A newcomer in the Lingua Franca Foundation : Trouve ta voie !

Posted on December 17, 2009 by Marco Bertolini

In French, “Trouve ta voie” means “Find your Way“. This is a new blog in French, destined to people in Belgium and France who want to know better about job search, job coaching, business creation, communication techniques and so on.

The Lingua Franca Academy will soon develop activities in Brussels, the Belgian capital, and this blog is aimed to inform Brusselers about our courses, job opportunities, coaching, and the goals of the Lingua Franca Foundation.

We will tell you soon where we will settle our Academy in Brussels.  You can already find this blog by cliking here.

Filed under: Communication tools, Language learning, Lingua Franca Academy, communication | Leave a Comment »

Fruitful future

Posted on December 13, 2009 by Suziana Salleh

There is a new project buzzing around the local neighbourhood. I heard this through a contact of mine. We accidentally bumped into each other 2 days ago at one of the Youth & Family Development centres. The last time we spoke, I told her about my idea to propose a project in exposing children to multiple languages at very tender age.

Apparently that somehow caused some sort a chain reaction since, mysteriously out of the blue, she suddenly told me that she (and other colleagues) are in the process of trying to propose some sort of programme to develop children’s mind from birth till they are 4 years old.

Unfortunately we had to cut our conversation short due to appointments we both had to attend (but at different location with different people), but now it gives me a very strong impression that people do think the idea of teaching children and exposing them to new methods of learning, or a new language, etc. is extremely important in order to maximise the potential of the child’s mind and to gear it up to its fullest capacity. I have to say; I got excited! And I fully support this notion.

I have seen that plenty of kindergartens (pre-school) here are making groups therapy for little children to stimulate communication skills. This is mainly because the society is fully mixed structured with people coming from every part and everywhere on the planet. Not only that, mixed couples are considered very common nowadays that you can easily see the result of such mixed relationship walking and running practically almost everywhere.

Verbal communication not only derive from one source – I mean – not coming from only one language. There is no such thing as one language or the ‘master’ of all languages. If you are only capable of mastering just one language, the chances of you flying out of your nest are next to zero. You have clip your wings entirely.

Since plenty of children globally know more than one language since birth , it is important to keep encouraging them to continue using and practicing multiple language on a daily basis. This helps to stimulate the fluency of the language, and the importance of knowing how to use the language in the correct manner and grammar. Some parents tend to put one language above the other as being the dominant language. They stress the point that the dominant language has more significance compared to the other.

As a matter of fact, each language has its own unique identity. Nobody could claim that his/her language is superior to the other. Knowing and having the skill of mastering more languages enable all of us to better understand and respect one another despite of all the differences that exist in this world,  thus,  help us to live prosperously with each other.

Multi-lingual children are the children of the future. These children should be given the chance to blossom in the most cherishable fashion, therefore the future that we would like to create could be very fruitful at the end.

Filed under: Cultural diversity, Early learning, Language learning, Languages, pedagogy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Shereen El Feki : creating a gathering place for Arabic people and the rest of the World

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Marco Bertolini

Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilizations showed the war between civilization as unavoidable, something engraved in the core of geopolitics since the beginning of times…  A lucid examination of history shows something rather different : cultures and civilizations always exchange, giving to and borrowing from each other, excluding some elements and integrating some others according to the proper dynamics of their own evolutions.  The Arabic and Muslim world is no exception to this rule and is re-interpreting elements from modernity according to local needs and conditions, “to produce novelties which are neither conventionally Western nor traditionally Arab“.

Shereen El Feki, half Egyptian, half Welsh, is observing these side effects of globalization. “Her passion lies in the many projects in which she is involved which aim to better understand, and surmount, the social challenges facing Arabs, particularly young people”.

In this video, published by Ted India, she is showing some examples of these borrowings.

