non-Anglicized and strongly ethnic name, namely the Polish name Palaszczuk.

Annastacia Palaszczuk is a third-generation Australian who was thrown into the national spotlight last weekend as the leader of Queensland’s Australian Labour Party (ALP) and, in an unexpected election outcome, as the likely future state premier of Queensland.

To begin with, Annastacia Palaszczuk is living proof that it is possible to be successful in Australian politics with a non-Anglo name. She has held her electorate, the seat of Inala, a suburb of Brisbane, since 2006, and the name Palaszczuk must be a bit of household name there because Annastacia’s father Henry Palaszczuk preceded his daughter as the member for Inala and held the seat from 1992 to 2006.

However, outside Inala and certainly outside Queensland, Annastacia Palaszczuk was relatively unknown until last Saturday. In social media, her name became an immediate topic of comments and discussion. These comments provide us with a window into the discursive construction of belonging in contemporary Australia’s multicultural society and I hope someone will analyse this precious corpus systematically. A few preliminary observations include the following.

Difficulty

The predominant theme that emerged was around the difficulty of the name as in the following examples:

Might have to learn how to pronounce Palaszczuk at this rate. #qldvotes

— Tanya Ashworth (@ordinarytanya) January 31, 2015

The whole of Queensland just realised they’re going to have to learn to spell their new Premier’s name. #qldvotes

— Wes Mountain (@therevmountain) January 31, 2015

Solutions to the problem of pronouncing or spelling a difficult name were also offered, such as the following mnemonic or the suggestion to use a nickname instead:

Loved @GrahamPerrettMP spelling lesson 4 name of poss next Qld Premier: It is 'PALA, Sydney Zoo, Canberra Zoo UK' #qldvotes @AnnastaciaMP

— OzLabourStart (@OzLabourStart) January 31, 2015

@therevmountain it's Queensland. They will give her a nickname

— ChristopherPatterson (@Christo45046444) January 31, 2015

Most of the comments related to the difficulty of the Palaszczuk name are good-humoured and self-deprecating. At the same time, the very fact that the name and its difficulty is topicalized points to the fact that for these commentators the name is still remarkable and noteworthy as one that does not index a ‘normal’ or ‘default’ imagined Australian identity. That legitimate belonging is tied to the name becomes even clearer in comments that exaggerate the difficulty of the name through intentional misspellings, silly syllable counts or suggestions that it will be impossible to learn:

Wow! 25 days ago I didn't know the ALP had a leader. #QldVotes #Annastaciawho?

— Nathan Kneen (@nathankneen) January 31, 2015

And then there are the passive-aggressive comments about her name such as this one:

Cate: Dear Annastacia Palaszczuk,

Can we call you Anna? or do you prefer AP? (Couriermail)

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t

While comments such as the above are concerned with belonging in Australia, another theme can be observed around authenticity and the fact that the name is not pronounced in the original Polish fashion. Annastacia and her family apparently pronounce their name /ˌpælǝ’ʒeɪ/, as do the Australian media. Commentators were quick to exhort ‘us’ (i.e. the Australian public) or Annastacia herself to learn how to pronounce her name ‘correctly:’

Let's learn to say it properly. Correct Polish pronunciation of @annastaciaMP Palaszczuk's name is Pa-wa-shchook, not Pallashay. #qldvotes

— Marcus Kuczynski (@cuscus1) February 1, 2015

@AnnastaciaMP Just checked the polish pronunciation guide. Your last name is pronounced "Pala-Chook" you ain't fooling any1! #Fail #qldvotes

— Mitch (@HEELAussie) February 2, 2015

Wendy2: Well you don’t pronounce her name Pala-shay to begin with. Why does everyone do that? Has the media been given notes telling them to pronounce it that way? Palaszczuk being a Polish name would be pronounced Palaz-chook. I can’t imagine why Ms. Palaszczuk would not want to use the traditional pronounciation of her family name, some may even suggest a sort of cultural cringe. It makes me think of Keeping Up Appearances’ snobbish character Hyancinth Bucket who insisted on her surname being pronounced Bouquet. How facile and false. (Couriermail)

What’s in a name?

