US Report: Healthcare organizations must assess their capacity to meet patients’ unique cultural and language needs

As the face of America continues to change, a research report released today by The Joint Commission, entitled “One Size Does Not Fit All: Meeting the Health Care Needs of Diverse Populations,” urges health care organizations to assess their capacity to meet patients’ unique cultural and language needs.

In its 2001 report “Crossing the Quality Chasm,” the Institute of Medicine identified patient-centered and equitable care as important elements of quality. The report is based on successful practices now being used in hospitals, and underscores the need to move away from a “one size fits all” approach that negatively affects the quality and safety of care for diverse patients. The report includes a self-assessment tool that can help health care organizations tailor their initiatives to meet the needs of diverse populations.

The tool addresses the main issues found in the report and provides a framework for discussing needs, resources and goals for providing the highest quality care to every patient served. The report is the result of a multi-year research study, Hospitals, Language, and Culture: A Snapshot of the Nation supported by funding from The California Endowment. This study provided the first comprehensive examination of how hospitals in the United States respond to the diverse cultural and language needs of their patients.

The study explored how 60 hospitals across the country provide care to culturally and linguistically diverse patient populations. This experience helped in developing the framework. “Before meeting the treatment needs of patients, effective communication with them is needed in order to understand what the health problem is and how they wish to go about addressing that health problem,” says Mark R. Chassin, M.D., M.P.P., M.P.H., president, The Joint Commission. “By using this framework, hospitals can assess their current practices and take action to treat each patient as a unique individual.” “This report provides many useful examples of how hospitals are effectively addressing the cultural and language needs of their increasingly diverse patients,” says Robert Ross, M.D., president and CEO, The California Endowment.

“We hope that hospitals across the nation will adopt some of these practices and use the report’s self-assessment tool to improve the quality of care that their patients receive.” The report urges hospitals to systemically engage in a range of practices across four areas: - Build a foundation. Leadership must drive efforts to establish specific policies and procedures for better meeting the diverse needs of patients. For example, cultural and language considerations should be included in the organization’s mission, vision and value statements. The foundation should also include devoting resources for organizational planning and organization-wide policies that integrate cultural competence and support improved patient care for diverse populations. - Collect and use data to improve services.

Before determining which cultural and language services are most appropriate to implement, it is important to collect and review demographic data to assess both community and patient needs. To better evaluate an organization’s current cultural and language services, it is critical to track how often these services are used. Some of the services that may be monitored include language services, religious and spiritual care services, and special dietary requests that are cultural in nature. - Accommodate the needs of specific populations.

A continuous process is necessary to target culturally competent initiatives to specific populations. This includes staff training and education, as well as patient education and other strategies that help patients better manage their care. v - Establish internal and external collaborations. Organizations must work together with the community in order to share information and resources that meet the needs of diverse patients. Involving the community and making use of available external resources can help keeps costs down, while taking steps to develop a more diverse workforce, bridge cultural barriers and become a more active part of the community.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

California courts all need interpreters

The ability to conduct business in multiple languages has tremendous value in a culturally diverse state like California.

Imagine that Betty and Barry are applying for the same help-desk position in an upscale IT firm with an international base of clients. Their resumes are almost identical and both have similar job backgrounds. The two are well-spoken and friendly, but one has something extra – Betty speaks fluent Spanish and understands Japanese.There is little doubt who will get the job. Betty would be favored by a majority of employers because multilingual skills provide access to a much broader base of customers. Communications and marketing efforts that cross both cultural and geographical borders are becoming strategically essential in our global marketplace. California in particular is a microcosm of cultures from around the world.

According to Tech Republic, an online recruiting firm, the need for language talent is increasing. Software products are being shipped to more countries than ever before, and an increase in the number of non-English speakers in the US adds pressures for companies to scour the marketplace for bilingual and multilingual IT workers.

Mucho Demand for Spanish

Catrina Simbe, a regional vice president at Robert Half International staffing, concurs. “Having bilingual or multilingual skills definitely can be a help in receiving a job offer and a driver for more pay. In the South Bay and Monterey Bay Peninsula job market, there is a huge demand for Spanish-speaking candidates” because of the client base served by many employers. According to a recent study, more than 200 languages are spoken in California. It’s no wonder the supply of qualified applicants is dwarfed by the demand.

Simbe’s sector specializes in placing accounting and administrative professionals, and she is always on the lookout for candidates who can understand and explain financial and other business numbers to an employer’s Spanish-speaking clientele. “On the administrative side, the largest need is for Spanish-speaking receptionists,” she says. “In fact, our clients won’t even consider a candidate for such a position if they are not fluent. So, my advice is to sharpen your language skills if you want to get noticed.”

