I know what you're thinking. You think I've lost my way, and somebody's going to come on the stage in a minute and guide me gently back to my seat. (Applause) I get that all the time in Dubai. "Here on holiday are you, dear?" (Laughter) "Come to visit the children? How long are you staying?"
Znam šta mislite. Mislite da sam se izgubila, i da će me neko svakog trenutka povući sa bine i sprovesti me lagano nazad do mog mesta. (Aplauz) To mi se stalno dešava u Dubaiju. "Draga, ovde ste na odmoru?" (Smeh) "Došli ste u posetu deci? Koliko ostajete?"
Well actually, I hope for a while longer yet. I have been living and teaching in the Gulf for over 30 years. (Applause) And in that time, I have seen a lot of changes. Now that statistic is quite shocking. And I want to talk to you today about language loss and the globalization of English. I want to tell you about my friend who was teaching English to adults in Abu Dhabi. And one fine day, she decided to take them into the garden to teach them some nature vocabulary. But it was she who ended up learning all the Arabic words for the local plants, as well as their uses -- medicinal uses, cosmetics, cooking, herbal. How did those students get all that knowledge? Of course, from their grandparents and even their great-grandparents. It's not necessary to tell you how important it is to be able to communicate across generations.
Pa, u stvari se nadam da ću ostati bar još neko vreme. Živim i radim u Zalivu preko 30 godina. (Aplauz) I za to vreme, viđala sam mnogo promena. Ta statistika je prilično šokantna. I želim da vam danas govorim o gubitku jezika i globalizaciji engleskog jezika. Hoću da vam govorim o svojoj prijateljici koja je predavala engleski odraslima u Abu Dabiju. I jednog lepog dana, odlučila je da ih odvede u vrt da ih uči rečima iz prirode. Ali je na kraju ona završila učeći arapske reči za lokalne biljke, kao i njihovu upotrebu - medicinsku, kozmetičku, kuvarsku, biljnu. Kako su svi ti studenti stekli to znanje? Naravno, od njihovih baka i deka pa čak i pradeda i prababa. Nije neophodno da vam kažem koliko je važno imati mogućnost komunikacije kroz generacije.
But sadly, today, languages are dying at an unprecedented rate. A language dies every 14 days. Now, at the same time, English is the undisputed global language. Could there be a connection? Well I don't know. But I do know that I've seen a lot of changes. When I first came out to the Gulf, I came to Kuwait in the days when it was still a hardship post. Actually, not that long ago. That is a little bit too early. But nevertheless, I was recruited by the British Council, along with about 25 other teachers. And we were the first non-Muslims to teach in the state schools there in Kuwait. We were brought to teach English because the government wanted to modernize the country and to empower the citizens through education. And of course, the U.K. benefited from some of that lovely oil wealth.
Ali nažalost, danas, jezici umiru po nečuvenoj stopi. Svakih 14 dana umre jedan jezik. E sada, u isto vreme, engleski je neosporno globalni jezik. Ima li tu neke povezanosti? Pa ne znam. Ali znam da sam videla mnogo promena. Prvi put kad sam došla u Zaliv, došla sam u Kuvajt, u trenutku kada je još bilo teškoća u komunikaciji. U stvari, ne tako davno. Ovo je prerano. Ali ipak, Britiš Kaunsil me je regrutovao zajedno sa oko 25 drugih učitelja. I mi smo bili prvi ne-Muslimani koji su predavali u državnim školama u Kuvajtu. Dovedeni smo da predajemo engleski jer je vlada želela da modernizuje zemlju i osnaži građane kroz obrazovanje. I naravno, Britanija je dobila nešto od tog divnog naftnog bogatstva.
Okay. Now this is the major change that I've seen -- how teaching English has morphed from being a mutually beneficial practice to becoming a massive international business that it is today. No longer just a foreign language on the school curriculum, and no longer the sole domain of mother England, it has become a bandwagon for every English-speaking nation on earth. And why not? After all, the best education -- according to the latest World University Rankings -- is to be found in the universities of the U.K. and the U.S. So everybody wants to have an English education, naturally. But if you're not a native speaker, you have to pass a test.
Okej. Ovo je velika promena koju sam videla - kako se učenje engleskog od obostrano korisne prakse pretovrilo u masovni međunarodni biznis, koji danas viđamo. Više nije samo strani jezik u školskom programu. I više nije isključivo vlasništvo majke Engleske. Postao je trend u svakoj naciji na Zemlji koja govori engleski. I zašto da ne? Naposletku, najbolje obrazovanje - prema najnovijoj rang listi Svetskog univerziteta - može se naći na univerzitetima u Engleskoj i Americi. Dakle, prirodno je da svi žele englesko obrazovanje. Ali ako vam to nije maternji jezik, morate da prođete test.
