Multilingualism in Different Countries

Background story of me, I immigrated to Canada when I was 10 from china, I'm currently live in Canada Toronto. My mom speaks English, Chinese (Cantonese and Mandarin). My sister spokes two fluency languages in English and Chinese, but she came to Canada when she was 15 so which it's harder than me to learn a second language as Chinese is her mother tongue and I was younger than her which could easily pick up the new language. she works very hard to learn English to have today's success. She also learning Japanese right now because she likes the cultural of Japan, and she would like to work in Japan for 2 years to gain her work experiences. But now she currently in Beijing china, and working in PWC to gain some work experiences before start to pursue her career in Japan.
1. Week 2 assignment
complete the following tasks related to this week's readings.
PART A
Complete the activity at the end of the Edwards reading (page 27 - "Activities and discussion points") and post it in this forum. Name the post "Part A"
PART B
Choose one country of the ones listed in the last slide of my slide presentation. Research the following:
How and when did the country become a multilingual state?
Whatlanguages are spoken?
What is the country’s language policy?
What are the country’s main immigration currents?
Interesting facts about the country’s multilingual status
2. Week 3 assignment
complete the following tasks related to this week's reading.
PART A
Interview someone you know who speaks 2 or more languages and map out their language usage in terms of their community environment(s). (for this part you can write the interview about my sister to response this part.)
Classify them using one of the many typologies mentioned in the reading and according to the concepts mentioned in the video. (https://www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=HuM8-VmVcn0)
Design your own “multilingual typology” based on your own multilingual experience.
Post this in this forum. Name the post "Part A".
PART B
Review Stewart’s (1968) typologies of languages and provide an example for each of the languages in the chart.
Review De Swaan’s (2001) hierarchy of languages, find out if it is still valid today and provide an example of one central and peripheral language.
Review Graddol’s (1997) classification of GLP and find out if it is still valid today. Provide examples of transaction usage.
3. Week 4 assignments
answer the following questions related to this week's reading.(you can find week 4 reading through the upload)
1.Provide one example of each of the four cases of disglossia/bilingualism in any given community/country (p. 70).
2. Interview a member of an immigrant family in your community. Did they experience the "three generation shift" pattern? Have they maintained their first language? If yes, in which contexts? If not, why?
3. What is your perspective regarding the future of English based on what was discussed in the reading and in the video?
Week 5 assignments
PART A
answer only two of the following questions related to this week's reading:
Wht are the causes and the events that contributed to the enactment of the Canadian multiculturalism policy?
Research the latest developments with respect to multiculturalism policy since 2018 (when the report that was assigned for this week was published).
Based on your own personal experience, how do you feel about Canadian multiculturalism?
As a future teacher, what can you do to promote the Canadian multiculturalism in the classroom?
Post the two answers in this forum. Name the post "Part A".
PART B
Take the position of critic OR defender of the Canadian multiculturalism.
Think of your reasons for rejecting or defending the Canadian multiculturalism
Write a speech as if you were participating in a debate (approximately 150-200 words)
+ here are some examples responses from the classmates, I will post it in here you can take it as reference and you might get some ideas of how to complete the tasks +
EXAMLE:
Week 2 example from classmate
part A:
2. My mom was born in Canada, but was raised by immigrant parents who only spoke Portuguese and knew no english. Therefore, my mom only spoke and was learning Portuguese in her early years of life. The main and continued language that was used within her home was Portuguese. It was not until she began school in Canada that she started to learn how to speak English. From this point on she was able to learn and speak Portuguese with her family and within her house, and began to grasp an understanding and learn English outside of her home life. Being young and learning both of these languages presented their difficulties. My mom was required to stay behind a year in school because she was not able to speak any English. however, now she is able to communicate fluently in both languages. Using her first language, Portuguese, with family and English in the other half of her daily life.
3. Being in Canada and in a diverse area has shown me many various languages that can be easily heard by simply walking through the mall. however, for me the languages that I hear on a daily are English and Portuguese within my home and with my family. I think people speaking different languages use a lingua franca, such as English, as a way to communicate. I have heard my grandmother, who’s first language is Portuguese, use her knowledge of English to convey what she means to someone who does not speak the same language as her. Although English is not her first language, she is still able to communicate using it. I believe that there is a high degree of individual bilingualism, many people that you meet within Canada come from somewhere else around the world and they speak both their home language and English. Living in Canada you can see a wide variety of languages that are used daily.
PART B:
Luxembourg...
1. Luxembourg became a multilingual state between the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.
2. The three languages that are spoken in Luxembourg are Luxembourgish, German, and French.
3. In 1984 a language law was adopted which says “Luxembourgish is solely defined as a national language"
4. The country's main immigration currents are Portuguese, “who numbered nearly 96,000 in 2019” and following that is French and Italian and also a large group of Belgians.
5. An interesting fact is that in 2018, 98% of Luxembourg's population was able to speak a high level of French, for the most part being their second language. Along with that, Luxembourg has a large foreign population.
Week 3 example from classmate:
part A:
For this portion I interviewed my sister. My sister is fluent in English Italian and French. She is also currently picking up the polish language from her in laws. In terms of Lei-Wei’s typologies of bilinguals, my sister would fall under the category of a natural by lingual. English and Italian were learned simultaneously from birth without formal training. In regard to her third language of French she would be an ascendant bilingual. She trained in a formal manner for this language and as continued her French studies and pursued a career as a French teacher her language continued to flourish. This same classification would apply for her Polish. As she increases time being spent with her in-laws, she continues to practice the language in community.
From my own multilingual experience, I would create a classification of a selective bi-lingual. This person would only utilize the most convenient language based off of those around them. These people disguise their knowledge of a language at a certain time. An example of this is when I receive a call from an anonymous phone number and begin speaking in Italian to deter the conversation from going any further.
Part B:
*Review Stewart’s (1968) typologies of languages and provide an example for each of the languages in the chart.
Standard- English (Canada)
Classical- Greek
Artificial- Lojban
Vernacular- Mexican-American English
Dialect- Calabrese (Italy)
Creole- Louisiana Creole
Pidgin- Chinese Pidgin English
*Review De Swaan’s (2001) hierarchy of languages, find out if it is still valid today and provide an example of one central and peripheral language.
I think that De Swaan’s (2001) hierarchy of languages is still valid after 21 years as all the languages under supercentral are languages spoken in many different countries.
Central- Italian
Peripheral- Dumi
*Review Graddol’s (1997) classification of GLP and find out if it is still valid today. Provide examples of transaction usage.
I think this is valid as all these languages are used in different countries around the world. By English being first on the list it proves that it is still valid as English is used in many different countries and is the most known language around the world. I think an example of transaction usage can be seen by countries' leaders getting together and communicating. Since 2020, there Is no doubt that different leaders have been communicating to help the spread of Covid-19.