“Knowing another language is a big plus on a resume,” agrees Rachel Meyer, founder of ABC Language Exchange in San Francisco. “All you have to do is look at the want-ads to know how much more money you can earn with that extra skill.” Any multilingual aptitude – from basic survival skills where you can greet clients and ask about their family, to high-level fluency where you can negotiate a contract – is important to employers.

“It’s definitely one of the single most important skills to increase your value,” Meyer declares. “It’s not just about fluency in a language; it’s a way to stand out.” She advises jobseekers to post any multilingual abilities on their resume, even if they’ve only completed a beginning course and are limited to speaking in the present tense. With the exception of a few high school classes, most American-born adults have little knowledge of a second language, but it’s never too late to start. “Generally, most Americans think they can’t learn because classes (they attended) have been too big, with a focus on grammar and not speaking,” says Meyer. But most of ABC’s customers are pleasantly surprised at their rate of progress. The cost of an eight-week course is $250.

Anyone who wants to learn a language should expect it will take at least two to four months to acquire the basic skills. An intermediate level can be achieved in about six to 12 months, and the ability to conduct business in another language usually requires two years – double that time for Asian or Arabic.

Speaking for Equal Justice

The Judicial Council of California has a career that puts your second language first – as a California court interpreter. It’s a unique opportunity to make justice more accessible to millions of people. Along with the satisfaction of providing a valuable community service comes a stable career, a full-time salary of $68,000 or more, plus a comprehensive benefits and retirement package.

“The 58 superior courts throughout California have openings, especially in Spanish, for court interpreters,” reports Lucy Smallsreed, a supervising court services analyst with the Court Interpreters Program of the Judicial Council of California. Job opportunities are numerous because the superior courts oversee all the local court proceedings. About 75 percent of the foreign-language legal circumstances call for Spanish translators, with Vietnamese and Korean being the next most common. For obvious reasons, fluency in the second language is essential.

Currently, court interpreters can be certified in 12 spoken languages – Arabic, Eastern Armenian, Western Armenian, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. Those who know other widely used languages (including Farsi, Punjabi; Hmong, Khmer and some Central American dialects) can become registered interpreters with the same full-time pay and benefits that certified interpreters receive.

In some cases, the courts test candidates for English proficiency. “The state’s certification and registration programs have very high standards,” notes Smallsreed. “Candidates are tested not only on written and oral skills; because they work directly in the courtroom, they have to interpret oral testimony in real time.” The job also requires excellent memory and communication skills, a high level of vocabulary, plus knowledge of legal terms and commonly used forms and reports. Interpretation must be accurate without any omissions, change in meaning, or the need for editing or summarizing.Knowledge of legal terminology can be learned through self-study or college training programs around the state.

“I would say 20 percent of our court proceedings require interpreters,” adds Smallsreed. “That’s because 40 percent of the populace was born outside the country.” Of the state’s 36 million people, about 20 percent speak English less than “very well.” That’s almost 7 million Californians who would need help from an interpreter if they found themselves in court.”I would advise candidates to visit the website, read about the program and look into a training program before the exam,” Smallsreed concludes. “The exam is given three times a year for Spanish and two times a year for all other languages.”

Source: http://www.jobjournal.com

Cost of interpreter services sees massive increase

The cost of the provision of interpreter services to quiz foreign nationals by police in Comet country could cost close to £900,000 during the coming year. It has been estimated that the bill for Bedfordshire police will be £493,522 up a staggering 207 per cent since 2004, the highest rise of any force in England and Wales.

The Hertfordshire police bill could hit almost £400,000 during the past year, up almost 25 per cent from three years ago. The cost of interrogating foreign nationals in Herts when investigating crime is continually rising with the highest number of incidents where an interpreter has been needed being in the eastern area that covers Stevenage and North Herts.

During the past year there have been 406 incidents – the highest of anywhere else in the county – with 10.7 per cent of all arrests county-wide being foreign nationals. Top of the table for foreign nationals needing an interpreter after being arrested were immigrants from Poland standing at 24 per cent followed by Chinese at 12.8 per cent then by people from Bulgaria, Romania, Iran, Italy, Lithuania, France, Hungary and Iraq.

But there is a warning in a report to Hertfordshire Police Authority delivered on Friday by temporary Supt Richard Harbon on the provision of interpreter services that the police are concerned about the rising costs. He said: “As the figures show, the number of persons being detained is rising steadily. With the opening of larger custody suites at Stevenage, Hatfield and Hoddesdon, as well as the collaboration at Bishop’s Stortford, it is anticipated the number of persons arrested will increase further.

