On Thursday 30th June we, Stefan Search and José Manuel Zulueta, had an interview with the headmaster of The Mackay School, Mr. Mark Rosevear. The topic of the interview was Language and Culture as this has been the topic of study in class. Language may refer either to the human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication. The scientific study of language in any of its senses is called linguistics. This is a definition of language, but it’s more than this, language is part of the identity of the people and a fundamental cultural factor. The purpose of our interview is to discover the opinion of our headmaster of language itself and to gather his knowledge on the subject. We will ask both general and specific questions to help us gather this information.
Headmaster of The Mackay School, Mr. Mark Rosevear.
José Manuel:
“What do you think about language in today's world?”
Mr. Mark Rosevear:
“There are certain languages that have become more global, obliviously English being one of them. In fact what I was just writing there 70-75% of the Internet is in English, so clearly if you can speak English or understand it you able to access more. I think that is very important, but at the same time the number is dropping because the amount of things in Chinese is going up but obliviously most people can't read Chinese. So yes, language is clearly important in that sense.
I also think that culturally its very important because once you lose your language you lose everything. For example in Ireland the Gaelic is compulsory until children are 16 because they feel if they don't learn it they will loose all their cultural roots, which I understand because where I come from in Cornwall we had our own language but it died in about the 18th century. As a result there's little culture there because everything was written in that language.
The other thing you have to understand about language is that everything is translated these days. For example in your English or Spanish courses for IB you could read for example a book written in Arabic translated in either English or Spanish, does that mean you understand it differently in Spanish lets say than someone in Egypt who's reading it in Arabic because its got to be slightly different because the words don't translate. So depending on what language you read something in you might understand it very slightly differently because for some words there is a straight forward translation but for others there isn't, you have to use phrases. I think a lot depends on translation and where you read it, but clearly the ability to speak, I would say English and Spanish more than anything else, because they are the 2nd and 3rd most widely spoken languages in the world. If you can speak English and Spanish you have accesses to 2 continents as well as Europe, Australia, etc. Its a big thing those 2 languages.
Stefan Search:
Having been in Chile is there any slang, or words you would take back into your own culture if you were to return?
Mr. Mark Rosevear:
Probably none that I would repeat to you! I learnt Spanish in Chile and then when I went to Colombia, and lived, I realised that I understood a lot more Spanish than I thought I did because here it is hard for a foreigner to learn Spanish because Chilean Spanish is very different. The way you use a lot of slang and other words makes it's hard for a foreigner to learn it here. It's much easier for people to learn it, in say for example Columbia. Any particular words? Let me think about that while we are talking and I'll see if I can come up with some.
José Manuel:
Should we have only one unique language or is it better to be bilingual? Please consider the cultural components.
Mr .Mark Rosevear:
I don't know if you have ever heard of anything called Esperanto.
José and Stefan:
No.
Mr. Mark Rosevear:
Esperanto was a language, I think it came in the 1920's or after the first world war. It was an attempt, I think, by someone to write a language that everybody would learn. So your second language for example for you, you wouldn't learn English, you would learn Esperanto and the same for a Russian, they would learn Esperanto. The idea being that there would be a global language that everybody would be able to converse with. I suppose the fact that it failed and you never heard of it probably answers the question. I think is very important that people do learn as many languages as possible because it just opens doors. It goes back to the first question because if everybody learns one language they all lose their culture. So I think you have to have one language but at the same time if you can learn another that's obviously going to be very helpful.
Stefan Search:
Does language contact automatically create a sort of hybridized language? For example British colonies such as India where you get a language that is made from Indian as well as English, in a mixed language.
Mr. Mark Rosevear
Yes, I can think of one obvious example, Cuba. If you go to Cuba, the Spanish that you hear there is very weird. I mean it's not like here where the words are just invented or fictitious words, or not just here, any where else. In Cuba as well as the Spanish they've thrown in a lot of very different thing that come out of Africa from the old slave trade so I suppose it is in the same way that you will often here words here. Well in Spanish someone will often come out with an English word or in English people will say, if they wanted a rest in the afternoon, I'll take a siesta.
José Manuel:
Are other languages being wiped out by English in the world?
Mr. Mark Rosevear:
No, I don't think they are, I think English is, or are they, no I think as important as it is to be international in your outlook because that's essential, in today's world when you grow up you’re going to end up doing business with people from many different countries, so yes the ability to speak English is important but those people, or yourselfs for example, your not going to loose Spanish, it's not going to disappear. I don't think those languages will disappear, I just think more people will learn a second language and maybe even a third language, than they do today. Tell you what will happen though is languages in very remote places say for example Eskimos up in Canada or whatever, were those who choose to stay in their little villages where there is 100 people, in 10 years time there will be 80 and 20 years there will be 60 people. Those sort of small languages within groups, those will die but that's been happening since the worlds existed but the main languages like Spanish or Italian and French or whatever there not going to go.
Stefan Search:
Is the language related to, and important for its corresponding culture?
Mr. Mark Rosevear:
Is it the language that breeds the culture or the culture that breeds the language. I would think that the language is part of the culture, or is it the other way round. I mean if you loose your language you loose part of your culture but if you loose the culture you wouldn't necessarily loose the language. So for example someone could move away from, you could move out of this country and go and live overseas for 50 years. You would still speak Spanish, you not going to loose that but you might loose certain parts of your culture because your not living here any more. Where as it would not happen the other way around. Someone moving in would learn Spanish and would learn the culture. A little bit like me.
José Manuel:
Do you think that language change destroys the language or does it add to the identity of the area where it happens?
Mr. Mark Rosevear:
I think that when language changes, when new words come into existence, it only enriches the language. When most people try to read something from 600 years ago they probably wouldn't recognise half the words. I'm sure Spanish is the same, I mean I've not studied old Spanish but what I have seen of some of the writings of the conquistador's and things like that, I read it and I think what, I've got no idea what they are talking about. So clearly language moves, it develops and I suppose that the new words that come in, particularly with technology, add to the language and language is never going to stay the same, it's always going to keep moving. It just changes like everything else, it's like if you looked out here 30 years ago and you would have seen a very different picture, does that mean it’s better or worse depends on your point of view. I would argue that what ever it is like now is a lot better than what you would have been looking at 30 years ago but someone else might say, “But no it was far better with lots of open fields”. So I think that language, it changes whether its good or bad I think depends on how old fashioned maybe you are or how modern your views are, conservative or going forth.
With this interview we could get the information we wanted, the opinion of our headmaster, about language and also he shared some of his knowledge about history and social sciences with us, for example the information about Esperanto. With this information we can conclude language as being fundamental in today’s world and also as a factor of special identification and changes.
