English at the gates

The future of Estonia is in jeopardy: officials are concerned that with as many as 84% of all students in Estonian schools studying English as a second language and the popularity of languages such as German and French seriously on the wane, there will not be enough speakers of other EU languages in the years to come.

“The only way we'll get ourselves any proper specialists is if these languages are taught thoroughly and if the students gain experience in learning a number of them,” said Kersti Sõstar, the director of the language department of the National Examinations and Qualifications Centre.

41% of students (and rising) are currently taking Russian classes, while only 18% are studying German and a mere 3% French - with just 4% and 1% respectively studying the latter two as their first foreign language. Meanwhile, 71% are plumping for English as their foreign tongue of choice.

However, it is generally the schools themselves who decide which languages they teach (rather than the students being given the choice) and therefore which are given priority. This has led to many teachers of other languages having to turn traitor and take up teaching English lest they find themselves out of a job.

Now call me a cynic, but this in itself does not necessarily bode well for the teaching of English in Estonian schools. Sure, the methodology might be the same, but are the skills necessarily on par? Besides, if the state's education honchos are really so concerned about Estonians speaking EU languages, where are the schools offering Maltese and Irish Gaelic?

http://www.epl.ee/uudised/422052

A man with a vision

Tallinn City Council Chairman Toomas Vitsut has proposed that English be adopted as the second official language of the City of Tallinn.

In widely reported news on yesterday's 'vision conference', featuring a star-studded array of the capital's mayors past and present, Vitsut is quoted as suggesting that adopting English as an official language in municipal authorities would make the city more attractive to foreign companies, thus cushioning the impact when the currently super-inflated economic bubble bursts and filling in the gaps left by Russian firms who packed their bags after the unrest that shook the city earlier this year.

None of the other presenters had anything much to say about Vitsut's idea, as they were too busy banging heads with their own. There were conflicting views about the future of the city, with some saying that Tallinn should spread out even further in a wave of [sub]urbanisation, while others felt that the population should be encouraged to move downtown en masse, with the inner city becoming a jungle of concrete, glass and steel - the idea behind this being that it would improve the dire traffic situation in the capital.

Former mayor Ivi Eenmaa put in her own two cents' worth, stating that more needs to be done to improve Tallinn and Estonia's position within Europe lest they become provincialised and pigeon-holed. She pointed out the results of a recent study, which showed that in none of the stories about Tallinn in the foreign press of late has the city been painted in a good light.

Whether or not presenting such conferences in English - as presumably they would if it were adopted as an official language of the city - would help put Tallinn in the headlines for the right reasons is another matter. Have you heard the likes of Edgar Savisaar and Kaia Jäppinen delivering speeches in English?