But Shereen El Feki is not only talking for TED India, she also publishes a crosscultural website, called Meedan – town square, place of gathering, probably the best Arabic equivalent to the Greek word Agora – where internautes can exchanges texts and opinions both in Arabic and in English.  She is not alone.  Meedan is built by a non profit organization based in California and the texts are produced by a international team of volunteers in places as remote as “Amman, Damascus, Cairo, Casablanca, Bethlehem, Beirut, London, Portland, Pozan, Brussels, Toronto, and Armonk“.

All this is also made possible by a new translation technology called Machine Translation (MT).

“Meedan’s mission is to further global understanding and tolerance through technology. At Meedan, we think the web can play a big part in bringing people together to help heal mutual enmity and distrust.So we aim to increase the number of cross-language interactions on the web between Arabic and English speakers.”

You can see this beautiful project by clicking here.  Don’t miss this new bridge between civilizations… Nowadays, the opportunities to bring Arabic and English talking people together are so scarce…

Filed under: Cultural diversity, East/West, Languages | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

A brief tragic encounter

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Suziana Salleh

A dying rose

I was in the city centre when I first met Mea Pia. She was actually a friend of a friend’s. By the look in her eyes, I could see that she was suffering intensely. I predicted it had everything to do with relationship but the subject was never brought up. My friend briefly introduced her to me, but most of my conversation were mostly engaged with my friend instead, until at one point she felt like talking.

“I found out you went through a painful divorce,” she said to me, trying to stir a conversation. All I did were raised my eyebrow and smirked. I didn’t feel like elaborating that topic so I kept silent. I guess because of my ‘cold shoulder’ she decided not to continue the conversation.

Suddenly, until, we met again in the city centre.

“Hi, remember me? Mea Pia…” she touched my shoulder and I quickly turned around. “Ahh.. yes! I remember you. How are you?”

“Not so good,” she sincerely told me. “I’m sorry but I need to talk to you about something. Do you think we could talk privately?”

“Sure. What’s wrong? Is everything all right?” we walked slowly to a nearby cafe and at the end ordered some hot drinks.

“Everything is not all right,” she sighed. She started sipping her tea, but I could clearly see that she was trying to hold back her tears. “I knew from a friend that you went through a divorce,” she continued. I nodded. “How did it go?”

“How? what do you mean?” I asked, puzzled.

“Did they ask you to go back?” I saw she swallowed her words. It sounded painful, even for me.

“I did get a piece of paper telling me that within 15 days I will be deported back home.. but they didn’t know about my kids,” I told her briefly. “But because of my kids… also that I have lived here more than 5 years, they cannot send me back…. why?”

The hardest blow

“I have to go back……” right there and then she burst into tears. “It’s just so unfair…!!” tears ran down her cheeks. I felt enormous pain and sympathy for her suffering although I hardly knew her. I noticed that passers-by were focusing on us; wondering what was happening. Spontaneously, I hugged her, wanting to comfort her.

“I don’t mind going back…” she sobbed. “It’s the manner of me going back… that is the worst part…” she kept on sobbing. I ordered more tea to sooth her down.

“I’m sorry,” she quickly wiped her tears. “You probably think I’m crazy. Who am I to you? You don’t even know me.”

“It’s all right,” I tried to comfort her. “My friend’s friend is also a friend of mine,” I answered and gave her a smile. She looked relief.

“It’s just that….. I came here because of love… I supposed, you too..” I gave her more tea and she nodded.

“I don’t know if you knew about my story,” she looked at me straight into the eyes. I shook my head, “No.”

“I needed someone to talk to and Jariya told me a bit about you.. and you seem like a good friend.” My cheeks were rather red when she said that. “Thanks,” I replied.

“You see…. I got married less than 2 years back to a dutch guy. It’s not like I married him for the money. I have plenty myself back in Thailand.”

I nodded.

“The problem is… I used to own 3 restaurants, 3 cars and 2 houses. Because of this guy, I sold everything I owned and came here to be with him. I even ask my son to stay behind in Thailand because I want to be with this guy…. I have a son, you see… he’s 22.”

I kept silent and kept listening. I knew she desperately needed someone to listen to her.

