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From: deb5@midway.uchicago.edu (Daniel von Brighoff)
Subject: Re: Taught languages
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Date: Wed, 4 Dec 1996 18:48:45 GMT
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In article <32A604DC.54A@wiso.uni-koeln.de>,
Biebeler, Hendrik <biebeler@wiso.uni-koeln.de> wrote:
>Hello!
>I am looking for a list of the foreign languages taught to pupils all
>over the world, this means: if a young person has to learn a foreign
>language in country X, which language will this be due to curriculas?
>Is there anybody who knows where to get these data or at least a part of
>it? If you have it, you'll make me happy for a while :-))
>Yours Hendrik Biebeler (biebeler@wiso.uni-koeln.de)

	How does one determine exactly which languages are "foreign"?  For
example, Russians in Estonia are now compelled to learn Estonian.  By one
definition, this is not a "foreign language" because it is the official
language of that country.  But it certainly is foreign to the majority of
Estonian-Russians--who hitherto felt no need to communicate in it--and is
taught as such (i.e. monolingual Russians are not simply immersed in
Estonian-medium classes with Estonian pupils).

	Catalonia adds another wrinkle, as it is a region and not an
independent country.  Immigrants from other parts of Spain and their
children are now required to learn Catalan in school, some through
immersion and some through Spanish-medium classes.  When they learn the
co-official language of that region, are they studying a "foreign"
language?

	What about attendees of the Latvian and Ukrainian schools in
Germany?  Most come from Latvian bzw. Ukrainian-speaking households, so
the language they are studying is not "foreign" to them, but it is foreign
to their neighbors and the school system in general.


-- 
	 Daniel "Da" von Brighoff    /\          Dilettanten
	(deb5@midway.uchicago.edu)  /__\         erhebt Euch
				   /____\      gegen die Kunst!