Now can it be right to reject a student on linguistic ability alone? Perhaps you have a computer scientist who's a genius. Would he need the same language as a lawyer, for example? Well, I don't think so. We English teachers reject them all the time. We put a stop sign, and we stop them in their tracks. They can't pursue their dream any longer, 'til they get English. Now let me put it this way: if I met a monolingual Dutch speaker who had the cure for cancer, would I stop him from entering my British University? I don't think so. But indeed, that is exactly what we do. We English teachers are the gatekeepers. And you have to satisfy us first that your English is good enough. Now it can be dangerous to give too much power to a narrow segment of society. Maybe the barrier would be too universal.
E sad, da li je ispravno odbiti studenta samo na osnovu jezičkih sposobnosti? Možda imate kompjuterskog naučnika koji je genije. Da li je njemu potreban isti jezik kao i advokatu, na primer? Pa, mislim da ne. Mi profesori engleskog ih stalno odbacujemo. Postavimo znak stop, i zaustavimo ih na njihovom putu. Više ne mogu da prate svoj san, dok ne prođu engleski. Hajde da to postavim ovako, da upoznam jednojezičnog holandskog govornika koji ima lek za rak, da li bih ga sprečila da uđe na britanski univerzitet? Mislim da ne. Ali zapravo, to je upravo ono što činimo. Profesori engleskog su čuvari na kapiji. I prvo morate nas da zadovoljite svojim dovoljno dobrim engleskim. Može biti opasno dati preveliku moć uskom delu društva. Možda bi granice bile suviše univerzalne.
Okay. "But," I hear you say, "what about the research? It's all in English." So the books are in English, the journals are done in English, but that is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It feeds the English requirement. And so it goes on. I ask you, what happened to translation? If you think about the Islamic Golden Age, there was lots of translation then. They translated from Latin and Greek into Arabic, into Persian, and then it was translated on into the Germanic languages of Europe and the Romance languages. And so light shone upon the Dark Ages of Europe. Now don't get me wrong; I am not against teaching English, all you English teachers out there. I love it that we have a global language. We need one today more than ever. But I am against using it as a barrier. Do we really want to end up with 600 languages and the main one being English, or Chinese? We need more than that. Where do we draw the line? This system equates intelligence with a knowledge of English, which is quite arbitrary.
Okej. "Ali", čujem vas kako kažete, "šta sa istraživanjima? Sve je na engleksom." Knjige su na engleskom, časopisi se pišu na engleskom, ali to je proročanstvo koje se samo ispunjava. Ono hrani zahteve engleskog. I tako to ide. Pitam vas, šta se desilo prevođenju? Ako se prisetite islamskog zlatnog doba, tada su rađeni mnogi prevodi. Prevodilo se sa latinskog i grčkog na arapski, persijski, pa se onda prevodilo na germanske jezike Evrope i onda romanske jezike. I tako je sunce sinulo na mračno doba Evrope. Nemojte me pogrešno shvatiti; nisam ja protiv učenja engleskog, svi vi profesori engleskog. Volim to što imamo globalni jezik. Danas nam je potreban više nego ikada. Ali sam protiv toga da se on koristi kao barijera. Da li zaista želimo da završimo sa 600 jezika, a da glavni bude engleski ili kineski? Treba nam više od toga. Gde povlačimo crtu? Ovaj sistem izjednačava inteligenciju sa znanjem engleskog što je vrlo proizvoljno.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
And I want to remind you that the giants upon whose shoulders today's intelligentsia stand did not have to have English, they didn't have to pass an English test. Case in point, Einstein. He, by the way, was considered remedial at school because he was, in fact, dyslexic. But fortunately for the world, he did not have to pass an English test. Because they didn't start until 1964 with TOEFL, the American test of English. Now it's exploded. There are lots and lots of tests of English. And millions and millions of students take these tests every year. Now you might think, you and me, "Those fees aren't bad, they're okay," but they are prohibitive to so many millions of poor people. So immediately, we're rejecting them.
I želim da vas podsetim da giganti na čijim ramenima stoje današnji intelektualci nisu imali engleski, nisu morali da polože test iz engleskog. Na primer, Ajnštajn. Inače, smatrali su da mu je potrebna specijalna škola jer činjenica je da je bio disleksičar. Ali srećom po svet, nije morao da položi test engleskog. TOEFL, američki test engleskog, je počeo da se koristi tek 1964. Sada je on eksplodirao. Postoje gomile i gomile testova engleskog. I milioni i milioni učenika svake godine polažu te testove. E sad možete pomisliti, vi i ja, da kotizacije nisu loše, da su okej, ali one su prevelike za milione mnogih siromašnih ljudi. I u samom startu ih mi odbijamo.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
It brings to mind a headline I saw recently: "Education: The Great Divide." Now I get it, I understand why people would want to focus on English. They want to give their children the best chance in life. And to do that, they need a Western education. Because, of course, the best jobs go to people out of the Western Universities, that I put on earlier. It's a circular thing.