“You know what happened?”

“No,” I replied.

“When I arrived here… oh yes! don’t forget.. he asked me to bring all my money to Holland to be with him. And me, being such a stupid fool, I brought it all. All because I thought this was how it should be once you are in love with that person – you feel like you need to share what you have. Especially when he said that he would marry me. Yes, we got married at the municipality here… but….” then Mae Pia started to cry even harder. My sympathy was even greater.

“He.. took all my money! Then I found out he’s not working at all…”

I shook my head many times. In fact, I was appalled by her story.

“You know…. I never worked as a maid before. Here, people always think that people like me (Thai women – I think that was what she meant) only wanted to marry white guys because of money. I had a great life back home. I had everything. Money wasn’t the object. I wanted to be loved. That’s all. But…..”

Tears kept pouring down heavier and heavier. I was struggling; searching for the tissue pack, which I swore I stashed away somewhere in my handbag. Found it at last! I gave her the whole packet. “Thanks.”

“He forced me to work… you know… cleaning toilets… yes! It’s true… cleaning toilets!!” Her cry was even stronger and people kept on staring at us.

” I have never been so humiliated before in my entire life!! I USED TO OWN 3 RESTAURANTS, for GOD sake !! I cannot believe this is happening to me…!”

I was stunned. Totally stunned. Wow! That was really something!

“Now that I am not producing much income for him.. and I cannot heck it anymore.. he kept pushing me for divorce… and I did… but… he knew… he knew that when I ask for divorce, I will be sent home… but I’m stupid. I don’t know the law.”

I was holding my tears back. I need to look strong for her, but my heart went with her suffering.

“I just got a letter from the immigration that I am being deported home. They reject my residence card now. I have no choice but to go home. He made sure that I go….”

Slowly tears ran down MY cheeks.

“He promised me to bring my son here… he said he will take care of him… HAH! Now…. now.. it’s just lies… I’m going back totally BROKE. I have to start ALL over again… with MY son… I worked so hard the past 20 years and this is how my life ends….??? It’s just SOOOO UNFAIR..!”

She stopped, and all that she did was cry and cry on my shoulder. All I could do was kept rubbing her back and held her tight. But, I, too, was emotional.

We finished our tea. I had no clue how much tea we drank that day, but I knew it was enough to let Mea Pia released her huge disappointment and frustration. She needed to let it go and she chose me.

After tea, we went our separate ways and honestly, that was the last time I saw her. I believed she has gone back to Thailand.

I am glad she chose me to talk. I knew many women like herself who needed someone; a friend; to listen and to show some compassion. It’s not easy when you are totally alone in another land and hoping that love conquers all and love makes everything possible….

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The Safety Net Project chronicles

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Suziana Salleh

Many people are wondering about the progress of the Safety Net Project. Is it fully running? What are the steps the Foundation has taken to achieve its goals? Did we get any response at all? If so, how far?

As the Secretary of the Foundation, a huge part of my duty is networking. Yes, people! Networking. I have to say, these are one of the busiest times in my life – having to juggle my time and fulfill all my responsibilities, inside and outside the scope of Lingua Franca Foundation.

Since the birth of this foundation, I have been stretching my scope of contacts from the locals to worldwide. It is crucial to have such networks to enable the Foundation to function fully and get more support, thus enable it to grow even further.

Throughout my experience with this Foundation, I notice that the moment I mentioned about its existence and the goals we would love to achieve, many people are mostly intrigue and interested over the Safety Net Project. I, myself, am  very enthusiastic contacting people to introduce this special project – because I have to say: the response I got for this project is surprisingly POSITIVE!

October

Frankly, I hesitated and was rather anxious when I approached the local municipality. After all, it was my first time. I have had my share of working in the past, but my working experience with the Foundation is somewhat different. Positive, yet in a different way. A simple ‘direct walk-in approach’ with the person behind the municipality desk was actually sufficient enough to trigger curiosity!  I gritted my teeth and explained to her some of the functions of the Foundation and its missions and goals. To my surprise, she told me to make an appointment to discuss further with an internal colleague – especially about the Safety Net Project. Of course, I took the opportunity instantaneously.

