0:00:01.000,0:00:03.000
I know what you're thinking.

0:00:03.000,0:00:05.000
You think I've lost my way,

0:00:05.000,0:00:07.000
and somebody's going to come on the stage in a minute

0:00:07.000,0:00:09.000
and guide me gently back to my seat.

0:00:09.000,0:00:15.000
(Applause)

0:00:15.000,0:00:18.000
I get that all the time in Dubai.

0:00:18.000,0:00:20.000
"Here on holiday are you, dear?"

0:00:20.000,0:00:22.000
(Laughter)

0:00:22.000,0:00:25.000
"Come to visit the children?

0:00:25.000,0:00:27.000
How long are you staying?"

0:00:27.000,0:00:30.000
Well actually, I hope for a while longer yet.

0:00:30.000,0:00:33.000
I have been living and teaching in the Gulf

0:00:33.000,0:00:35.000
for over 30 years.

0:00:35.000,0:00:39.000
(Applause)

0:00:39.000,0:00:43.000
And in that time, I have seen a lot of changes.

0:00:43.000,0:00:45.000
Now that statistic

0:00:45.000,0:00:47.000
is quite shocking.

0:00:47.000,0:00:49.000
And I want to talk to you today

0:00:49.000,0:00:51.000
about language loss

0:00:51.000,0:00:54.000
and the globalization of English.

0:00:54.000,0:00:56.000
I want to tell you about my friend

0:00:56.000,0:00:59.000
who was teaching English to adults in Abu Dhabi.

0:00:59.000,0:01:01.000
And one fine day,

0:01:01.000,0:01:03.000
she decided to take them into the garden

0:01:03.000,0:01:05.000
to teach them some nature vocabulary.

0:01:05.000,0:01:07.000
But it was she who ended up learning

0:01:07.000,0:01:09.000
all the Arabic words for the local plants,

0:01:09.000,0:01:11.000
as well as their uses --

0:01:11.000,0:01:14.000
medicinal uses, cosmetics,

0:01:14.000,0:01:17.000
cooking, herbal.

0:01:17.000,0:01:19.000
How did those students get all that knowledge?

0:01:19.000,0:01:21.000
Of course, from their grandparents

0:01:21.000,0:01:24.000
and even their great-grandparents.

0:01:24.000,0:01:27.000
It's not necessary to tell you how important it is

0:01:27.000,0:01:29.000
to be able to communicate

0:01:29.000,0:01:31.000
across generations.

0:01:31.000,0:01:33.000
But sadly, today,

0:01:33.000,0:01:35.000
languages are dying

0:01:35.000,0:01:37.000
at an unprecedented rate.

0:01:37.000,0:01:40.000
A language dies every 14 days.

0:01:41.000,0:01:43.000
Now, at the same time,

0:01:43.000,0:01:45.000
English is the undisputed global language.

0:01:45.000,0:01:47.000
Could there be a connection?

0:01:47.000,0:01:49.000
Well I don't know.

0:01:49.000,0:01:52.000
But I do know that I've seen a lot of changes.

0:01:52.000,0:01:55.000
When I first came out to the Gulf, I came to Kuwait

0:01:55.000,0:01:58.000
in the days when it was still a hardship post.

0:01:58.000,0:02:00.000
Actually, not that long ago.

0:02:00.000,0:02:03.000
That is a little bit too early.

0:02:03.000,0:02:05.000
But nevertheless,

0:02:05.000,0:02:07.000
I was recruited by the British Council,

0:02:07.000,0:02:09.000
along with about 25 other teachers.

0:02:09.000,0:02:11.000
And we were the first non-Muslims

0:02:11.000,0:02:14.000
to teach in the state schools there in Kuwait.

0:02:14.000,0:02:16.000
We were brought to teach English

0:02:16.000,0:02:20.000
because the government wanted to modernize the country

0:02:20.000,0:02:23.000
and to empower the citizens through education.

0:02:23.000,0:02:25.000
And of course, the U.K. benefited

0:02:25.000,0:02:28.000
from some of that lovely oil wealth.

