Message-ID: <3841B933.94FF21E5@direct.ca> Date: Sun, 28 Nov 1999 15:22:27 -0800 From: Cyril Belshaw <mailto:cbelshaw@DIRECT.CA> Subject: Re: Language, Tech. transfer, & Devt. To: mailto:DEVEL-L@LISTSERV.AMERICAN.EDU
I can see where president Konare is coming from. However it is neither historically nor contemporarily true.Latin, Greek, English in India, Mandarin in China, Arabic, German, Russian, French have been the langagues of science and important cultural creativity in societies which speak other lanmguages in the home. Whether this is functional is another matter to be approached empirically and within the context of the total system of symbolic interaction.
There are always dysfunctions in the use of language to communicate ideas, which is what science and culture are about. And according to at least one theory of innovation, the more bounded and restricted a cultural system is, the less the innovation.
And of course it is true that to move children from the language of play and domestic conversation to the disciplines of rigorous thinking or unbounded crfeativity is a matter of intesne study and argument -- which applies in a unilingual society as well as in one in which the language of the intellectual elite differs from that of the street.
In this context, the President's remarks can be read as uninformed and unhelpful -- as are the remaks of other politicians to the effect that science myust speak in everyday language.
au futur
Cyril Belshaw
Donald Z Osborn wrote:
> In a speech on national education given on 13 November 1999
> (and published in the 16 November issue of the newspaper
> _Essor_, the Malian president Konare made the following
> statement in the context of remarks concerning the
> introduction of instruction in the various national languages
> of the country (French is the official language of government
> and until now the exclusive language of formal public
> education [excepting a some pilot experiments]):
>
> "... dans la longue histoire de l'humanité, jamais aucun
> peuple n'a réussi domestiquer la science et le progrès dans
> la langue d'autrui."
> [in the long history of humanity, never has any people
> succeeded in domesticating science and progress in the
> language of others]
>
> This perspective has important implications for "technology
> transfer in development" (however conceived, initiated, and
> implemented). Yet the centrality of language has often
> seemed to be avoided (left as implicit [in ag., for instance,
> you naturally assume that the extension agent will use the/a
> farmers' language and the development expert or research
> scientist will have a translator as needed] or overlooked
> entirely), especially in multilingual nations where the
> presence of many languages makes the situation complex and
> even potentially politically tricky.
>
> I'd be interested in reactions and experience from people on
> this list. Can technology be "domesticated" without first
> being rephrased in the mother tongue? Is any development
> "sustainable" without at some point being discussed in terms
> that all the people in a community would understand (i.e., a
> necessary but I would hasten to add, not a sufficient
> condition)? And what does this imply for foreign /
> internationally funded development projects and programs in
> multilingual societies?
>
> In other words, what is necessary beyond people talking - and
> even talking in action - in their own languages to make for
> such "domestication"?
> - Freierian-style adult literacy in maternal languages?
> - school curricula in those languages?
> - active production of materials in those languages by
> development projects?
> - documentation of indigenous knowledge in the languages in
> which the IK evolved (& then storage "in situ")?
> - language "localization" of ICTs?
> - all of the above or some combination?
> - what priorities?
>
> Or is all of this off the mark entirely?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> --
> Don Osborn mailto:osborndo@pilot.msu.edu
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> "A superficial culture, unsupported by a cultivated morality, is
> as `a confused medley of dreams.'" `Abdu'l-Baha (1876)
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~