May 2019 – Educational Sociolinguistics

Findings during the trip in Toronto

Mengting Liu

I went to Toronto several days ago and I was so impressed by how modern and big Toronto is as an international metropolis (especially how wide and flat the road is). I was also shocked by how different it is compared to Montreal concerning not only the general vibes it gives, but also the language environment. If we say Montreal is a bilingual city where French and English are its official languages, Toronto can also be bilingual to some extent, especially in shopping malls, because Mandarin is EVERYWHERE! When I was walking on the street, I always thought, “Did I just took a 6 hour ride and got back to China?”

With a large amount of Chinese immigrants flooding in Toronto, the society exerts a profound influence on its language. There is no doubt that Chinese culture and language take an indispensable proportion in this multicultural and city. In Yorkdale shopping centre, it is not difficult to find signs written in Chinese. In the MAC cosmetic store, I saw a line of Chinese “魅可樱花全樱绽放系列” follows a line of English which said “MAC Boom Boom Bloom”. Every luxury store in the shopping centre is equipped with at least one shop assistant who is Chinese and provides Mandarin services. This phenomenon, to a large extent, can attribute to the enormous purchasing power of Chinese immigrants or travellers, among whom English may not be the language they are familiar with. I was told that in Vancouver which has more Chinese immigrants because of its more pleasant weather, Chinese people can totally live without using English.

I realize that the protection of French in Quebec is actually protecting the culture. Although I always feel struggled when learning French, I still find it is worthy to do, because it is an essential way to maintain the culture and the uniqueness of Montreal.

Does the accent really matter?

By Yunjie

In a daily chatting with two of my best friends in college, I found both of them are now learning the British accent. When asked about the reason, one girl working in a private English education institute in China explained, “English teachers with the British accent are relatively rare, and consequently seem to be more advanced and fancy, therefore they are more welcomed by students, parents, and the school”, while another girl who is attending graduate school in London told me that “I try to learn British English because the teachers here pay more attention and give more compliment to international students speaking British English”.

Based on that, I did a simple follow-up research on the Internet trying to see different people’s perspectives on different English varieties. It looks like US websites enjoy publishing articles such as “30 Awesome British Slang Terms You Should Start Using Immediately”, while the British media has a fondness for articles such as “40 Things That Americans Say Wrong”. And in Chinese websites, there are tons of posts discussing about whether to learn British English or American English. Agree or not agree: a hierarchy of English varieties does exist. First British English, then American English, finally comes with some other non-standard English varieties.

Code-switching: showing off?

Fangzhe

The discussion of code-switching in class was quite interesting and it triggers some further thoughts.

An interesting fact is the mention that adding English words in conversations in China is regarded as a kind of showing off. This may sound very weird to people who have long been living in a neighborhood where shifting between different languages is a common practice. The perception is probably derived from the distorted imagery of some TV shows that depict a figure who likes to combine some English words into every sentence he or she speaks, mostly in a funny way, to demonstrate that he or she can speak the language. Criticism also comes from teachers and parents, saying that if the students mix two languages together, they are not learning either language well. Currently in China, although some people still hold this kind of stereotype, more people are accepting this phenomenon as a common scene in the workplace or even daily life.

The advantages of being multilingual

Fangzhe

On my last trip to Cuba, I was struck when the tour guide on the bus was introducing the whole trip to us in very fluent English, French and Spanish. He explained everything in all three languages, in an order based on the number of people who can only understand a certain language. He seemed to have no troubles traveling through these three languages. And with the ability to entertain his target audience in each language, he gained an abundance of tips at the end of the trip.

I was surprised because in China, normally mastering English, a language most people learn since primary school, is not common and can be regarded as a great attribute. However, the first Cuban guy I met can speak three different languages in such a good way. Does it mean that in Cuba, even to be a tour guide, there is a such demanding requirement of being multilingual, or most people there actually are good multilingual speakers?