Babe-Bolyai University

Faculty of Letters
English Department
British Cultural Studies M1

Multilingualism in the British

Isles

TEACHER:

STUDENT:
en (Neme) Denisa

Conf. univ. dr. Dorin Chira

Cluj-Napoca
24.06.2015

1. Factors indicating a tendency towards SHIFT: Vietnamese Chinese.

Considering the fact that SHIFT means a tendency for speakers to move towards English,
in order to be able analyse the factors which indicate this shift in the Vietnamese Chinese
speech community, we must define what Vietnamese Chinese means.
Vietnamese Chinese refers to the Chinese population living in Vietnam. They are the ones
which migrated towards Britain. Vietnamese Chinese are not a linguistically homogenous
community, because they speak different languages, but the lingua franca of the Chinese is
Cantonese. English was barely thought in schools, only one or two lessons per week, and this
fact had as a consequence a low number of proficient English speakers among Vietnamese
Chinese people. Then why can we talk about a shift towards English?
There are several factors which indicate the existence of this shift. The first factor is
related to their arrival in Britain. Once they arrived in Britain, they were received as refugees
and were accepted in concentration camps, they were given no other choice. The camps were
distributed all over the country and so were the Vietnamese Chinese people they needed the
language to be able to communicate.
Another factor is the necessity of finding a job. They had to survive in the new country, so
they needed jobs. There was a shift towards the south because there was the place where most
of the jobs were available for them, but they also needed the English language for this.
Except jobs, they needed education too. In order to adapt to the education system the
Vietnamese Chinese people again needed to know the language to be able to understand and
to learn. It was not easy for them to adapt because you could hardly find a teacher capable of
speaking both English and Vietnamese.
Another important factor which shows this tendency towards shift is that with the passing
of time, the Vietnamese Chinese children born in England, show a growing dominance in
English, even if the other members of their family still speak Chinese. This means that the
language spoken between the young people is English.
The last but not least is the Club Vietnam, founded by the ILEA. It is situated in central
London and it is similar to the Chinese clubs. Vietnamese people can go there and socialize
with others, this being a good way of relaxing, spending time and communicating.
These are some factors which show the increasing tendency of the Vietnamese Chinese
people towards shift.

2. Factors indicating a tendency towards MAINTENANCE: Hong Kong Chinese.

Due to the great number of Hong Kong Chinese people living in England there is a
trend towards maintenance and this fact can be seen through different factors.
The first generation of the Chinese immigrants, almost entirely, are unable to speak
English. They migrated to Britain and they encountered the problem of language. But the fact
that they are in such a great number helped them to make a living. And there is an obvious
tendency of Chinese people to work within their own ethnic economy, in the catering and
restaurant industry. In such contexts, they do not need to speak English, so it is an advantage
for the maintenance of their mother tongue. Not only do they work within their own ethnic
economy but their social life also revolves around their own community: they do their
shopping in Chinese shops, go to Chinese doctors, etc.
Also, there was the fear of not being assimilated by the British culture, this is another
factor which indicates the maintenance, because in the beginning of this period of migration,
they choose to send their children back in Hong Kong for education. Things changed during
time, and the young generation which was born in Britain learned English in schools and the
tendency towards shift was obvious. A new conflict appeared between parents and children.
Children preferred to use English, but their parents were unable to speak the language. This
lack of communication meant for the parents lack of respect (which is highly valued in the
Chinese culture). The problem of respect and communication made Chinese language
education to be seen as a priority.
Another important factor is the mass-media. In Chinatown there are bookshops, video hire
shops, cinemas, resources available especially for Chinese people like: Chinese books, videos
or TV programs from Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. This is of great help in maintaining the
Chinese language. Also in Manchester, there is actually a bilingual TV program Eastern
Horizon and a bilingual magazine Siyu.
A significant role is played by the Chinese Community Centres. They promote the
Chinese culture by teaching Chinese language, martial arts, painting, calligraphy, cookery.
This is another factor which leads to maintenance of the Chinese language. Another important
factor which promotes the Chinese culture is the Chinese View Project, a project implemented
by the Chinese community with the main aim of promoting contemporary and traditional
music, events, and exhibitions.
The Chinese schools in Britain teach Chinese classes outside school hours. They are
specially created for Chinese students to learn the language, because it is a complicated
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language, with a hard writing style. The Hong Kong Government Office in London supports
this by providing modern Chinese text books for free. The texts for teaching reading are
chosen by the teachers especially to help students value their origins: texts related to the
glamorous history, festivals, etc. ILEA offered grants for Chinese classes and hired teachers
for its own classes in order to teach students Chinese. Due to the small number of students
there is an attempt to teach all the students, Chinese and non-Chinese language from 2-5th
year.
The last factor which indicates a tendency toward maintenance is the ILEA Resource
Centre which is a provider for materials and books. It also consists of language centres and
teachers centres, where teachers can gather and share materials and information.
All these opportunities for the Chinese people are created with the purpose of preserving
the Chinese language and culture.