From there, I started to get into full gear! I went a step further and gathered all my courage and made the first move in contacting a higher authority. The embassy!

The Malaysian embassy in the Netherlands is situated in Den Haag. Den Haag (The Hague) or officially known as ’s-Gravenhage, is the administrative capital of the Netherlands which is located in the west of the country. It took me approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes to reach there by car.

I had a wonderful opportunity to speak directly to the Minister Counsellor of Malaysia about the Safety Net Project. While listening to me, I noticed that I stirred an enormous interest by the look of the Counsellor’s face. He nodded many times and to my surprise, the Counsellor indeed shared the same interest and concerns with Lingua Franca Foundation. I also mentioned how very disturbing to know that many foreigners (mainly women) are suffering each day due to domestic violence or seriously manipulated by their partners. The Counsellor reconfirmed by informing me that each year, plenty of Malaysians, mostly women,  came directly to the embassy seeking for help and refuge because they could not see any way out anymore due to enormous relationship pressures and been seriously abused (mental and physical) by their European partners. The Counsellor also stressed his concern and frustration for the fact that the embassy themselves are unable to assist these vulnerable women because technically it is out of their jurisdiction. Since the situation occurred outside their homeland and these women are justifiable to the domestic law in the country they reside, the embassy could only give advice. Nothing more. Due to this very limited power, some lives were lost!

We could see that it is such a delicate matter and only a neutral ground such as a Foundation, is able to bring forward the importance of this matter and to highlight equal rights on both parties without projecting any prejudism nor interference, also without jeopardizing the relations between countries and to avoid conflict of interest from both sides.

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Languages in Europe : a free tool to evaluate your command of a language

Posted on December 5, 2009 by Marco Bertolini

The European Union is made of 27 members states and has no less than 23 official languages…  That means that languages are an important matter for the European Institutions.

Measuring the language skills of their public servants is also a matter of importance as they have to cope with so many complex topics in so many languages.

So the European institutions have created DIALANG in order to help trainers, trainees and institutions to evaluate and adapt the level of language knowledge.

These tools help professional to create language learning courses.  But some of them, like the DIALANG Self Assessment Statements help you to evaluate your own command of a language.


European Language and Job Search Training and Coaching

The Lingua Franca Academy is preparing a series of language courses as well as specialized Job Coaching for people who aim to work in the European Institutions. Some of these courses will be on site learning courses and some will be online packages.

In order to help you to assess yourself your command of a language, we publish here two free tools that you can download and use to evaluate your command of any language.  It is not a test, but an evaluation tool, a series of assessemnt you make yourself regarding your skills in a language.

Be honest : don’t try to trick yourself and, at the end of the process, you’ll get a clear and complete image of your command of this language.

Téléchargez en français

Download in English

Filed under: Free tools, Language learning, Languages, Lingua Franca Academy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Ban on minarets construction in Switzerland : the extreme right used “irrational fear” to reach its goals

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Marco Bertolini

minaret

minaret

The entire world was  abashed when the results of a poll against the construction of new minarets in Switzerland have been published.

The extreme right party – Swiss People’s Party (SVP) – launched such a gross campaign against the minarets, using posters showing a woman with a burqa facing a Swiss flag covered with missile-shaped minarets, that everybody expected a defeat of the populist party.

But inf fact a majority of 57.7 % voted for the ban of minarets construction in Switzerland.

The Swiss People Party clearly exploited the irrational fear of “extensive islamisation” of the country and wanted to stop the Muslim tsunami…

But what tsunami ?  There are 400.000 Muslims in Switzerland, out of a total population of 7.739.000 inhabitants. Most of them work and are perfectly integrated in Swiss social life.  There are about 400 mosques in Switzerland and… 4 minarets!