“Further data indicates that, with the removal of travel restrictions throughout the European Union, there has been an influx of foreign nationals into this country. “This has led to an increase in the percentage of foreign nationals into our custody suites and a rise in the requirements for interpreter services.” The figures for Herts are only available from 2004/5 when the county’s police were spending £310,000 on translation services.

Source: http://www.thecomet.net

Sri Lanka: Massacre hearing hindered by lack of professional Sinhala to English interpreter

Counsel leading evidence plays role of translator for sake of accuracy

Colombo, Sri Lanka, the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) hearing into the ACF massacre yesterday was hindered by the lack of a professional Sinhala to English translator.

while Counsel Yasantha Kodagoda, who led the evidence fielded questions in Sinhala as per a request by the witness he also had to play the role of the translator “for accuracy sake” in some instances. The frustration of the commissioners and the legal counsel was palpable with Mr. Kodagoda helplessly throwing his arms in the air saying “this is not done” when several key statements were misinterpreted.

Several commissioners intervened to help the commission official who had stepped in to fill the void created by the absence of a professional Sinhala to English translator at the hearings. “I am feeling a little sorry for them. They are not professional translators but only filling in a job,” Commissioner Jezeema Ismail said, trying to quell the wave of laughter that disrupted the commission hearings as the erroneous interpretation continued.

The two professional translators available were from Tamil to English and Sinhala to Tamil. The witness being questioned was a former ACF employee who was attached to the Trincomalee office from 2005 until they wound up operations in December 2007 after 17 ACF aid workers were killed in Muttur in August 2006.

“There was one person in-charge of coordinating with officials from the security forces. It was our former head of base in Trincomalee, a French person named Pablis. He had a good rapport with everyone from the Government Agent to the Security officials. The new person who came after that did not have those contacts,” the witness said. “The new person assumed duties in July 2006. I think his name was Frank Carmo. He was a black Frenchman with Cameroon origins,” he added. The witness noted that a level 3 security situation prevailed from end of July, in response to an inquiry about the “security level categorization” mechanism used by the ACF to ensure the safety of their personnel.

“Level 3 is a situation where we can go out of office depending on the ground situation. When it is raised to level 4, then we cannot go out into the field,” he added in explanation. According to the witness a mandatory security situation analysis is done every morning in consultation with the Batticaloa and Muttur offices.

However, the security level was a blanket definition which even applied to Batticaloa. The witness was deployed to Kattukulam in Pulmudai on August 1, the same day the second batch of staff left Trincomalee to Muttur. “They may have left to Muttur after 9.00 a.m. We do the security assessment every morning. At that time Pulmudai also had a level 3 security assessment. This category applies everywhere, but Pulmudai is not that affected,” he said.

When asked by Counsel Yasantha Kodagoda whether there were any residents of Muttur attached to the ACF office, the witness said that “there were about 15 others who were residents of Muttur, who participated in the project. They came at 8 a.m. and left at 5 p.m. I don’t know exactly whether they were temporary staff or not.” Whether these staff members reported to work during the volatile period or whether they had fled from Muttur was not clearly determined.

The witness had personally spoken to ACF Assistant Project Manager S. Primus Anandarajah, the most senior official among the 17 killed workers on August 2. “Anandarajah called me and said that the LTTE was everywhere and that they would not come out, and to get them out somehow. This was on August 2,” he said.

“I got to know later that the Church priest father Swarnaraj had asked them to come to the church and that the Divisional Secretary Manivanam had asked them to leave the premises, but they have refused to go. They believed that someone from the ACF office would come and take them, and that no party would harm them while within the premises of an international organisation,” he added.  “According to my personal opinion, they should have thrown out all the procedures and rules and come back. They could have all come back,” the witness said.

According to a witness the ACF office received a telephone call either on August 4 or 5 informing that the Muttur office staff had been killed. “We went back to the Army and pleaded with them to help us to get the bodies out,” We informed the tri-forces that they had been killed. They said that until the situation was stabilized they could not go to the area.”

“First, we tried to go by road. But we were not allowed to go beyond the last checkpoint. Then we got Navy permission to use the ferry but a shell fell right in front of it close to Muttur. So we had to turn back,” he said. “Finally we got police permission on August 6 to go to Muttur to bring the bodies. We took the Serunuwara land route. We went with 2 police officers but they did not come beyond Serunuwara. It was about 5 in the evening when we reached Muttur. We went directly to the Muttur police station. Then we went with them to the Muttur office,” the witness said. “We went to the project office at about 6.30 p.m. on August 6. We took body-bags from the ICRC. It was our staff who put the bodies onto the tractor and the vehicles. We could identify all 17 persons. Some fingers were missing from some of the bodies. Crows had attacked some of them and they had fallen face downwards,” he added.

