In an article in the Svenska Dagbladet, Olle Josephson writes of a Scandinavian political convention bringing together Norwegian, Danish and Swedish youth movements for an exchange of ideas earlier in 2008. That exchange, reports Olle, now takes place in English. This is in part due to the way that the Scandinavian languages have now diverged further than ever, while still being easily understood on paper, the linguistically closer Swedish and Norwegian speakers can now have difficulty understanding spoken Danish. One solution, as proposed by Olle, would be to spend “10–12 hours of Danish teaching per school year, that should quickly allow students to reach a reading and comprehension level high above their second language choices such as German or French“.

And the French, seeking their own solutions to what they see as a threat to their culture, discussed the point in Le Monde this week as the French music festival Francopholies brought down the curtain on 130 French artists, 17 of whom sang exclusively in English. The internationally renowned Sebastien Téllier admitted, “I choose the language that emphasises my music best. If I’m in doubt, I google the expression to see if it exists or not… I want people to own my music themselves and give their own meaning to it“.

However the appeal of English may go beyond its simple artistic merits, as J.B. from the band Nelson explains, “on the European market, we’re equal and on a par with the Anglo-Saxons and Scandinavians“ in a tone more akin to an international group based in France than a mere French group. But with France’s strict quotas for French language music to be broadcast through the media networks, English language French music is largely being censored – although a loophole is occasionally exploited when a song adds a few lines of French in order to be classed as French culture, such as Camille’s album release Gospel With No Lord.

A movement in political and cultural terms is taking place throughout Europe, globalisation and culture exchanges are taking place in a tongue that has made no efforts to impose itself, yet has somehow become aspired to. The transatlantic expression, “two nations separated by a common language” may soon have to be adapted to something rather less elegant in order to keep up with the times.

Luke Spear

This article cited text that was translated from Swedish and French in the following publications:
SvD
Le Monde 

Whether it be paper, a hard drive or the future, the blank canvas cannot be left blank once noticed. It’s an opportunity that can’t be missed, like walking past a clear sparkling stream in the desert. Often the act of filling will not be lucrative or even potentially useful, yet will satisfy an inner desire that is hard to meet in any other way. It can also become an obsession. As no stone is left unturned, the blank canvas is sought out with fervour. Not only is the seeker happy to find her new pristine canvas, but when it comes to filling the space with words, drawings, thoughts, sounds, lights or other sensations, she is also enthusiastic to try new methods of expression in a process of continual improvement relying on the best of previous expression to perfect the output until she deems it has reached perfection, something that rarely, if ever, happens.

And so it is with spoken language. As if preprogrammed to process sensory input, the brain welcomes new spoken languages with neurons wide open, a vast sea of blank canvas in the mind that longs to be covered with new connections. Reading the language on paper, if familiar with the local alphabet or transcribing system, will act as a support to spoken language connections, but the visual isn’t as stimulating as the auditory that can spur the memory into action with its intricate sounds rich in texture, timbre, tone, melody and implied meaning. To the uninhibited brain many more neural pathways are created through hearing language than reading it, linking similar sounds and tones that are linked to situations common in other languages already in memory.

Empty spaces in nature present a very attractive challenge to man. The utility of filling them is not always evident, beyond auto-satisfaction, but given the infinite possibilities of random neural connections that can be made in any one of the 6.6 billion+ brains on this planet the blank canvas must be put before every one of those in order for the species to continuously improve, kaizen via tabula rasa, if we are to see a host of new creations in art, science, philosophy and human consciousness.

The image and word could form a stronger image in the memory than mere text, such as this.

In my personal experience, I remember most vocabulary when confronted with a real life situation which is very easy to recall later. I remember grammar rules better when explained with diagrams. Not everyone will find these methods beneficial, but those struggling with text books could.

In the same way, videos and cartoon strips could provide very useful learning aids. As well as a real world situation such as a phone call asking you to do something specific.