So, people voted mostly against a fantastical fear, against a thread that merely doesn’t exist.  They attacked the symbol of a ghost, the ghost of winding up in an alien invasion…

But the result is a wider gap between communities and broader misunderstanding.  Muslims are sad and disappointed : they believed their Swiss neighbors trusted them.  They discover that it is so easy to trigger an irrational fear among normal populations…

The Swiss themselves are astonished.  They expected the proposal to be wiped away as a dirty cloth.  And yet, a majority of them heard the poisoned discourse of an extremist party and followed it… Some even said “I am ashamed to be Swiss today”.

Who knows at what extend the trust between the communities has been broken ? Who can tell to what extreme will the next moves be ?

The limits of direct democracy

How was this possible ?

The Swiss 1848 federal constitution defines a system of direct democracy which includes the right to organize a referendum on a topic, as long as they gather 50.000 signatures within 100 days (find more in this Wikipedia article).

That’s what happened with the minarets.  The Swiss People Party gathered the sufficient number of signatures and proposed the ban against the future construction of minarets.

This also shows the limits of a direct democracy.  The results of a referendum are highly dependent of how the question was asked and the topic presented to the voters.  In this case, it was a fearful and hateful  campaign that triggered the all process.  And the results are a shameful blow to the religious freedom of 400.000 people in a country which  has been  boasting about its religious  tolerance for centuries…

But, is a democracy that legally denies freedom of religious practice still a democracy ? When a democratic state denies its fundamental values in such a way, is it still a democratic state ?

Political reactions

In Switzerland itself, politicians are rather annoyed and you can see they don’t feel at ease about this vote (see the reaction of Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss Foreign Minister on this Guardian Video).

Abroad, reactions vary : the democrats are astonished and don’t understand why a centuries old democracy such Switzerland came to vote this way.  Populists and extreme right parties , such as the Lega Nord in Italy, are already taking the opportunity to promote such hatred and exclusion at home…

The United Nation warned the Swiss authorities even before the ban was proposed, arguing that it was an obvious discrimination, calling it “an unjustified restriction of religious freedom.  Now, legal expert of the UN are examining the legal issues of this election.

Filed under: Cultural diversity, East/West | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

The Journey (5)

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Suziana Salleh

It was time. Dalilah looked at her house one more time, just to have the last glance. ‘I promise, I will come back again,’ she mumbled to herself. Then, she slowly pulled her last luggage toward the taxi. This was the last ride to the airport. Then, having to wave goodbye to all her dear friends and relatives before her final set-off to her final destination. She felt relief yet uncertain – intertwined with other mixed feelings which continually dragged her to down and down. Her stomach was twisted, yet again!

She wanted to console and convince herself, that this journey would be the best and the last ride of her life. Her search for true love has finally ended.  Dalilah’s body trembled a little. She smirked. Such a heavy feeling. She felt as if her lunch was reaching the tip of her throat. ‘I should be happy. I should be happy.’ She murmured again.

The Journey

Excitement hit her the moment the plane hit touchdown.  Adrenaline rushed down her spine. Dalilah turned to her daughter. She was still  resting on the headrest. She snored all through the journey. A soft voice hit the intercom informing the passengers about the local weather and having a safe journey. Dalilah looked around and saw the other passengers started to grab their belongings from the compartments. Most signs on the headboard were blinking. Everybody was ready to leave the plane.

Dalilah was nervous. Quickly she grabbed her handbag and searched for her passport. Felt very intense, Dalilah immediately shook her daughter’s shoulder. Groaning and mumbling slightly in Chinese, Jasmine stretched her body like a lazy cat. She abhor her mother shuddering her like that. She didn’t like the entire journey in general. Nevertheless, she was eager to see this famous land of the tulips with her two eyes. Being a teenager and curious to the bones, Jasmine took the opportunity to follow her mother thinking that this would be a great experience in her lifetime.

Waiting in the waiting hall made Dalilah more and more nervous. She looked at her wrist watch all the time. Suddenly a warm kiss landed on her neck and she immediately knew who that was. She turned and returned the kiss.

