Languages and the Media, Expolangues, Round table on Friday 16 January

At the Expolangues language fair in Paris the European Commission organised a round table on the role of the media as a tool for language learning. The panel was made up of three experts in the area and moderated by the journalist GuillaumeVilladier. Mick Webb from the BBC, a former French teacher and currently the producer of documentary and educational programmes on languages, referred to the low level of foreign language knowledge in the United Kingdom. Only 30% of British people are able to express themselves in another language. He quoted several initiatives designed to combat this tendency by motivating citizens to learn more languages. These included the nomination of multilingual ambassadors or the scheduling of "edutainment", which aims to educate as well as to amuse. New technologies offer great potential for language learning, as they make available motivating tools which are adapted to the needs and timetables of pupils. However, he drew attention to the digital divide in Europe. Not everyone had access to Internet. Moreover, many teachers are still not convinced of the advantages of the media for language teaching. As a producer of linguistic and cultural programmes on Finnish radio and television, Jaana Sormunen stressed the specific characteristics of her country, which has always been particularly attentive to linguistic skills. In Finland radio and television have always played an important role in language learning, both for young people and for adults. She quoted as an example a rather special reality TV show in which Finns are sent to a foreign country where they must learn the language of that country. Each week, the pupil with the lowest marks is eliminated. Mrs Sormunen stressed the positive results of this type of innovative educational programme. At the same time viewers were encouraged to follow the language courses available on the Internet site of the TV channel. Such initiatives would be easily exportable to other countries. Yves Gambier, doctor of linguistics at Turku University, in Finland, and a specialist in audio-visual translation, discussed the impact which the subtitling of television programmes and films has on language learning. Unlike countries such as France or Italy, foreign programmes are systematically subtitled in Finland, so that awareness raising of foreign languages starts at a very young age, leading to improved oral comprehension skills. However, obstacles still remain: 56% of Europeans would prefer to watch dubbed programmes. Mr Gambier also referred to intralinguistic subtitles, which are subtitles in the same language as the original programme, and stressed their importance for the integration of foreigners as well as the fight against illiteracy. He concluded his intervention by expressing the need for a large-scale study to evaluate the specific impact of subtitling on motivation for language learning. Guillaume Villadier drew attention to the world-wide distribution by TV5 Monde of programmes in the French language, subtitled in French and in 8 other languages. Their Internet site also offers material for students and language teachers, thus putting available resources to good use. The questions from the floor related to quality problems in subtitling (verbatim transcription or not) and to didactic experiments in virtual worlds such as "Second Life". Summing up, the panel members concluded that the new media offered numerous possibilities for language learning. The suggestion was made to set up a platform bringing together at a European level all existing programmes, Internet sites and good practice in this area.