14. Problems of National multilingualism & their solution.

Societal multilingualism is a widespread phenomenon. There are few monolingual countries n the world. The following countries have several official l-ges:

• Belgium (Dutch, French)

• Switzerland (German , French, Italian)

• Sweden

• Belarus

Europe’s outwardly monolingual appearance is deceptive. There is only one official l-ge in European countries, because minorities are small & less influential & are unlikely to have official status. Nevertheless, the existence of national multilingualism in Europe is illustrated with the following examples:

UK:

 Native minority l-ges (Welsh, Irish, Gaelic)

 L-ges of Indian minorities (Punjabi)

Spain:

 Spanish (official l-ge)

 The Basque l-ge

 Catalan l-ge minority

France:

 French

 Breton

 Catalan speakers

So, nearly all European nations are multilingual to a certain extent. Multilingualism may evoke some problems at 2 levels: for governments & any other official institutions; for individuals & ling.minorities.

For governments:

1. the necessity to develop a certain policy towards minority l-ges:

a) negative policy:

- to ignore minority l-ges,

- to ban them,

- to discourage linguistic minorities from speaking their l-ges;

In these cases the aim of the government is to assimilate minority l-ges into the official l-ge.

b) positive policy: to promote minority l-ges.

2. ling.minorities may turn into a catalyst of discontent. As a result of this discontent the national separatist movement may appear. The government has to find the ideal balance in order not to provoke separatism & not to create discontent;

3. problem of providing education for ling.minorities: extra funds & teaching staff are needed;

4. problem of interl-ge (lingua-franca) – is a l-ge which is used as a means of communication among people who have no native l-ge in common;

For individuals:

1. the problem of the necessity to acquire proficiency in at least 2 l-ges (in other words you have to learn another l-ge if you want to be an efficient member of society);

2. a more specific problem is that insufficient knowledge of the dominant l-ge may be a barrier for your social advancement, may hinder your upward social mobility. Gaelic people may serve as an example here.

3. by assimilating into the dominant l-ge you may feel that you have been untrue to your cultural traditions, you have your native l-ge loyalty & you have betrayed your ethnic identity (the case with the Breton l-ge)

4. educational problem. The difficulty appears when the dominant l-ge & your native l-ge are different / distant genetically & structurally.

Solutions to the problems:

1. providing adequate bilingual educational programmes. It means that there should be classes in the native l-ge. Children are educated through the medium of the native l-ge. The dominant l-ge is introduced later.

2. promoting minority l-ges through Mass Media & culture

3. encouraging rather than enforcing the learning of the dominant l-ge.