0:02:28.000,0:02:30.000
Okay.

0:02:30.000,0:02:33.000
Now this is the major change that I've seen --

0:02:33.000,0:02:35.000
how teaching English

0:02:35.000,0:02:37.000
has morphed

0:02:37.000,0:02:41.000
from being a mutually beneficial practice

0:02:41.000,0:02:44.000
to becoming a massive international business that it is today.

0:02:44.000,0:02:48.000
No longer just a foreign language on the school curriculum,

0:02:48.000,0:02:50.000
and no longer the sole domain

0:02:50.000,0:02:52.000
of mother England,

0:02:52.000,0:02:54.000
it has become a bandwagon

0:02:54.000,0:02:57.000
for every English-speaking nation on earth.

0:02:57.000,0:02:59.000
And why not?

0:02:59.000,0:03:02.000
After all, the best education --

0:03:02.000,0:03:05.000
according to the latest World University Rankings --

0:03:05.000,0:03:07.000
is to be found in the universities

0:03:07.000,0:03:11.000
of the U.K. and the U.S.

0:03:11.000,0:03:15.000
So everybody wants to have an English education, naturally.

0:03:15.000,0:03:17.000
But if you're not a native speaker,

0:03:17.000,0:03:19.000
you have to pass a test.

0:03:19.000,0:03:21.000
Now can it be right

0:03:21.000,0:03:23.000
to reject a student

0:03:23.000,0:03:25.000
on linguistic ability alone?

0:03:25.000,0:03:27.000
Perhaps you have a computer scientist

0:03:27.000,0:03:29.000
who's a genius.

0:03:29.000,0:03:32.000
Would he need the same language as a lawyer, for example?

0:03:32.000,0:03:35.000
Well, I don't think so.

0:03:36.000,0:03:39.000
We English teachers reject them all the time.

0:03:39.000,0:03:41.000
We put a stop sign,

0:03:41.000,0:03:43.000
and we stop them in their tracks.

0:03:43.000,0:03:45.000
They can't pursue their dream any longer,

0:03:45.000,0:03:48.000
'til they get English.

0:03:49.000,0:03:52.000
Now let me put it this way:

0:03:52.000,0:03:56.000
if I met a monolingual Dutch speaker

0:03:56.000,0:03:58.000
who had the cure for cancer,

0:03:58.000,0:04:01.000
would I stop him from entering my British University?

0:04:01.000,0:04:03.000
I don't think so.

0:04:03.000,0:04:06.000
But indeed, that is exactly what we do.

0:04:06.000,0:04:09.000
We English teachers are the gatekeepers.

0:04:09.000,0:04:12.000
And you have to satisfy us first

0:04:12.000,0:04:15.000
that your English is good enough.

0:04:16.000,0:04:18.000
Now it can be dangerous

0:04:18.000,0:04:21.000
to give too much power

0:04:21.000,0:04:23.000
to a narrow segment of society.

0:04:23.000,0:04:26.000
Maybe the barrier would be too universal.

0:04:26.000,0:04:28.000
Okay.

0:04:28.000,0:04:31.000
"But," I hear you say,

0:04:31.000,0:04:33.000
"what about the research?

0:04:33.000,0:04:35.000
It's all in English."

0:04:35.000,0:04:37.000
So the books are in English,

0:04:37.000,0:04:39.000
the journals are done in English,

0:04:39.000,0:04:42.000
but that is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

0:04:42.000,0:04:44.000
It feeds the English requirement.

0:04:44.000,0:04:46.000
And so it goes on.

0:04:46.000,0:04:49.000
I ask you, what happened to translation?

0:04:49.000,0:04:53.000
If you think about the Islamic Golden Age,

0:04:53.000,0:04:56.000
there was lots of translation then.

0:04:56.000,0:04:59.000
They translated from Latin and Greek

0:04:59.000,0:05:01.000
into Arabic, into Persian,

0:05:01.000,0:05:03.000
and then it was translated on

0:05:03.000,0:05:05.000
into the Germanic languages of Europe

0:05:05.000,0:05:07.000
and the Romance languages.

