Langue et Parole

Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin 'clashed' yesterday over the issue of language skills and satisfying the needs of multinationals who have to import foreign language speakers to fill thousands of vacancies. In particular, PayPal took a few shots at the state of language graduates in the country.

(You can read the full match report: Kenny admits concerns over standards of language teaching after PayPal jobs news (via The Journal.ie) http://jrnl.ie/523895 )

The most intriguing part of the discussion is the following statement from Enda, during leader's questions:

'Kenny accused Martin of seeking to restore his own pilot programme, saying many schools were taking independent measures to teach foreign languages to their students.

The MLPSI had been “of benefit”, Kenny said, but it “does not meet the views of where we’re headed for the future” – when modern languages would be “absolutely critical for the development of the country”.'

Read what he said again and see if you can tell what he's saying. 

THE MLPSI, which cost €2m per year to run and provided language teaching in 550 primary schools, was axed in the last budget. A temporary reprieve was provided, to allow the MLPSI to see out the academic year. By the time they had axed the MLPSI, it was working with a skeleton staff of two, and yet they still provided schools with an opportunity to learn French, Spanish and German among others. They will now be out of a job, not to mention the many teachers who were in their employment to provide the classes. 

These languages provide us with the tools to conduct trade and cultural dialogue properly with other countries. Take German as an example: We export billions of Dollars worth of goods to Germany, a land which remains completely untapped to us, primarily because of a lack of language and cultural skills. Our exports admittedly nearly  halved  between 2008 and 2010 for obvious reasons, but business is still there to be done. 

All languages suffer. Access to the Spanish speaking world remains largely untapped, bar ordering a cup of Barry's tea in Fuerteventura. Russian, Portuguese, not to mention Polish and Hindi, are only learned by the tiniest minority. High-tech, agri-tech, pharmaceuticals, engineering, we have it all in spades, but we could have more, but for the pathetic language skills possessed by our workforce. 

Part of the problem, indeed the whole problem, rests on attitude. A true story: A friend of mine, who moved to Germany last year, told me he was attending the language classes provided by his employer. The sessions consisted largely of Irish lads asking how to say 'sure it's grand' in the case they had an unfortunate misunderstanding in a bar when they're having 'the craic'.  

Rather than unlock whole cultures, rather than see the career opportunities such learning might provide - my friend definitely works in the high end of high tech industry - is our attitude that we have the lowest possible expectation of ourselves? If so, where does this come from? There are many suspects, but this is a widespread conspiracy: From parents and students, one group happy they learn anything at all, the other often resistant to applying themselves (a way too complex issue to dismiss with 'laziness'), to educators and the mandarins running the system, the former either overburdened or under-resourced (including developing their teaching and language skills), the latter more interested in resolving issues in Maths and Science, due to the fact that low achievement isn't confined to the language classroom - it's endemic among our young. The tragedy is that apart from the economic benefits of learning a language, we risk a cultural atrophy, we risk ignorance of fascinating, beautiful, tragic civilizations who languages are the vehicles of Cervantes, Voltaire, Kant, Tolstoi, Adam Mickiewicz and Valmiki among others.    

When Kenny dismisses the MLPSI on partisan grounds, when his Sub-Sir Humphryspeak mangles the English language to the tiniest particles of meaningless sounds, what possible hope can we have for leadership in terms of language policy in Ireland? What possible hope is there for retaining the multinationals enticed here by the alleged high quality of our education system, who were, either by design or delusion, brought here ultimately under false pretenses,    

COMPARE THE MERKEL.COM

The Euro crisis, like Ming Flanagan, is an embarrassing debacle that refuses to go away. In the midst of it all, Europe's only heavy hitter, Angela Merkel, has been hit heavily. After nearly half a decade of telling everyone to do crazy things like save their money and stop being lazy, she's caving in. In Berlin, the knives are being sharpened, and she's currently residing comfortably under her desk. Now 170 leading German economists have attacked her in an open letter, and one of her fiercest critics, former chancellor Helmut Schmidt, has with no little gravitas damned the beleaguered 'Madame Non' with faint praise.

Merkel: all smiles and sunshine

2012 Merkel's is her annus horribilis. Her party, the CDU, have been shown the door in every regional election held this year. Her coalition partners, the FDP, are mid implosion, and yet their leader, a man who would rather be in Afghanistan wearing a 'Jihadists for Jesus' T-Shirt than be a politician, managed to bully her into submission over misfired veto of Joachim Gauck's succeeding her handpicked Federal President, the scandal prone Christian Wulff.


Although personally popular up to now, Merkel's tough stance on the sovereign debt issues of the club med countries has cost her dearly. Moreover, it has cost her people too: the level of hostility shown towards ordinary Germans underlines the point that in barely half a decade, Germany's postwar reputation has been put to the sword, as Merkel's characteristic caution has been defined successfully in the discourse as malevolent inaction.

The home front isn't much rosier. Discontent has grown over the absence of a resolution to the crisis. Merkel's lack of substantial consultation with the Bundestag has led to challenges of the EFSF bailout mechanism at the German constitutional court, whose judges have come under increased pressure to react to political events. Enter Helmut Schmidt, former chancellor and grand seigneur of German politics. His interventions have gone largely unreported in Britain and Ireland, despite the fact he has effectively defined the case against Merkel's stance in Europe. At 93, Schmidt's political activity remains far greater than either of his other successors, Helmut Kohl or Gerhard Schroeder, and his influence on political debate accordingly remains undiminished.

Helmut Schmidt: Germany's last great smoker

He is also capable of surprises. He spoke in support of Merkel at an event in Berlin on Tuesday last, acknowledging the great challenges of being chancellor at this time. Daily broadsheet Die Welt reported Schmidt's speech as a backhanded statement of support, applauding her defeats at the G8 and G20 meetings as great tactical victories. Schmidt recently said Merkel is good at political tactics, but to what purpose was anyone's guess. Who said the Germans don't do humour?

Undermining Merkel's approach of narrowly defending Germany's interests, Schmidt has also called for a radical subordination of German concerns to the greater European good. (In December last he even reminded the SPD party conference that those who forget the historic reasons for anchoring Germany in a European Community are in danger of forgetting Germany's historic responsibility to the project.) He has also recently co-authored/co-sponsored a blueprint for a way out of the crisis with Jacques Delors, attempting to offer a pragmatic paradigm for the Eurozone in the future. 

Tomake things worse, Suedeutsche Zeitung reports that 170 leading economists have written an open letter to Merkel on her handling of the crisis. She has responded by questioning their competence. She can afford to do little more for now: her popularity is at its highest for three years. Unfortunately, anyone who knows the fate of our own dear Bertie Ahern will know that popularity won't save your bacon forever.


For all her personal popularity, Merkel is becoming politically isolated, domestically (fatal) as well as internationally (chronic). It's easy to be popular when your firm with the Greeks, whose political class has been the apotheosis of the dilettantism of modern European life, a sordid disgrace in this whole Euro fiasco. Unfortunately for Merkel, she isn't a typical CDU leader, and they'll soon want one of their own.