The presence of English has indeed increased steadily from the beginning of the 2013. Along with its increased visibility, its status has changed dramatically. The period from the 1991 to the 2003, a period of major social, cultural and political change, was particularly important in this process. Until 2007, all students began learning English in Kurdistan in elementary school at approximately 11 years old (grade 5). In September 2007, the Ministry of Education held the second conference which concluded with a resolution No. 211 requesting the English to be taught even in kindergartens (Ministry of Education).
Kurdistan has long been the target of racism and Arabization policy which raised many problems to the people that hindered acquiring education in their mother tongue and “destroyed the basis for development of the Kurdish language or for any of its dialects.” (Michael Eppel 256) Therefore, the Kurdish language remained undeveloped and was on the verge of decay. The liberation of Kurdistan in 1991 and the whole Iraq in 2003 has opened up new horizons, influenced Kurdistan’s economy and the balance of power to a great extent. Kurdistan became one of the key players in the region and a vital partner in rebuilding the new Iraq. In this domain, rapidly developing Kurdistan felt a huge pressure to learn English to keep pace with the globalizing world. ???? introduction ????
The growing significance of English in Kurdistan stems partly from a range of socio-historical factors related especially to Kurdistan. As the data show, English in Kurdistan has partly sprung from a negative attitude toward Arab people but a positive attitude towards Americans. However, the greater portion of Kurdish enthusiasm for learning English comes fro...
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...language.
The increased impact of English on daily practices has not gone unnoticed within Kurdish society. Indeed, it has provoked a great deal of discussion and debate among the general public. In these discourses it has often been depicted in explicitly positive terms. One the other hand, Arabic has also been seen in public discussions as a negative language, which is regarded by some of them as the oppressor’s language of Arab rulers in Iraq. While these language ideological debates are familiar to Kurds, there is little, if any, research evidence on the particularities of the increased presence of English at the expense of Arabic, and people’s views and attitudes concerning English. Therefore, the paper concludes with a call for more extensive and empirical research to be conducted investigating the acquisition, attitudes and language preference in Kurdistan.
Language is an important part of who we are. It influences the way we think and behave on a great scale. However, sometimes it is forced upon us to go in different directions just so we can physically and mentally feel as if we belong to the society in which we live in. Just as we see in Amy Tan’s “Mother Tongue” and Richard Rodriguez’s “A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood”, both authors faced some challenges along the way by coping with two different languages, while still trying to achieve the social position which they desired.
Most people who grow up with a foreign language spoken in there house grow up with an advantage in society. This advantage can only occur once the individual learning that foreign language also learns the dominant language spoken in that country. Once both of these languages are learned and mastered, the individual has now placed them se...
Wiley, Terrence G. "Language Planning, Language Policy, and the English-Only Movement." Language in the USA: Themes for the Twenty-first Century. Ed. Edward Finegan and John R. Rickford. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. 319-38. Print.
...influenced. This correspondence leads to individual growth because it pushes our understanding. As we begin to see the individual as a person and not as an “other,” we can, as a country, grow stronger. Regardless of our growing humanitarian stance towards immigration reform, many Americans still insist on having English as our national language. Though speaking the language would greatly close the distance witnessed in towns like Shelbyville, we must provide methods for language acquisition by working through difference. With the transition towards inclusiveness, an increasingly global perspective should also follow suit.
It is tied up in the culture of the people, that the language cannot be adequately criticized without calling up the ire of the people who speak it. As a result, Anzaldua says that, “if you want to really hurt me, talk badly about my language. Ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity—I am my language.” (Anzaldua, pg. 3) Cultural identity, she declares, personal and independent identity, those are inherently tied up in the language we speak. That is the universal message Anzaldua champions: that language defines who we are as much as the color of our skin, our sex, or a million other
In the United States of America we have become a large melting pot of ethnic and cultural peoples. Along with these peoples have come many different languages and alphabets. However the US has been seen as a mostly English speaking country. Yet many of this country's newcomers do not speak English. Adults and children alike come into the US speaking and writing only their native tongue. This poses a huge gap in communication. If the adults are unable to teach their children English, then it becomes the school districts' responsibility. However to make learning easier on the child, many school districts choose to teach the child in their native language, while they receive English lessons on the side.
A smooth transition into society is a necessity that only a few institutions like bilingual education can offer. Every year, hundred thousands of students enter the United States from all over the globe: in the 2008/09 school year, over 672,000 international students came to this country. While many are here to pursue higher studies in college, a great number of international students enroll in primary education. It is during these elementary educational years that developing speaking and social skills are vital. Language barriers present a hindrance in doing this effectively. Hence, public schools have instituted bilingual programs like ESL...