0:05:07.000,0:05:11.000
And so light shone upon the Dark Ages of Europe.

0:05:12.000,0:05:14.000
Now don't get me wrong;

0:05:14.000,0:05:16.000
I am not against teaching English,

0:05:16.000,0:05:18.000
all you English teachers out there.

0:05:18.000,0:05:20.000
I love it that we have a global language.

0:05:20.000,0:05:23.000
We need one today more than ever.

0:05:23.000,0:05:25.000
But I am against using it

0:05:25.000,0:05:27.000
as a barrier.

0:05:27.000,0:05:30.000
Do we really want to end up with 600 languages

0:05:30.000,0:05:33.000
and the main one being English, or Chinese?

0:05:33.000,0:05:36.000
We need more than that. Where do we draw the line?

0:05:36.000,0:05:38.000
This system

0:05:38.000,0:05:41.000
equates intelligence

0:05:41.000,0:05:44.000
with a knowledge of English,

0:05:44.000,0:05:46.000
which is quite arbitrary.

0:05:46.000,0:05:52.000
(Applause)

0:05:52.000,0:05:54.000
And I want to remind you

0:05:54.000,0:05:57.000
that the giants upon whose shoulders

0:05:57.000,0:05:59.000
today's intelligentsia stand

0:05:59.000,0:06:01.000
did not have to have English,

0:06:01.000,0:06:03.000
they didn't have to pass an English test.

0:06:03.000,0:06:06.000
Case in point, Einstein.

0:06:07.000,0:06:10.000
He, by the way, was considered remedial at school

0:06:10.000,0:06:12.000
because he was, in fact, dyslexic.

0:06:12.000,0:06:14.000
But fortunately for the world,

0:06:14.000,0:06:17.000
he did not have to pass an English test.

0:06:17.000,0:06:20.000
Because they didn't start until 1964

0:06:20.000,0:06:22.000
with TOEFL,

0:06:22.000,0:06:24.000
the American test of English.

0:06:24.000,0:06:26.000
Now it's exploded.

0:06:26.000,0:06:29.000
There are lots and lots of tests of English.

0:06:29.000,0:06:31.000
And millions and millions of students

0:06:31.000,0:06:33.000
take these tests every year.

0:06:33.000,0:06:35.000
Now you might think, you and me,

0:06:35.000,0:06:37.000
"Those fees aren't bad, they're okay,"

0:06:37.000,0:06:39.000
but they are prohibitive

0:06:39.000,0:06:41.000
to so many millions of poor people.

0:06:41.000,0:06:43.000
So immediately, we're rejecting them.

0:06:43.000,0:06:46.000
(Applause)

0:06:46.000,0:06:49.000
It brings to mind a headline I saw recently:

0:06:49.000,0:06:51.000
"Education: The Great Divide."

0:06:51.000,0:06:53.000
Now I get it,

0:06:53.000,0:06:56.000
I understand why people would want to focus on English.

0:06:56.000,0:06:59.000
They want to give their children the best chance in life.

0:07:00.000,0:07:03.000
And to do that, they need a Western education.

0:07:03.000,0:07:05.000
Because, of course, the best jobs

0:07:05.000,0:07:08.000
go to people out of the Western Universities,

0:07:08.000,0:07:10.000
that I put on earlier.

0:07:10.000,0:07:12.000
It's a circular thing.

0:07:12.000,0:07:14.000
Okay.

0:07:14.000,0:07:16.000
Let me tell you a story about two scientists,

0:07:16.000,0:07:18.000
two English scientists.

0:07:18.000,0:07:20.000
They were doing an experiment

0:07:20.000,0:07:22.000
to do with genetics

0:07:22.000,0:07:25.000
and the forelimbs and the hind limbs of animals.

0:07:25.000,0:07:27.000
But they couldn't get the results they wanted.