3. Which are the difficulties faced in Scotland with regard to the maintenance of
Gaelic?

Even from the beginning, the dominance of the Gallic language did not last too long. With
the reign of Malcom III Gaelic lost its pre-eminence at court, but also among the aristocracy.
This was due to the Norman French influences and also because of the English speaking
burghs.
Gallic did not disappear completely, but because it was neglected, mainly in the
education system, it remained more as an oral language the ability of writing and reading
becoming weaker among the Gallic speaking population. The purpose of school in Scotland is
to promote English literacy and this leads to a diglossic usage of Gallic and English. This
leads to difficulty in maintaining the Gallic language.
Another factor which proves the difficulty regarding the maintenance of the Gallic
language is the fact that the Gallic speaking people are spread in different areas of the country
and this does not help the language to survive, because they are not a compact community,
only 75% lived in areas where Gallic was spoken as a community language, and at present
only a third of the Gallic speaking population lives in areas where Gallic is spoken in the
community.
Also the structure of the Highlands (where most of the Gallic speakers live) is not of much
help. Due to its mountainous landscapes and being indented by the sea, people are quite
isolated from one another. There are marriages between Gallic speakers and non-Gallic
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speakers, the non-Gallic speakers being not that supportive towards the language. Also, the
prospects of employment are limited in the Gallic area. All these, lead towards a decrease
among the speakers.
Another difficulty which Scotland faces regarding the maintenance of Gallic is the fact
that the language is not recognized as a national language for Scotland. The Gallic speakers
are bilingual (except the old and isolated ones and infants), due to the need of a permanent
code switching, calquing occurs and along with it a variety of ways in which the language is
spoken, this is also because of the lack of proper education. Gallic education is not
sufficiently developed (only for primary stage).
The last difficulty that I will mention is related to the mass-media. There is a poor radio
transmission of Gallic (25 hours/week), and on TV even less than that (half an hour/week).

4. Which do you think BBE is, a language or a dialect? Does it matter actually, and
if so, why? If it is recognized as a language in its own right, are there any
disadvantages for the speech community?

I think BBE is a language and not a dialect for several reasons. First it has its own way
of writing, not that developed, but it is different than the Standard English. It is true that it
has a more oral tradition due to its riddles, songs and proverbs, but we cannot leave
unnoticed the fact that BBE is distinct in its way of writing. Second, the words which
belong to BBE are mainly English but with Creole influences. Their pronunciation is a
little bit different than the English one due to its Creole influence.
I believe it matters if BBE is perceived as a language or as a dialect, because the
unacceptance of it as a language has a lot of side effects towards the Black people. They
are seen as not being able to adapt, inferior species and also inferior in education, and are
dis-considered by the other people. This speech community needs its own identity. Not
being completely accepted by the White people, makes them wish for their own distinct
community, it is more an identity problem which they are trying to solve by using BBE.
This need of belonging is shown also by their preference of living mostly in Black areas,
surrounded by Black people.
The acceptance of BBE as a language in its own right may have some disadvantages
towards the speech community. First, the attempts of introducing the language in the
curriculum led to suspicions from the side of the Black students parents because they saw
it as another attempt towards holding their children back.
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Another disadvantage is analysed by Stone (1981). He claims that BBE is at present a

form of resistance and introducing it in the curriculum will lead to other varieties of it.
Carby (1980) sustains that even if BBE is recognized by the teachers in schools, the racist
attempts will not be stopped. Also from the teachers point of view this may be seen more
as an obstacle in eradication of racism.
These are some factors which prove the disadvantages of BBEs recognition as a
language.

5. Imagine that you are going to live in the UK. What specific aspects of your
culture would you try to keep alive and how? Come up with a top five.

Going to another country has its positive but also negative aspects. It is a great opportunity
to experience and to learn new things, but it is also an occasion to forget the old ones. And
by old I mean everything related to the country, places, and people you had left.
I am certain that there are things which everyone wants to forget, especially when
negative aspects are involved such as painful memories or discontents, but each country has
its own beauty and charm and it deserves to be remembered at least for some of its beautiful
parts.
If I were to live in UK I would definitely keep alive the Romanian food. I like cooking
and I believe the traditional Romanian dishes are delicious and they deserve to be known and
tasted by everybody. In order to be able to do this I would open a restaurant, but besides it I
would give my clients the opportunity to take cooking classes if they are eager to learn how to
prepare different Romanian dishes. It is a great way to maintain the Romanian food alieve and
it is also an opportunity to share it with others and make it famous.
Secondly, I would try to keep alieve the Romanians tradition of carolling. You can
share the joy of Christmas with the others and it is also a way of bounding. For this, I think an
open-air Christmas Concert would help, with songs both in Romanian and English in order for
people to understand the message. After the concert, the tradition of going carolling from
house to house would be presented to the public and they would be given the opportunity to
join a Carolling March on the streets of UK. Besides the concert, I believe that carolling is
important also to share the joy with the ones which are unable to be together with their
families and enjoy the holyday. By unable I refer to the ones which are spending their
Christmas in hospitals. I would like to gather a group and visit those patients and sing carols

for them and together with them. This way they will be able to feel a little bit of the Christmas
spirit.
Another thing which is worth mentioning is the Romanian literature. Romanian
literature is fascinating and complex and in a way it defines us as a nationality. When reading
Romanian literature you are better able to understand the Romanian culture and background. I
would open a Romanian literature club and I would also make debates on different subjects
from different books or poetries. The club would be open for all nationalities who like reading
and are eager to find more about what it means to be Romanian.
Even though a lot of works from Romanian famous writers are translated into English,
it is not the same feeling when you read them in English and when you read them in
Romanian. For this reason, it is important also to know the language, and this would be
another aspect which I would like to keep alieve. Romanian language classes would be a part
of the reading club. The participants would be given the opportunity to learn the language and
to try to analyse simple poems or paragraphs written in Romanian.
The last thing I would like to mention in this paper is the Romanian art, and I mean
music, sculpture, and painting. I would try to maintain Romanian art alieve by founding an
Arts centre. This centre would give people possibilities to learn music, sculpture and painting,
but besides this, after each class, it would be delivered an ending lesson about a famous
Romanian musician, sculptor or painter. So, besides acquiring different skills, people will be
able to find about Romanian art.
These are some of the things that I would try to keep alieve, and these are things which
I am proud of and I think they are worth remembering. In conclusion I would like to end with
a quote by Mahatma Gandhi who said that a nations culture resides in the hearts and in the
soul of its people.