Sin mantequilla
We had a family Christmas dinner today. And delicious it was - thanks to my sister and brother in law. During the soup course, Andrew said he wanted bread.
- Con mantequilla?
- Sin mantequilla.
If you're not a language person, this wee exchange may mean nothing to you. He and his big brother are growing up in a bilingual household. Actually, a trilingual household: their Daddy and their Uncle Craig speak English and Spanish (Craig also speaks French), their Mamma speaks English and Spanish and their grandparents and I speak Scots and English with a wee bit of Spanish. I also speak French and Russian.
So let me explain for non-language people: Andrew first of all had to understand that this conversation was in Spanish. Then he had to know the Spanish word for butter (mantequilla) and that the word for with is 'con'. Then he had to know that if you don't want butter, you need to use the word 'sin' meaning without. And he had to be able to copy the language pattern his Mamma used to make his meaning clear.
Andrew is 3.
I can't begin to explain how angry I am that the achievements of bilingual children are still so often disparaged in Scottish society. Having a second language is not an impediment to learning, as some schools and local authorities seem to think. They continue to treat bilingual children as a problem.
These children are quite the opposite of a problem: children who grow up with two languages (or more): Punjabi, Chinese, Gaelic, Spanish, Polish and many other languages, are growing up in the real world - where more than 50% of the population of the planet has to be bilingual or trilingual in order to get by on a daily basis.
Andrew's big brother - aged 6 - told us tonight that when they were playing hide and seek he managed to dodge Uncle Craig and Andrew. As he explained it: he was hiding upstairs and heard Uncle Craig finding Andrew, so he swerved down the stairs and hid under the dining room table. I like the word 'swerved'. Who taught him that word? Pas moi!
The problem is us: Scots who deny our Scots language, treat Gaelic (language, culture, poetry, music, etc) as a joke, insist on only speaking English and drag our heels on learning world languages (they all speak English...as if!) - we're the odd ones out.
Foreign languages in Scotland are dismissed right now as being unimportant. It's the STEM subjects that really matter on secondary schools. I don't deny the validity of STEM subjects for some pupils (and probably a lot more employers). But education is not about science, technology and maths. It's about balance. For example, there are a lot of school students who will not remember lessons in maths or English but will look back fondly on the time they spent in drama or art or - dare I say it? - Spanish.
People like me have been round this roundabout a few times in the last 50 years or so. Working so hard in foreign languages begins to feel like abuse, when there's no reward, although I hear of at least one secondary school that sends students to Oxbridge on the basis that they have skills in foreign languages to add to their studies in law or international relations.
Let's suppose (or pray) that Scotland achieves independence in the next 10 years (no more than that, please, because I'll be deid) and goes looking for trading partners. As was often said in the 1980s: buy from us - we'll speak any language you like. Sell to us: make it in our own language. Will Scotland have the language skills?
- Con mantequilla?
- Sin mantequilla.
If you're not a language person, this wee exchange may mean nothing to you. He and his big brother are growing up in a bilingual household. Actually, a trilingual household: their Daddy and their Uncle Craig speak English and Spanish (Craig also speaks French), their Mamma speaks English and Spanish and their grandparents and I speak Scots and English with a wee bit of Spanish. I also speak French and Russian.
So let me explain for non-language people: Andrew first of all had to understand that this conversation was in Spanish. Then he had to know the Spanish word for butter (mantequilla) and that the word for with is 'con'. Then he had to know that if you don't want butter, you need to use the word 'sin' meaning without. And he had to be able to copy the language pattern his Mamma used to make his meaning clear.
Andrew is 3.
I can't begin to explain how angry I am that the achievements of bilingual children are still so often disparaged in Scottish society. Having a second language is not an impediment to learning, as some schools and local authorities seem to think. They continue to treat bilingual children as a problem.
These children are quite the opposite of a problem: children who grow up with two languages (or more): Punjabi, Chinese, Gaelic, Spanish, Polish and many other languages, are growing up in the real world - where more than 50% of the population of the planet has to be bilingual or trilingual in order to get by on a daily basis.
Andrew's big brother - aged 6 - told us tonight that when they were playing hide and seek he managed to dodge Uncle Craig and Andrew. As he explained it: he was hiding upstairs and heard Uncle Craig finding Andrew, so he swerved down the stairs and hid under the dining room table. I like the word 'swerved'. Who taught him that word? Pas moi!
The problem is us: Scots who deny our Scots language, treat Gaelic (language, culture, poetry, music, etc) as a joke, insist on only speaking English and drag our heels on learning world languages (they all speak English...as if!) - we're the odd ones out.
Foreign languages in Scotland are dismissed right now as being unimportant. It's the STEM subjects that really matter on secondary schools. I don't deny the validity of STEM subjects for some pupils (and probably a lot more employers). But education is not about science, technology and maths. It's about balance. For example, there are a lot of school students who will not remember lessons in maths or English but will look back fondly on the time they spent in drama or art or - dare I say it? - Spanish.
People like me have been round this roundabout a few times in the last 50 years or so. Working so hard in foreign languages begins to feel like abuse, when there's no reward, although I hear of at least one secondary school that sends students to Oxbridge on the basis that they have skills in foreign languages to add to their studies in law or international relations.
Let's suppose (or pray) that Scotland achieves independence in the next 10 years (no more than that, please, because I'll be deid) and goes looking for trading partners. As was often said in the 1980s: buy from us - we'll speak any language you like. Sell to us: make it in our own language. Will Scotland have the language skills?
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