While staying in Manila I was really blessed and honoured to meet several people with one mutual goal: "Teaching foreign languages in the Philippines".
I have been also invited to the "Benchmarking Mother Tongue-Based Multilingual Education Development" (Practices and challenges in the 21st Century in Asia Pacific) in Pangasinan next January. Thank you Professor Vigilio Manzano of UP Diliman in Quezon City.
Thanks a lot also to many people, who joined this conference in Manila. I love to express my gratitude to Dr. Teresita T. Tumapon, Dean and Vice President of Liceo de Cagayan University (among so many others) for giving many valuable advices. Thank you (und danke schoen) also to my friend, Mr. Helmut Frielinghaus from Goethe Institut Manila for so many inputs.
Why learning foreign languages (besides and in addition to English) in the Philippines?
Allow me to quote some expressions, I have learnt from the Goethe Institut:
"Peacekeeping, human rights or environmental protections are topics of global relevance that can only be addressed through dialogue between societies. Foreign languages are essential for this kind of dialogue. After all, even though English has long since been a university platform, additional foreign languages do help to retrain individual identity and individualism. They also help to buildt bridges - for multicultural diveristy and intercultural tolerance."
While attending the said conference in Manila, I also came across the following statement given by Professor Ludwig Eichinger, Director for the German Language, Mannheim/Germany:
"Dies schlaegt sich nieder in den Aufgaben fuer die Sprachen und hat Folgen fuer die Raeume, in denen sie gelten. Das Deutsche ist die grosse Sprache in Europa, und es erstreckt sich ueber einen ganz erheblichen Raum!"
"This idea is reflected in the roles of the languages and has consequences for the geographical areas in which they are used!" ...
I also love to quote Dr. David Graddol of the "English Company (UK) Ltd.", who drams up studies on the future of the English for the British Council:
"The world is rapidly becoming multilingual. ... Fears that he expansion of the English language is threatening local languages will doubtless turn out to be unfounded. ... The manifest dynanism between globalisation and localisation is exerting pressure to retain local, linguistic identities. Over the next ten years, it will not so much be a question of "Do you speak English?", but rahter: "Of course you speak English, but else what can you offer"?
French, Spanish, Italian, Nihongo, Mandarin?
(To be continued)
(Fortsetzung folgt)