We’ve come a long way since H. L. Mencken’s time when having a non-Anglo name laid migrants open to rancour, disdain, enmity and crude burlesque. Or have we?

Annastacia Palaszczuk and her father have been successful in Queensland politics since 1992. So, after taking the entry barrier, clearly a lot is possible for bearers of a non-Anglo name. At the same time, the chatter about Annastacia Palaszczuk’s name that could be observed on social media in the last few days also demonstrates that a non-Anglo name continues to ‘raise difficulties’ in contemporary Australia. Beyond being remarkable and noteworthy, such names also continue to be the target of cheap jokes and insults.

The latter seem to come more frequently from anonymous commentators in the comments’ sections of newspapers than from identifiable tweeters. This would suggest that there are two forms of stigma now: having a strong ethnic name continues to carry some stigma but openly questioning the legitimacy of its bearer now attracts stigma, too.

Arai, M., & Skogman Thoursie, P. (2009). Renouncing Personal Names: An Empirical Examination of Surname Change and Earnings Journal of Labor Economics, 27 (1), 127-147 DOI: 10.1086/593964

PASCH Schools: Partners for the future

Last week I was privileged to attend the 3^rd Conference of School Principals of PASCH Schools in Southeast Asia. A ‘PASCH school’ is a regular secondary school with a particular emphasis on the learning and teaching of German as an additional language. PASCH schools constitute a global network of more than 1,700 schools. ‘PASCH’ stands for ‘Schools – Partners of the Future.’ Funded by the German government, the PASCH network was initiated in 2008 in order to offer opportunities to youths from around the globe to learn German and to develop a positive relationship with modern Germany. PASCH supports professional development training for teachers, provides language learning resources for schools, offers scholarships for students to study in Germany, and numerous other virtual and non-virtual exchange and collaboration opportunities, including global student newspapers.

Attended by representatives of various national ministries of education, school principals, German language teachers, industry representatives and former students from across Southeast Asia and Australasia, the conference provided an excellent opportunity to gain an understanding of the state of the art of language education in the region.

Most language teaching efforts across the region are, unsurprisingly, devoted to English. However, there is a clear sense that English is no longer enough. To begin with, the countries of the region are characterized by enormous linguistic diversity and mother tongue education in addition to instruction in the national language is increasingly incorporated into curricula.

Second, with the greater regional integration that the introduction of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 promises neighbouring languages are gaining in importance. While as yet weakly integrated in most curricula, their role is set to expand.

Finally, there are other international languages such as Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Japanese or Spanish. Offering the latter in the curriculum is often a niche effort of schools who are trying to differentiate themselves from other schools and who are attempting to provide their students with an additional edge. That teaching international languages other than English is intended to create a small elite group of cultural mediators is best illustrated with the example of Singapore. There, the opportunity to study a third foreign language is offered to students who achieve in the top ten percent in the primary school leaving certificate. Only these top academic achievers are able to pursue a third language in high school by attending a Ministry of Education Language Centre (MOELC) in addition to their regular studies. The languages on offer include Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, French, German, Japanese, Malay and Spanish.

While German may seem like a relatively irrelevant language to pursue in Southeast Asia, this is in fact not true for students at PASCH schools. These highly motivated students do so with two main goals in mind: to pursue tertiary education at a university in Germany and/or to pursue employment with a German company. Speakers at the conference included a number of students who had achieved their goal and who spoke about their experiences of learning German in school, participating in exchange programs, studying at a German university and working in a role where their German skills are advantageous.

In addition to achieving personal aims, fostering German skills among a small group of cultural mediators also benefits the wider society, as speakers from various national ministries of education stressed. These benefits are related particularly to knowledge transfer. Interesting examples include partnerships with German companies to deliver an innovative automotive engineering program in a Malaysian college or partnerships between Singaporean polytechnics and German small-to-medium enterprises to deliver a dual vocational training program. In fact, attending industry representatives stressed the importance of combining language skills with strong academic and vocational skills for success in the global workplace.