Bilingual education in our schools is crucial: but still there is talk about banning the use of foreign language in the instruction of our young children. We have to work to change that kind of attitude. We have to proceed from the assumption that bilingual
The people of America need to reshape the country in which we live, to show off the patriotism expressed so warmly after the horrific attacks of September 11. American citizens must come to unison with the most vital tool we can use to combat those problems, our communication between different dialects. Senator Hayakawa writes in his essay, The Case for Official English, that ?[i]t is with a common la...
Dating back to the Ottoman Empire, tensions between the Kurds and the state were apparent. As the Republic of Turkey developed, a strong sense of nationalism engulfed the country, which led to the oppression of many non-Turkish elements of society. Through this oppression we see attempts in the 1920’s and 1930’s at Kurdish autonomy with the eventual development of the PKK in 1978. With the first armed attack against Turkish soldiers in 1984 we see the issue gaining pace and becoming more severe. The Kurdish problem has claimed the lives of around 35,000 people, displaced even more, and has created economic and political problems not only domestically, but also internationally. Becoming one of Turkeys most important security issues, there have been attempts at peace on multiple occasions, but until now they were to no avail. This essay attempts to address various aspects of the Kurdish Problem; the domestic implications the Kurdish problem has created, such as the political disarray that develops when discussing the creation of pro-Kurdish parties, their opposition, and their inability to have any form of success within the government. The “terror problem.” The economic impact associated with regions most closely related to the Kurdish people. International implications dealing with Turkey, it’s neighbors, and the United States. Syria and Iraq are essential to discuss when dealing with the Kurdish problem because they add greater context to an issue that spans along the borders of multiple states. Furthermore, this essay will conclude with a discussion of the resolution attempts to the decades long dilemma such as recent developments, expectations by both sides, and prospects for the future.
Language is a means of communication and it varies from one community to another. Everyone has a mother tongue which depended on the family’s upbringing. A second language can be learned along the way. There are also instances where a person is born in a community that speaks two languages and therefore, had to learn both languages. The quality of the languages learned will be affected by how well the community speaks both languages. This can later develop into a new form of language. The essay describes the frustration of the author who felt rejected by different groups for speaking a different form of language. Her essay aims to gain sympathy from readers by seeing the issue from her point of view. Anzaldua attempts to achieve this in her essay by raising issues on identity and discrimination. She wanted to highlight that language is not determined by a country’s physical borders.
United States is a nation accommodating multi-ethnic groups of almost 500000 Americans. Since 1960s, America has received an increasing number of newcomers and immigrants from all over the world. However, language communication has somehow become a latent problem, whether in economical, political, or social aspects. Although English has been the common language of America for over two hundred years, it has never become the official language. Therefore, question like "Does America need an official language?" has been raised and argued in recent decades. Both sides hold very strong arguments on this controversial issue. In the articles "English Should Be Official" by Bradley S. O' Leary and "Language Cements Nationhood" by Ron Saunders, two authors uphold to make English the nation's official language, while the articles "English Shouldn't Be Official" by Victor Kamber, and "Does America Need an "Official" Language" by Tuben G. Rumbaut and Alejandro Portes are opposed to this resolution. The different attitude toward common language, money, and communication are the major arguments discussed in these four articles.
Kurdistan is a region that has existed in turmoil and is the “never was” country. The Kurds are the fourth largest ethnic group of the Middle East, numbering between 20 and 25 million. Approximately 15 million live in the regions of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, an area they called Kurdistan, yet they do not have a country of their own. Formal attempts to establish such a state were crushed by the larger and more powerful countries in the region after both world wars. When the Ottoman Empire collapsed after World War I, the Kurds were promised their own independent nation under the Treaty of Sevres. In 1923 however, the treaty was broken allowing Turkey to maintain its status and not allowing the Kurdish people to have a nation to call their own. The end of the Gulf war, Iran-Iraq war, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the end of the cold war has reinvigorated a Kurdish Nationalist movement.
The role of language in the creation of a national identity is complex, controversial, but fundamentally powerful. National languages are not simply means of communication; rather they can also act as a symbolic representation of a national identity, providing insight into a nation’s perceived religious, ethnic and historical status. This essay will consider the role language plays in a national identity, questioning the power it holds and the implications it has on the notion of nationalism. Additionally, it will address whether or not the ability to plan language in relation to a national identity is really as powerful as it seems by probing into the process of language planning – what elements are considered, who is responsible for carrying out the process and what effect does it
Language is one of the most basic necessities for human interactions in a society. Ng and Bradac (1993) stated that, “some of the most remarkable human tools are the specific languages that particular groups of human have developed and adapted for use in their daily lives” (p.1). Without language, socialization between individuals in society would be highly difficult; which would possibly result in a lack of social solidarity that ties people together. From social and academic institutions (family and school), we were taught to use the most favorable language to survive in society. Brunei Darussalam centers on the Malay and English language. Depending on the surrounding and how Bruneians were raised, the use of language may differ for different individuals. In this essay, I’ll be talking about the language that my family and I have acquired. I will also talk about the existence of bilingualism in my family and the use of different languages during travelling.