The govornment has suggested that british schoolchildren should be given the option of learning mandarin urdu and farsi in school. Mandarin i can understand, given china's importance economically, politically etc. But Urdu? Pakistan is not a major economic, cultural and political power, surely it would be better to stick to french german italian and spanish? Seems to be PC gone mad, sucking up to the number of pakistanis in uk!As an Assyrian from iraq my native language is aramaic, but i'd hardly push for it to be taught in uk schools!
2007-03-13 04:44:54 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Primary & Secondary Education
Next thing we know, the british kids will be going to pakistani schools and the girls will have to wear sari's
the UK has gone stark raving mad
2007-03-13 04:48:44 · answer #1 · answered by looby 6 · 0⤊ 8⤋
Hey people, no need to be sooo touchy about it!! its just a flipping idea- as you said "schoolchildren should be given the option"<--- ITS AN OPTION!! gah. And it would actually do us some good to learn a few other languages- NOT just the typical french and german.... sheesh. its not like they're forcing you or anything, its only there as a choice. Personally, i think it would be a big advantage to learn a different language like urdu, and being a student would love to learn it, as it would give me an advantage as i would be able to understand what they are saying.....
aaanyhay, i think that i can smell is a slight hint of racism in the air... just a thought...
we need to be more open minded abou things, and if you think urdu is stupid, then i think that having to learn any foreign language is a waste of time too (you see, political correctness comes in many forms!)
oh, and why should everyone else learn english? what makes us anymore special than anyone else? maybe were just lazy? I dont know. And youre right in a sense: the UK is going mad, they should really use the advantage of learning other languages.
2007-03-13 16:00:14 · answer #2 · answered by rather be a geordie than a fish. 1 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Pakistanis are not the only ones that speak Urdu. It is spoken in India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Nepal. Anyway, there are a lot of people living in Britain that come from famalies that speak Urdu. I guess that that's why they are offering to teach it in schools so that people that want to improve on their Urdu can. I live in Britain and I come from a family that speak Arabic but I'm not as good at Arabic as I would like to be and I would have loved to have the option of learning Arabic in school.
I don't see why everyone is harpering on about political correctness. Learning languages is extremely interesting and helpful and I think the more languages on offer - the better! It gives pupils a wider variety to choose from, I mean, what is the problem exactly? It's not going to be forced on pupils to study it, it will just be there as an option. I cannot believe that some people are actually getting touchy and defensive about this. Chill out people, it's not the end of the world.
Oh and I'm an Iraqi Assyrian too (I can't speak Araimic, only Arabic) =)
p.s. What the flipping heck is the person below me going on about. The pupils will not have to learn Urdu if they don't want to and no one is forcing anything on them.
2007-03-13 11:54:18 · answer #3 · answered by don't stop the music ♪ 6 · 6⤊ 1⤋
The Government strikes again is about all I can say on this one - Personally, I think most Countries will be speaking English soon anyway as that is the International trade language, but a bit of Mandarin wouldn't go amiss considering the size of the new emerging Economic power. Even more useful than French, German and Spanish to be honest - I studied French and German, been to both Countries, never used it as everyone spoke English anyway.....
2007-03-13 11:50:31 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
i speak punjabi and my boyfriend is from pakistan and speaks urdu. Its a beutiful language but it hard to learn. Im in yr 11 and at a language skool and noone takes spanish french or german seriousli let alone urdu. plus 99% of people wont eva go to pakistan so they wont need to speak the language. Plus there are some english people who are rasict towards pakistans so i dont think its a good idea to introduce it to skools as they wont take it seriously.. Yes this country is going a bit mad!
2007-03-15 18:22:38 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
to right! it shouldn't be. We should be concentrating on teaching children correct English before teaching them anything else. I have two children one age 3 and the other is 1. Both of which i hope to be bilingual with English and German but i would make sure they can read and write before i worry about anything else (in case your wondering it's me that's speaks German but I'm also a trained primary teacher)
If parents want to teach their children Urdu, they have every right but i don't think any random language should be foisted on kids, School is complicated enough
2007-03-13 11:58:18 · answer #6 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
The shouldn't learn Urdu. French or Spanish would do them the most good
2007-03-13 11:49:22 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE TO
This is the rubbish that our Government is forcing on us.
I'm Afraid that this will make even more people join the right wing parties such as the BNP.
I have no problems with any foreign nationals in our country ( i was even caught talking to an American)
BUT they must obey ENGLISH law and respect our culture in our country.
2007-03-13 11:57:39 · answer #8 · answered by ashymojo 3 · 0⤊ 3⤋
They speak it a lot in India - top two emerging economies and all that. And it is only an option.
If it was compulsory this would be a very different answer.
2007-03-13 19:08:35 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