Finally, a number of school representatives argued that a focus on German had improved overall language education in their school. A teacher from an Australian high school, for instance, mentioned that – in the context of Australia’s notorious ‘monolingual mindset’ – his school’s focus on German has had positive effects on language learning more generally. As students in the German immersion program have discovered the value of learning German, their desire to learn another language has also increased and the school has unexpectedly seen enrolments in its Japanese language program rise, too.

In Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, the positive side-effects of a school’s focus on German are different and relate to improved teacher quality. Speakers from these countries explained that teacher quality – both in terms of proficiency and pedagogy – was a concern. This affects predominantly English language teachers, as English is the most widely taught language. Participating in the professional development opportunities offered by the PASCH school program has helped to disseminate pedagogy training across languages and thus has resulted in improving the professionalism of English language teachers, too.

Despite their diverse backgrounds all speakers stressed that the problems facing humanity today are global problems and that the world needs to move beyond competition to become an international learning community. Linguistic diversity will inevitably mediate the success of our partnerships for the future.

Linguistic diversity in Sydney (Source: Sydney Morning Herald)

The media in Anglophone countries regularly engage in a bit of a bragfest about the linguistic diversity of their cities. In Sydney, where I live, the local paper only recently boasted: ‘From Afrikaans to Telugu, Hebrew to Wu, the depth and diversity of languages in Sydney rivals some of the world’s largest cities.’ Not to be outdone, Melbourne – Sydney’s eternal rival for urban preeminence in Australia – quickly followed suit and declared itself ‘justifiably proud of its linguistic diversity’ because ‘more languages are spoken in Melbourne than there are countries in the world.’ These two Australian cities are not alone in their rivalry over the greater number of languages spoken in their communities. Across the Pacific, Canadian media, too, tally the linguistic diversity of Canadian cities and find ‘Toronto leading the pack in language diversity, followed by Vancouver and Montreal.’ Similarly, the media of Canada’s southern neighbor suggest that US cities, too, compete in some kind of multilingualism championship: ‘New York remains the most multilingual city in the country, with 47% of its massive population speaking at least two languages.’ Continuing our journey east across the Atlantic, British media play the same game and we learn that Manchester has been ‘revealed as most linguistically diverse city in western Europe’ while London is celebrated as the ‘multilingual capital of the world.’

Strangely, while media texts such as these regularly brag about the extent of urban multilingualism, another set of media texts can be found simultaneously that bemoans the language deficit in Anglophone countries. Here we learn that the populations of Anglophone countries are lacking the multilingual skills of the rest of the world and will therefore be left behind when it comes to the global economic opportunities of the future. There is concern that students are not studying foreign languages in school and that, as a result, they will miss out on job opportunities at home and abroad. Additionally, lack of foreign language capabilities is presented as diminishing opportunities for international trade, limiting global political influence and threatening national security. The situation seems to be so dire that employers have to leave positions unfilled, secret services are missing out on crucial information and policy makers simply throw up their hands in despair and fund students to study abroad even if they have no knowledge of the language in their destination nor any intention of studying it while there.

Reading depressing news such as these one has to wonder how they can be squared with upbeat language news circulating in the media at the same time. How can the cities of Anglophone nations be hothouses of linguistic diversity where large numbers of languages are spoken by the population at the same time that there is a widespread linguistic deficit?!

The answer to this conundrum lies in the fact that commentators and politicians bemoaning the fact that Americans, Australians or Britons do not know languages other than English have a very different segment of the population in mind than those commentators who note their multilingualism.

Clive Holes, a professor of Arabic at Oxford University, explains the differential visibility of language skills with reference to Arabic in the UK: there are few students who study Arabic at university – a language for which there is high demand both in the private and public sector – and those who do are mostly middle-class students, who have no previous experience with Arabic. The kind of language they study is ‘Arabic university style,’ a variety that is focused on written texts and a standard form that is quite different from the varieties of Arabic spoken across the Arab world.