“I am very hungry, honey.” She passed part of her luggage to Maarten. “Ok, let’s go and have lunch.” Maarten walked toward the train station. Dalilah hesitated, ” didn’t you bring the car?” She couldn’t imagine having to drag all the luggage into the train and traveled back home. She had a long journey on the plane and to think having to drag those heavy luggage on another long trip home, that was unrealistic and insensitive.

“I reckon, since you are here and we are very close to Amsterdam, I think it would be nice if we go and have lunch there. “

“But, honey…. I just arrived. I’m tired like hell.”

“Yeah, but hon…. I haven’t been to Amsterdam. We can just do it now.”

“Honey… I am REALLY tired… it was a very long journey. I don’t want to go and visit Amsterdam now. Why don’t we do it some other time?” Dalilah sounded rather irritated. Jasmine kept silent.

“No. I want to do it now. I have paid for the train tickets. I don’t want to waste money to come here again.”

Dalilah had no choice but to go. Having had to drag all the luggages she didn’t enjoy much from the short trip. Her body was deteriorating. Her energy drained. She couldn’t even think properly anymore. Maarten, on the other hand, got more and more excited. He wanted to show Dalilah his homeland immediately. He forgot about the tiredness. He was just overwhelmed to see Dalilah there. He wanted to share everything. Finally, she arrived!

Filed under: Dalilah's Diary, Project Safety Net, Projects | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Is your mind rather synthetic or analytic ? This free tool will help you to determine which category you belong to

Posted on November 29, 2009 by Marco Bertolini

Opening a new category on our website

The Lingua Franca Academy, the Research and Education Department of the Lingua Franca Foundation, is opening a new category on this website : the Free Tools category.

In the articles of this new category, you will find free tools to help you in your daily life, to know yourself better or to act as a professional trainer or teacher.

Today, we open this new series with a test to determine the way you analyze new information and resolve problems.


Synthetic VS Analytic

According to your tendency, you will collect and analyze problems, situations and general information differently.

Synthetic minds will grasp the information in one go, but they tend to be rather superficial.  Analytic ones go deeper and deeper into the minute details but they tend to forget the general picture…

Analytic minds are fit for professions like accountants or controllers while synthetic ones are generally good animators and brilliant media speakers.

Find out which category you belong to by clicking on one of the links below. You can :

  • download the documents
  • print them and fill them in
  • count your results
  • determine the category you belong to
  • follow the advices we are providing you

Click on the corresponding flag to download the documents in French or English and enj0y your first free tool.

Télécharger en français

Download in English

Filed under: Free tools, Lingua Franca Academy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

International day for the elimination of violence against women

Posted on November 25, 2009 by Marco Bertolini

On 17 December 1999, the United Nation General Assembly designated the 25 November as the Day for the Elimination of Violence against  Women. Since 1981, women activists marked this day as a day against violence.

Based on country data available, up to 70 per cent of women experience physical or sexual violence from men in their lifetime.

Excerpts of the UNIFEM Fact Sheet : violence against women worldwide

- In the United States, one-third of women murdered each year are killed by intimate partners.

- In South Africa, a woman is killed every 6 hours by an intimate partner.

- Women and girls constitute 80 % of the estimated 800,000 people trafficked annually, with the majority (79 %) trafficked for sexual exploitation.

- And so on, and so on…  You can see the whole Fact Sheet by clicking here.

The Say NO campaign

Say NO – UNiTE to End Violence against Women is a global call for action, launched in November 2009, on ending violence against women and girls. It is presented by UNIFEM as a contribution to advance the objectives of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s campaign UNiTE to End Violence against Women through social mobilization. UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman is the Spokesperson of Say NO.

The Lingua Franca Foundation is participating to the Say NO campaign with the Safety Net Project

The Lingua Franca Foundation participates to the Say NO campaign.  We published a web page and are proposing the Safety Net Project as an action for the Elimination of the violence against the women.

We’ll inform you of the progress of this project and these actions throughout the coming weeks.


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