0:07:27.000,0:07:29.000
They really didn't know what to do,

0:07:29.000,0:07:32.000
until along came a German scientist

0:07:32.000,0:07:35.000
who realized that they were using two words

0:07:35.000,0:07:37.000
for forelimb and hind limb,

0:07:37.000,0:07:41.000
whereas genetics does not differentiate

0:07:41.000,0:07:43.000
and neither does German.

0:07:43.000,0:07:45.000
So bingo,

0:07:45.000,0:07:47.000
problem solved.

0:07:47.000,0:07:49.000
If you can't think a thought,

0:07:49.000,0:07:52.000
you are stuck.

0:07:52.000,0:07:54.000
But if another language can think that thought,

0:07:54.000,0:07:56.000
then, by cooperating,

0:07:56.000,0:07:59.000
we can achieve and learn so much more.

0:08:01.000,0:08:03.000
My daughter

0:08:03.000,0:08:06.000
came to England from Kuwait.

0:08:06.000,0:08:09.000
She had studied science and mathematics in Arabic.

0:08:09.000,0:08:12.000
It's an Arabic medium school.

0:08:12.000,0:08:15.000
She had to translate it into English at her grammar school.

0:08:15.000,0:08:17.000
And she was the best in the class

0:08:17.000,0:08:19.000
at those subjects.

0:08:19.000,0:08:21.000
Which tells us

0:08:21.000,0:08:23.000
that when students come to us from abroad,

0:08:23.000,0:08:25.000
we may not be giving them enough credit

0:08:25.000,0:08:27.000
for what they know,

0:08:27.000,0:08:30.000
and they know it in their own language.

0:08:30.000,0:08:32.000
When a language dies,

0:08:32.000,0:08:35.000
we don't know what we lose with that language.

0:08:35.000,0:08:39.000
This is -- I don't know if you saw it on CNN recently --

0:08:39.000,0:08:41.000
they gave the Heroes Award

0:08:41.000,0:08:44.000
to a young Kenyan shepherd boy

0:08:44.000,0:08:47.000
who couldn't study at night in his village,

0:08:47.000,0:08:49.000
like all the village children,

0:08:49.000,0:08:51.000
because the kerosene lamp,

0:08:51.000,0:08:53.000
it had smoke and it damaged his eyes.

0:08:53.000,0:08:56.000
And anyway, there was never enough kerosene,

0:08:56.000,0:08:59.000
because what does a dollar a day buy for you?

0:08:59.000,0:09:01.000
So he invented

0:09:01.000,0:09:04.000
a cost-free solar lamp.

0:09:04.000,0:09:06.000
And now the children in his village

0:09:06.000,0:09:08.000
get the same grades at school

0:09:08.000,0:09:12.000
as the children who have electricity at home.

0:09:12.000,0:09:18.000
(Applause)

0:09:18.000,0:09:20.000
When he received his award,

0:09:20.000,0:09:22.000
he said these lovely words:

0:09:22.000,0:09:25.000
"The children can lead Africa from what it is today,

0:09:25.000,0:09:27.000
a dark continent,

0:09:27.000,0:09:29.000
to a light continent."

0:09:29.000,0:09:31.000
A simple idea,

0:09:31.000,0:09:34.000
but it could have such far-reaching consequences.

0:09:35.000,0:09:37.000
People who have no light,

0:09:37.000,0:09:40.000
whether it's physical or metaphorical,

0:09:40.000,0:09:43.000
cannot pass our exams,

0:09:43.000,0:09:46.000
and we can never know what they know.

0:09:46.000,0:09:49.000
Let us not keep them and ourselves

0:09:49.000,0:09:51.000
in the dark.

0:09:51.000,0:09:54.000
Let us celebrate diversity.

0:09:54.000,0:09:57.000
Mind your language.

0:09:57.000,0:10:01.000
Use it to spread great ideas.

0:10:01.000,0:10:08.000
(Applause)

0:10:08.000,0:10:10.000
Thank you very much.

0:10:10.000,0:10:13.000
(Applause)