At the same time, Britain is also home to a large number of people who learnt to speak Arabic in the family. 159,290 residents of England and Wales identified Arabic as their main language in the 2011 census. According to Professor Holes these people have ‘more useable language skills’ than those who study Arabic at university without a background in the language. Even so, those who have Arabic as their main language are being overlooked for Arabic-language jobs: ‘They are an incredibly valuable national resource that we are failing totally to use.’

The existence of an apparent language deficit in contexts of so-called linguistic super-diversity points, yet again, to the fact that some language skills are more equal than others. When it comes to bragging about linguistic diversity and the number of languages spoken in a place, we are happy to count ‘diverse populations;’ but when it comes to the economic opportunities of multilingualism, these same ‘diverse populations’ become invisible all of a sudden.

Language needs in the hospitality sector in Pallars Sobirà, Catalonia (Source: paddleinspain.com)

Multilingualism means business. The more foreign language skills are availalble to a company, the better it will be prepared to meet customers’ needs. In our globalized world, multilingualism is key and English is no longer enough. In this sense, companies are seeking to provide a better service by speaking other languages.

This phenomenon is even more important when it comes to the hospitality sector, as we found in our study about Language Needs in Tourism Enterprises in Pallars Sobirà, Catalonia (Cañas & Pérez, 2014). Our research focused on the linguistic strategies that tourism enterprises based in the region of Pallars Sobirà (Catalonia, Spain) follow in order to improve their services.

Globalization does not only occur in mass market destinations. It can also be perceived on a smaller scale in countries and regions off the beaten track. How can the owner of a small cottage in a rural area be linguistically prepared for the arrival of foreign tourists from distant countries? Language strategy is the answer.

In our research, we found that an overwhelming 78% of the participating companies are aware of the importance of multilingualism. This is not surprising as nowadays, the visitors to Pallars Sobirà are very diverse: in addition to domestic tourists from Spain, visitors include French, British, Israeli and Russians. According to statistics from the Pallars Sobirà Tourist Information Office Network, the region received nearly 13% international tourists in 2013.

Most tourists visit the region due to white-water rafting competitions. The region is famous for championships such as the Freestyle Spanish Cup or the Noguera Pallaresa International Rally.

In the hospitality industry, there is a general awareness of the scarcity of language skills and most of the companies do not at present have any language strategy – despite their high levels of awareness that such a strategy would be desirable, as mentioned above.

On the other hand, companies with an existing foreign language policy also admitted that they still need more foreign language training. Owners and managers reported that they had come across difficulties with foreign tourists due to this fact and, as a result, many believed they had lost business opportunities.

Regarding the promotional strategy, many companies revealed that their website is already displayed in foreign languages (English, French and German are the most common ones).

Although many companies have their website and promotional information adapted to foreign clients, they need to make an effort in terms of accuracy and correctness. Enterprises must present their best image and in order to have effective content authors need to know how to write for the web, and how to manage the process of text revision, validation and publication.

Accuracy was also an issue with the paper-based information displayed at the hotels, hostels or inns. Often, this was not user-friendly for foreign tourists, except for those companies in which the restaurant menu is provided in English (and even in Hebrew in some cases).

Companies such as the ones participating in our study need to develop their own language management strategy by selecting from a range of various language measures. How to start? Using local agents who speak the target language can be the first step in opening up a new and unknown market. Additionally, it is important that regional institutions invest in the implementation of policies focusing on language training and facilitate recruitment. An example can be found in the Generalitat de Catalunya Strategic Tourism Plan for Catalonia 2013-2016 in which training in language skills is described as one key component within the excellence programme.

Reference

Cañas, J. & Pérez, L. (2014). Language Needs in Tourism Enterprises in Pallars Sobirà, Catalonia. Creació i comercialització de productes turístics. Quaderns de recerca Escola Universitària Formatic Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.