“The VHS radio which was in the office had been dashed on the ground. There was one Landrover and two cabs at the crime scene. The side glass of one vehicle had been smashed and the radio had been pulled out. A driver was found dead there. There may have been a final attempt at communicating using the radio set in the vehicle,” the witness said. The witness had learnt later that two motor bicycles were missing from the compound and the mobile phones of the killed personnel were also never recovered.

Source: http://www.dailymirror.lk

“Translation is Western publishers’ greatest problem”

Bringing Arab literature to an Anglophone audience

Writers, translators and readers discuss the state of the art of translation at the London Book Fair

When the 2008 London Book Fair (LBF) closed last week, it was with a general sense that its theme of “Arab World Market Focus” had been a success. Clearly, though, a great deal still needs doing to advance Arabic literary publication in the West. London’s experience was in marked contrast to that of 2004, when the Frankfurt Book Fair made Arab countries its guests of honor. Frankfurt was a resounding disaster, many agreed at the time, because the organization was left in the hands of bureaucrats from the participating countries. Learning from Frankfurt’s mistakes, the LBF’s managers in partnership with the British Council took three years to prepare the event.

Much noise has been made about the laudable efforts made to translate books into Arabic – such as that fronted by non-profit initiative Kalima, which is funded by a grant from the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage and has the personal backing of the crown prince of the UAE’s capital. LBF displays – whether representing wealthy UAE enterprises like the Mohammad Bin Rashid al-Maktoum Foundation and the ADACH or the kingdom of Saudi Arabia – were gleaming and sleek, but visitors weren’t always sure what the message was. Most books by talented Saudi authors are banned in the kingdom, for instance, and those on display here were of little literary interest.

In the area of literature and poetry, however, the “Arab World Market Focus” offered an impressive platform for Arab writers and publishers to network with Western publishers, booksellers, journalists and readers. Seminars and interviews with various writers and poets – including award-winning Egyptian novelist Bahaa Taher – were well attended. Over the past several years, Western readers have become increasingly interested in reading Arabic fiction in translation, but there are many hurdles to overcome. In the UK, for instance, translated works represent only about 3 percent of books published.

French readers are comparatively privileged, thanks in part to the work of publisher Actes Sud, which has done a formidable job of publishing and marketing Arab writers. This success stems partly from the French state being more amenable to cultural subsidies for translations. Also, the French public is familiar with North African Arab authors, who often write in French, and so are perhaps more open to works in translation. There are some indications, though, that Anglo-Saxon players want to catch up. The LBF witnessed the launch of Arabia Books – Haus Publishing and Arcadia Books’ joint-publishing venture – which will begin publishing 10 fiction titles per year (mainly culled from American University in Cairo [AUC] Press books) and eventually hopes to publish its own translations of Arabic fiction.

“The time is right,” affirms Haus Publishing’s Barbara Schwepcke. “The wealth of literature in the Arab world is huge.” Michael Zaug, director of sales at New York-based Random House, was also interested in the goings on. Zaug, who spent seven years in Cairo working at AUC Press, remarked that, “for sure there is a growing interest in Arabic literature.”

Zaug pointed out that iconic Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz was on the reading list for this year’s Big Read – an initiative funded by the US National Endowment for the Arts to encourage Americans to read. Ten years ago, the Lebanese-owned independent publisher Garnet initiated an Arab Women Writers series – since discontinued. Now, under the guidance of its new editorial manager and Arabist Dan Nunn, Garnet has re-printed Palestinian writer Liana Badr’s novel “The Eye of the Mirror” and launched a new series called Arab Writers in Translation, with three titles expected to appear this June.

“It’s a bit of a leap in the dark,” says Nunn, “but I hope it’s a trend … I wanted to publish authors who are recognized as good writers, not just because they carry a specific label.” Many Arab writers at the Fair echoed Nunn’s desire. They feel the West’s interest in Arabic literature is in large part confined to reading about the erotic lives of Arab women – as in Nedjma’s “The Almond,” Salwa al-Neimi’s upcoming “Evidence of Honey,” or Rajaa Alsanea’s chick-lit hit “Girls of Riyadh.”

“There are some Arab authors,” observes Samuel Shimon, author of “An Iraqi in Paris” and assistant editor of Banipal literary magazine, “who have discovered the West prefers to read about cliches or pornographic books and it’s easier to sell them these.”

For 10 years, Banipal has provided invaluable literary material to amateurs spanning the globe, with their selections of contemporary Arabic fiction and poetry in translation. The challenge of finding new Arab writers has not only been felt by Western publishers.

“There’s a lack of literary critics in the Arab world to point out new writers,” explains Libyan writer and translator Ghazi Gheblawi. “Then there’s no literary network, so that if you write a book in Morocco, no one will hear about it in Bahrain. The Internet is making things easier, but the main issue is translation.”Translation is indeed Western publishers’ greatest problem. It is expensive and the field of literary translation is tiny. Good Arabic-to-English literary translators are rare, and many of them are the same age as the venerable Arab authors they’ve translated.

The 86-year-old Denys Johnson-Davies is a case in point. Until the 1960s, Arabic was taught as a dead language in the West and Johnson-Davies was one of the first of a small group of literary translators who have dedicated their lives to bringing Arabic literature to life for English readers. Edward Said called him the leading Arabic-to-English translator of our time and, while attending the “Arab World Market Focus” events, Johnson-Davies was thronged by Arab authors and publishers.It will be difficult to overcome the difficulties facing Arabic-to-English translation without money. As Nunn puts it: “It’s just not viable [for publishers] if the translation hasn’t been funded.”

Enter Arts Council England. Though its budget has shrunk recently, it does support translation grants for languages least represented in English – and Arabic falls into this category. Arts Council international literature officer Kate Griffin hopes she can pick up where the British Council left off after the Book Fair. “We are interested in the artistic quality as well as the public benefit,” she says. “We will be expecting a strong marketing plan on the part of the publishers who apply for grants.” A student of Arabic herself, Griffin is also trying to find ways to nurture the next generations of Arabic-English translators.

Book Fair seminars held by two of Britain’s most valiant veteran publishers of Arabic literature in translation – Saqi Books and Banipal – stressed the importance of developing the field in general and finding other sources of revenue. It may also be worth noting that, since 9/11, Arabic has become a government priority in the UK and the US. This means students are encouraged to study Arabic but also to work for the government.

“I’m afraid that there will be a reduction in the number of students who study literature in favor of political science to enter government service,” remarked Roger Allan, translator of Naguib Mahfouz and Hanan al-Shaykh, among others, in an interview with Al-Ahram newspaper. “It’s too early to say, but I’m watching closely.”Arabic-to-English literary translation remains a challenge, to say the least, and the “Arab World Market Focus” carried the key problems to the fore. It also brought together lovers of Arabic literature – some of whom face daily battles to carry on in their field – and made them feel less isolated. Professor Kim Jae-Yong, of Seoul’s Wonkwang University, echoed this opinion of this year’s LBF. Kim, who edits a handsome Korean-and-English quarterly dedicated to world literature called Asia, has a particular passion for Arabic literature and has invited Arab poets and writers to Korea for literary festivals. “When I first discovered Arabic literature,” he enthused, “I could never have imagined that a culture, that seemed so far from mine, was in fact so close.”

Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb

Interview of Matthieu Ricard, French translator for the Dalai Lama

For almost 20 years, Matthieu Ricard has served as the French translator for the Dalai Lama. Ricard, a bestselling author, award-winning photographer, doctor of cellular genetics and Buddhist monk, will speak at Northrop Auditorium today about cultivating one’s inner conditions for genuine happiness.

On Thursday, he spoke with The Minnesota Daily to discuss his philosophies and the controversies surrounding Tibet.

So tell me about your new book on happiness and meditation.

Well, it’s mostly about happiness. Meditation is an exotic term. What it really means is to cultivate or become familiar with something.

Meditation is not just emptying your mind and sitting quiet and relaxing. It’s really about transforming what you are and the quality of every instant of your life. So that’s actually cultivating skills that inner condition for genuine happiness, rather than always putting your hopes and dreams in the outer conditions.

Why is happiness so important and what does it mean?

Happiness is not just euphoria or jumping for excitement every moment, and it’s not an endless succession of pleasurable experiences. That’s a recipe for exhaustion. And so, happiness is a way of being. A way of being, the more you experience it, the more it deepens, the more it becomes stable. It doesn’t depend on the outer circumstances for the very good reason that it is what gives you the resources to deal with confidence and what you encounter in life. So if it’s just a tool to deal with whatever comes your way it can’t be too vulnerable to the ups and downs of life. So it’s a very different thing than just pleasurable sensations.

Could you talk about your relationship with the Dalai Lama?

I had the fortune to learn with some of the greatest Tibetan Buddhist teachers, and one of my teachers happened to be one of the Dalai Lama’s teacher.So I used to meet the Dalai Lama on and off. Then from 1989, just before he received a Nobel Peace Prize, I became his French interpreter.

Since I’ve lived in the East for 40 years in the Himalayas now, I also have developed humanitarian projects inside Tibet, and in Nepal and India. I’m also quite involved in following the tragedy that is unfolding now in Tibet with the brutal repression on the part of the Chinese authorities.

Your trip to the United States, is it political at all?

Well I do answer questions whenever they come in interviews, and I still do a lot with the European media. But mostly it was to do this conference here tomorrow and then also to participate in the meeting between the Dalai Lama and doctors and scientists in Rochester.

What do you think students in Minnesota could do to lend their support to those in Tibet if they wanted to?

So there’s two ways to know that also young people care, maybe write to their congressperson. And also, since there must be many Chinese brothers and sisters at the University, they get a very biased picture from Chinese media that just speak of a few Tibetan hooligans that want to split the country and then this person, the Dalai Lama, that is against the Olympics. This cannot be further from the truth. This should be understood, this is not a splitist struggle. This is just for human rights, for freedom – freedom of religion, freedom of culture, freedom of language and freedom of aspiration. People want to live the way they want.

The Dalai Lama has always advocated nonviolence, dialogue with China, and is facing a blunt, sort of nondialogue answer. And he’s been treated by them as a snake dressing in monk’s robes. So more peaceful and nonviolent and open to dialogue is hard to find. I think young Chinese friends should know a more objective feature of Tibet. This is not anti-Chinese; the Dalai Lama always speaks of his Chinese brothers and sisters and he made a beautiful appeal for our two communities to be at peace and live in harmony. It is something that is against the oppression from the government and not in any way against the Chinese people and again he’s still supporting the Olympics.

You’re a photographer, author and humanitarian, does any of your passions rise above the others?

My deep longing is to spend more time in the Himalayas because that’s where I’m able to go deeper in my spiritual practice and somehow build up the necessary compassion, altruism and wisdom. Not that I have a lot of it, but it is the way to build it further. And so I think we need inner transformation to better transform the world.

Is your inner transformation ever complete?

It can be. In my case, it’s such a long way, I don’t see it complete soon. In Buddhist terms, what we call Buddhahood, the state of Buddha, is precisely a state where all the shadows of mental confusion and mental poisons have been removed and there is only the light of wisdom and compassion. So this is the ultimate reach of my training. In that sense, yes, it can be complete.

Source: http://www.mndaily.com

¡No nos olvidemos de la lengua materna!

Las tecnologías educativas ayudan, pero lo básico

El dominio de la lengua materna se adquiere, leyendo, escribiendo, narrando, comentando, explicando y describiendo. No existe otro método.

Existe en el país una nueva generación de adeptos de las tecnologías, que cree que estas últimas, lo sustituyen todo. Los  maestros y maestras ya no serian necesarios,  el “nec plus ultra” son los multimedia. Las discusiones son acaloradas entre jóvenes fanatizados por el Internet y la creencia en que la sobreabundancia de informaciones implica dominio de las mismas.  Y es que esas informaciones no son obligatoriamente transformadas en conocimientos. Se necesita para esto el maestro o el profesor y, sobre todo, dominar la lengua materna. Sin ella no hay dominio de ninguna otra disciplina de las que conforman la cultura. Como ejemplo, vemos dos estudios realizados en Francia en el 2006 y publicados en 2007. De ellos se publicó lo siguiente:

Dos estudios sobre las adquisiciones de alumnos en historia, geografía y educación cívica, publicados recientemente por la Dirección de evaluación de la prospectiva y del rendimiento del Ministerio de la Educación en Francia confirman que el aprendizaje y la maestría de la lengua materna es  fundamental. La primera evaluación se realizo al final de la escuela primaria (final del cuarto año de básica en la República Dominicana.) y la segunda, al final del colegio (primer año de la educación media dominicana.). Los resultados de esos dos estudios confirman las inquietudes de los profesores sobre el debilitamiento de los puntos de referencia cronológicos en Historia, y de manera irrefutable la importancia del francés como disciplina que abre las puertas a todas las otras: sea en la escuela o en el colegio, el nivel de los alumnos está estrechamente asociado a sus capacidades de comprensión y de expresión escrita. Es decir, de su dominio de la lengua materna, en esta oportunidad, el francés.

La primera: Realizada en 2006, al final de la primaria CM2 (final del cuarto curso de básica dominicana) el análisis de los conocimientos en Historia, Geografía y Educación Cívica, se realizó con una muestra de 7, 688 alumnos.  El grupo 0 representó el 12,2  por ciento;  el grupo 2, el  26,7 (que tiene conocimientos fragmentados en todos los dominios); el grupo 3, el 30,3  por ciento; el grupo 4, el 18 por ciento y el grupo 5, el 10 por ciento. Según el estudio, solo los alumnos de esos dos últimos grupos “dominan de manera satisfactoria las exigencias de conocimiento y de competencias esperados y son capaces de diferenciar una noción histórica”.

Así en el ejemplo del castillo feudal,  “lo sitúan en la Edad Media, son capaces de indicar una fecha, de nombrar personajes de ese periodo histórico y de citar acontecimientos importantes”. Los de los grupos 2 y 3 solo identifican elementos constitutivos del castillo, reconociendo que se ese trata de una “edificación fortificada destinada a defender un territorio”. Los del grupo 0 representan ese porcentaje tan elevado de niños y niñas que se consideran “fracasados” apenas iniciados sus estudios (en general en Francia son el 15  por ciento). El estudio nota que cual sea el grupo, los resultados de los alumnos son menos buenos cuando deben “poner en juego ítems temporales y espaciales”. Los ítems “fecha” y “puesta en orden cronológico” son los que reciben peores respuestas.

Los autores subrayan “las dificultades en grados variados para cuatro alumnos de 10 por culpa de una maestría o dominio  insuficiente de la lengua francesa y del lenguaje en general”.La segunda: Realizada en mayo 2006 con una muestra de 5,856 alumnos al final de la 3e (final de primer curso de media dominicano), consistió en la evaluación en Historia, Geografía y Educación cívica de los conceptos adquiridos, tomando en cuenta los objetivos intelectuales de los programas de esas disciplinas después de cuatro años de estudios. En una escala de capacidades comunes al conjunto de las competencias sondeadas se pidió identificar, tratar la información e interpretarla. Los resultados diferencian seis grupos clasificados de 0 a 5 según un nivel creciente:

1. Solo el grupo 5, o sea, el  10 por ciento de la muestra, realizó el conjunto del trabajo pedido en los tests.

2. El grupo 4, el 16,9  por ciento de los alumnos, muestran  “conocimientos profundos”.

3. Los alumnos del grupo 3, el 30  por ciento, “han adquirido conocimientos amplios correspondientes a lo que se espera al final del colegio” con un vocabulario que les permite pasar “de lo particular o la general”, “comienzan a justificar y reconocen puntos de vista”. Esos 3 grupos, que representan el 56,9  por ciento de la muestra, tienen en común  el vocabulario utilizado por los alumnos, que se hace más peyorativo.

4. Los alumnos del grupo 2, el 28  por ciento de la muestra, “saben reactivar conocimientos y buscar informaciones sencillas a partir de un documento,  pero no van mas allá”.

5. Los del grupo 1, el 12,7  por ciento, tienen conocimientos fragmentarios y reducidos.

6. Los del grupo 0, el 2,3 por ciento, tienen “muy pocos conocimientos y lagunas en la comprensión de lo escrito, que les impide acceder a competencias esperadas”

En todos los niveles,  las capacidades en lectura de documentos y en redacción son las que  hacen la diferencia. La encuesta se repetirá en 2008 y versará sobre Ciencias y Matemáticas. Notemos que estos dos estudios se repiten cada seis años desde 2003 y tratan de realizar una evaluación-balance en disciplinas escolares, al final de la escuela primaria y del colegio, para seguir la evolución del “nivel de los alumnos”.¡Y si eso, es en Francia! Es cierto que en el mundo entero se comprueba en la escuela publica un relativo descenso en relación con el nivel cultural general de años atrás,  debido a múltiples factores ligados, sobre todo, a la globalización y a la migración, a la desafección de los alumnos por los estudios humanísticos y a la revalorización de las ciencias tecnológicas y computacionales ligadas al mercado laboral.

Imaginemos ahora lo que arrojarían esas evaluaciones-balance si fueran aplicadas a los alumnos dominicanos, incapaces de dominar la pequeña escala cronológica de su historia que se inicia en los libros, en general, en 1492 y  culmina, según los colegios, en 1961. Unos alumnos que no dominan absolutamente ninguna referencia espacial y son incapaces de poner en un mapa del país, más de cinco ciudades asociadas a hechos transcendentales de su reciente y corta Historia y ni remontar a los tiempos de la Colonia. Para nuestros estudiantes, los hechos del siglo XIX son irrelevantes, olvidados. ¿Buenaventura Báez? ¿La reelección? ¿La deuda? ¿La exportación de caoba? ¿La desforestación?.

Fuente: http://www.7dias.com.do

La Xarxa estrena sitio web y boletín

La Red de Traductores e Intérpretes de la Comunidad Valenciana está de enhorabuena. El equipo de la Xarxa estrena sitio web y lanza el primer número del boletín de noticias de la asociación, el Xarxatín.

Para más información, visite la página siguiente:
www.xarxativ.es

Iberoamericanos, lusófonos y francófonos defienden la cooperación lingüística

Organismos hispanos, lusos y francófonos abogaron hoy por una mayor cooperación ‘lingüística’ entre las tres comunidades y el secretario general iberoamericano, Enrique Iglesias, la consideró clave para fortalecer ese triple patrimonio cultural.

Los denominados ‘Tres Espacios Lingüisticos’ (TEL), celebraron hoy una reunión en la capital portuguesa en la que analizaron la situación internacional de las tres lenguas, el intercambio cultural entre ellas e iniciativas para promover el plurilingüismo en la educación y la industria editorial o el entretenimiento.

En la conferencia participaron además del uruguayo Enrique Iglesias, los secretarios generales de la Comunidad de los Países de Lengua Portuguesa (CPLP), el caboverdiano Luis Fonseca, y de la Organización Internacional de la Francofonía, el ex-presidente senegalés Abou Diouf.

Tras una jornada de debates, en la que también hubo altos cargos de la Unesco y otros organismos internacionales y delegados gubernamentales, los representantes de los Tres Espacios Lingüísticos, firmaron una declaración en la que defendieron una mayor comprensión entre las lenguas latinas. ‘La diversidad cultural y lingüística es una de las riquezas fundamentales del patrimonio de la humanidad y su respeto constituye un elemento necesario en las políticas de desarrollo’, sostiene el documento.

Iglesias declaró a Efe que hay ‘áreas de colaboración muy importantes’ entre las tres comunidades para fortalecer su espacio cultural común y aunque reconoció que la fuerza del inglés es un reto, como lengua dominante en este momento, subrayó la fuerza de las tres lenguas latinas. ‘El español seguramente ya es la segunda lengua internacional’, resaltó al defender la necesidad de ‘llevar las lenguas allí donde lo pide la demanda’.

En ese campo, agregó, ‘España lo esta haciendo muy bien y todo eso ayuda a fortalecer la lengua, nos da seguridad y además tiene dividendos económicos’. El secretario general iberoamericano destacó que ‘la lengua contribuye económicamente al producto nacional, sustenta la industria editorial, la de la música o los negocios, es un puntal económico que tiene una gran contribución a los países’. Entre las áreas de cooperación que se abren al espacio cultural de las lenguas latinas resaltó el del apoyo a las industrias culturales ‘donde todos -dijo- tenemos algo que aportar y mucho que aprender’.

Iglesias se mostró partidario de un trabajo conjunto ‘en el fortalecimiento de nuestro gran patrimonio, que es el cultural’ para potencia el carácter de ‘verdadera potencia cultural en el mundo’ que tienen las tres comunidades. En la reunión de hoy en Lisboa también participaron el italiano Bernardino Osio, secretario general de la Unión Latina, delegados de la Organización de los Estados Iberoamericanos (OEI) y de la Organización Arabe para la Educación, Cultura y Ciencia (ALECSO), y el representante de la ONU para la Alianza de las Civilizaciones, el ex presidente portugués Jorge Sampaio.

En las conclusiones de la reunión se destacó también la importancia del plurilingüismo como forma de defender la paz y el entendimiento internacional y se instó a las industrias culturales a que lo promuevan. En la conferencia de Lisboa se decidió volver a celebrar otra reunión de las tres comunidades culturales el año próximo en Madrid, a propuesta de Iglesias, y se impulsaron grupos de trabajo e iniciativas sobre distribución de bienes culturales, desarrollo de herramientas de traducción automatizadas y señalización multilingüe.

Los organismos y personalidades asistentes se comprometieron además en incentivar la ratificación de la Convención de la Unesco para la protección de la diversidad cultural y su promoción internacional. En su intervención en los debates, Iglesias destacó en ese sentido la defensa del patrimonio cultural, multiétnico y multilingüe, del que han sido escenario las 17 cumbres de gobernantes celebradas por la Comunidad de países Iberoamericanos, que agrupa al espacio hispano y lusófono, desde 1991.

Fuente: http://actualidad.terra.es