Sećam se naslova koji sam nedavno videla: "Obrazovanje: Veliki delilac." Sada shvatam, razumem zašto bi se ljudi usmerili na engleski. Žele da svojoj deci pruže najbolju moguću priliku u životu. A da bi to mogli, potrebno im je zapadnjačko obrazovanje. Jer, naravno, najbolji poslovi idu ljudima koji dolaze sa univerziteta sa zapada, kako sam ranije navela. To je kružna stvar.
Okay. Let me tell you a story about two scientists, two English scientists. They were doing an experiment to do with genetics and the forelimbs and the hind limbs of animals. But they couldn't get the results they wanted. They really didn't know what to do, until along came a German scientist who realized that they were using two words for forelimb and hind limb, whereas genetics does not differentiate and neither does German. So bingo, problem solved. If you can't think a thought, you are stuck. But if another language can think that thought, then, by cooperating, we can achieve and learn so much more.
Okej. Dozvolite da vam ispričam priču o dva naučnika, dva engleska naučnika. Radili su eksperiment u vezi sa genetikom i prednjim i zadnjim udovima životinja. Ali nisu mogli da dođu do željenih rezultata. Stvarno nisu znali šta da rade, sve dok se nije pojavio nemački naučnik koji je shvatio da su koristili dve reči za prednje i zadnje udove, dok genetika zapravo ne pravi razliku kao ni nemački. Dakle bingo, rešen problem. Ako ne možete da mislite misao, zaglavili ste se. Ali ako neki drugi jezik može to da čini, onda, saradnjom, možemo postići i naučiti mnogo više.
My daughter came to England from Kuwait. She had studied science and mathematics in Arabic. It's an Arabic-medium school. She had to translate it into English at her grammar school. And she was the best in the class at those subjects. Which tells us that when students come to us from abroad, we may not be giving them enough credit for what they know, and they know it in their own language. When a language dies, we don't know what we lose with that language.
Moja ćerka je došla u Englesku iz Kuvajta. Studirala je nauku i matematiku na arapskom. Arapska viša škola. Morala je da to prevede na engleski u gimnaziji. I bila je najbolja u odeljenju u tim predmetima. To nam govori da, kada učenici dođu kod nas iz drugih zemalja, moguće je da im ne odajemo priznanje za ono što već znaju, a znaju to na svom jeziku. Kada jezik umre, ne znamo šta sa njim gubimo.
This is -- I don't know if you saw it on CNN recently -- they gave the Heroes Award to a young Kenyan shepherd boy who couldn't study at night in his village, like all the village children, because the kerosene lamp, it had smoke and it damaged his eyes. And anyway, there was never enough kerosene, because what does a dollar a day buy for you? So he invented a cost-free solar lamp. And now the children in his village get the same grades at school as the children who have electricity at home. (Applause) When he received his award, he said these lovely words: "The children can lead Africa from what it is today, a dark continent, to a light continent." A simple idea, but it could have such far-reaching consequences.
Ovo je - ne znam da li ste to videli nedavno na CNN-u - dali su Heroes Award mladom kenijskom čobanu koji nije mogao noću da uči u svom selu, poput ostale dece iz sela, jer se kerozinska lampa, dimila i oštetila njegove oči. I svakako, nikada nije bilo dovoljno kerozina, jer šta možete da kupite sa dolarom na dan? Tako je napravio solarnu lampu koja ništa ne košta. I sada deca u njegovom selu dobijaju iste ocene u školi kao i deca čije kuće imaju struju. (Aplauz) Kada je primio svoju nagradu, izgovorio je ove divne reči: "Deca mogu Afriku da vode od onoga što je ona danas, mračni kontinent, do svetlog kontinenta." Jednostavna ideja, koja može da ima dalekosežan uticaj.
People who have no light, whether it's physical or metaphorical, cannot pass our exams, and we can never know what they know. Let us not keep them and ourselves in the dark. Let us celebrate diversity. Mind your language. Use it to spread great ideas.
Ljudi koji nemaju svetlosti, bilo fizičke ili metaforičke, ne mogu proći naše testove, i nikada ne možemo znati šta oni znaju. Hajde da ne držimo ni sebe ni njih u mraku. Hajde da slavimo različitost. Negujte svoj jezik. Koristite ga da širite sjajne ideje.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)
Thank you very much.
Mnogo vam hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplauz)