TEDxDubai
Patricia Ryan: Don't insist on English!
Patricia Ryan: gør ikke krav på engelsk!
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Readability: 3.6
2,138,668 views
På TEDxDubai, spørger engelsklæreren gennem lang tid, Patricia Ryan, et provokerende spørgsmål: forhindrer verdens fokus på engelsk at der spredes gode idéer på andre sprog? (For eksempel: hvad hvis Einstein var nødt til at bestå en engelskprøve?). Det er et passionerende forsvar for oversættelse og at dele idéer.
Patricia Ryan - Language teacher
Patricia Ryan has spent the past three-plus decades teaching English in Arabic countries -- where she has seen vast cultural (and linguistic) change. Full bio
Patricia Ryan has spent the past three-plus decades teaching English in Arabic countries -- where she has seen vast cultural (and linguistic) change. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
I know what you're thinking.
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Jeg hvad hvad I tænker.
00:18
You think I've lost my way,
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I tænker, at jeg er faret vild
00:20
and somebody's going to come on the stage in a minute
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og at der snart kommer en op på scenen
00:22
and guide me gently back to my seat.
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og ligeså stille fører mig tilbage til min plads.
00:24
(Applause)
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Bifald
00:30
I get that all the time in Dubai.
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Det sker for mig i Dubai hele tiden.
00:33
"Here on holiday are you, dear?"
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„Er du på ferie her, kære?“
00:35
(Laughter)
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[Latter]
00:37
"Come to visit the children?
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„Er du her for at besøge børnene?
00:40
How long are you staying?"
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Hvor længe bliver du?“
00:42
Well actually, I hope for a while longer yet.
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Faktisk, lidt længere endnu, håber jeg.
00:45
I have been living and teaching in the Gulf
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Jeg har boet og undervist i Golfen
00:48
for over 30 years.
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i over 30 år.
00:50
(Applause)
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[Bifald]
00:54
And in that time, I have seen a lot of changes.
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Og i den tid, har jeg set mange ændringer.
00:58
Now that statistic
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Den statistik
01:00
is quite shocking.
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er ret chokerende.
01:02
And I want to talk to you today
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og i dag vil jeg tale om
01:04
about language loss
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sprogtab
01:06
and the globalization of English.
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og globaliseringen af engelsk.
01:09
I want to tell you about my friend
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Jeg vil gerne fortælle jer om min ven
01:11
who was teaching English to adults in Abu Dhabi.
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som underviste voksne i engelsk i Abu Dhabi.
01:14
And one fine day,
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Og en skønne dag
01:16
she decided to take them into the garden
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besluttede hun sig for, at tage dem ud i haven
01:18
to teach them some nature vocabulary.
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for at lære dem nogle gloser om natur.
01:20
But it was she who ended up learning
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Men det var hende der endte med at lære
01:22
all the Arabic words for the local plants,
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alle de arabiske ord for de lokale planter,
01:24
as well as their uses --
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såvel som deres brug;
01:26
medicinal uses, cosmetics,
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medicinale brug, kosmetiske,
01:29
cooking, herbal.
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madlavning, urter.
01:32
How did those students get all that knowledge?
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Hvordan fik de studerende al den viden?
01:34
Of course, from their grandparents
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Selvfølgelig fra deres bedsteforældre
01:36
and even their great-grandparents.
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og endda deres oldeforældre.
01:39
It's not necessary to tell you how important it is
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Det er ikke nødvendigt at sige, hvor vigtigt det er,
01:42
to be able to communicate
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at være i stand til, at kommunikere
01:44
across generations.
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på tværs af generationer.
01:46
But sadly, today,
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Men desværre,
01:48
languages are dying
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dør sprog i dag
01:50
at an unprecedented rate.
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i et omfang som ikke tidligere er set.
01:52
A language dies every 14 days.
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Et sprog dør hver 14. dag.
01:56
Now, at the same time,
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På samme tid,
01:58
English is the undisputed global language.
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er engelsk det ubestridte globale sprog.
02:00
Could there be a connection?
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Kan der være en sammenhæng?
02:02
Well I don't know.
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Det ved jeg ikke.
02:04
But I do know that I've seen a lot of changes.
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Men jeg ved, at jeg har set en del forandringer.
02:07
When I first came out to the Gulf, I came to Kuwait
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Da jeg første gang kom til Golfen, kom jeg til Kuwait,
02:10
in the days when it was still a hardship post.
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dengang det stadig var et belastet område.
02:13
Actually, not that long ago.
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Faktisk, for ikke så længe siden.
02:15
That is a little bit too early.
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Det er lidt for tidligt.
02:18
But nevertheless,
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Men ikke desto mindre
02:20
I was recruited by the British Council,
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var jeg rekrutteret af det Britiske Råd
02:22
along with about 25 other teachers.
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sammen med omkring 25 andre undervisere.
02:24
And we were the first non-Muslims
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Og vi var de første ikke-muslimer
02:26
to teach in the state schools there in Kuwait.
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der underviste i de offentlige skoler i Kuwait.
02:29
We were brought to teach English
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Vi kom for at undervise i engelsk
02:31
because the government wanted to modernize the country
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fordi regeringen ville modernisere landet
02:35
and to empower the citizens through education.
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og styrke borgerne gennem uddannelse.
02:38
And of course, the U.K. benefited
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Og selvfølgelig fik Storbritannien
02:40
from some of that lovely oil wealth.
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gavn af noget af den dejlige rigdom pga. olie.
02:43
Okay.
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Okay.
02:45
Now this is the major change that I've seen --
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Det her er den store ændring jeg har set-
02:48
how teaching English
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hvordan engelsk
02:50
has morphed
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gradvist har forvandlet sig fra
02:52
from being a mutually beneficial practice
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at være en gensidig gavnlig praksis til,
02:56
to becoming a massive international business that it is today.
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at blive den massive internationale forretning det er i dag.
02:59
No longer just a foreign language on the school curriculum,
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Ikke længere bare et fremmedsprog i skolens pensum.
03:03
and no longer the sole domain
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Og ikke længere Moder Englands
03:05
of mother England,
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domæne.
03:07
it has become a bandwagon
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Det er blevet populært
03:09
for every English-speaking nation on earth.
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for alle engelsktalende nationer på jorden.
03:12
And why not?
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Og hvorfor ikke?
03:14
After all, the best education --
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Den bedste uddannelse findes jo,
03:17
according to the latest World University Rankings --
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ifølge den seneste bedømmelse af universiter i verden,
03:20
is to be found in the universities
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på universiterer
03:22
of the U.K. and the U.S.
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i Storbritannien og USA.
03:26
So everybody wants to have an English education, naturally.
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Så, alle vil have en engelsk uddannelse - naturligvis.
03:30
But if you're not a native speaker,
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Men hvis engelsk ikke er dit modersmål,
03:32
you have to pass a test.
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skal du bestå en prøve.
03:34
Now can it be right
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Kan det være rigtigt
03:36
to reject a student
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at afvise en studerende
03:38
on linguistic ability alone?
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på den lingvistiske evne alene?
03:40
Perhaps you have a computer scientist
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Måske har du en computervidenskabsmand
03:42
who's a genius.
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som er et geni.
03:44
Would he need the same language as a lawyer, for example?
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Ville han have brug for det samme sprog som advokat, for eksempel?
03:47
Well, I don't think so.
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Det tror jeg ikke.
03:51
We English teachers reject them all the time.
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Vi engelsklærere afviser dem hele tiden.
03:54
We put a stop sign,
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Vi sætter et stopskilt op
03:56
and we stop them in their tracks.
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og vi stopper dem på deres vej.
03:58
They can't pursue their dream any longer,
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De kan ikke følge deres drøm længere,
04:00
'til they get English.
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til de har fået engelsk.
04:04
Now let me put it this way:
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Lad mig sige det sådan;
04:07
if I met a monolingual Dutch speaker
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hvis jeg mødte en monolingualist i hollandsk,
04:11
who had the cure for cancer,
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som kunne helbrede cancer,
04:13
would I stop him from entering my British University?
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ville jeg da forhindre ham i at blive optaget på mit britiske universitet?
04:16
I don't think so.
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Det tror jeg ikke.
04:18
But indeed, that is exactly what we do.
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Men det er virkelig det vi gør.
04:21
We English teachers are the gatekeepers.
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Vi engelsklærere er portvagterne.
04:24
And you have to satisfy us first
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Og dit engelsk skal være godt nok til,
04:27
that your English is good enough.
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at kunne tilfredsstille os først.
04:31
Now it can be dangerous
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Det kan være farligt,
04:33
to give too much power
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at give så megen magt
04:36
to a narrow segment of society.
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til et smalt segment af samfundet.
04:38
Maybe the barrier would be too universal.
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Måske ville barrieren være for universel.
04:41
Okay.
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Okay.
04:43
"But," I hear you say,
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„Men“, hører jeg jer sige,
04:46
"what about the research?
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„hvad med forskningen?
04:48
It's all in English."
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Det er altsammen på engelsk.“
04:50
So the books are in English,
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Ja, bøgerne er på engelsk,
04:52
the journals are done in English,
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journalerne skrives på engelsk,
04:54
but that is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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men det er en selvopfyldende profeti.
04:57
It feeds the English requirement.
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Det forstærker det engelsk krav.
04:59
And so it goes on.
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Og sådan fortsætter det.
05:01
I ask you, what happened to translation?
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Så spørger jeg, hvad skete der med oversættelser?
05:04
If you think about the Islamic Golden Age,
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Hvis du tænker på den Islamiske Gyldne Alder
05:08
there was lots of translation then.
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der var mange oversættelser dengang.
05:11
They translated from Latin and Greek
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De oversatte fra latin og græsk
05:14
into Arabic, into Persian,
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til arabisk og persisk
05:16
and then it was translated on
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og så blev det oversat
05:18
into the Germanic languages of Europe
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til Europas germanske sprog
05:20
and the Romance languages.
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og de romanske sprog.
05:22
And so light shone upon the Dark Ages of Europe.
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Og så kastede lyset sig på Europas Mørke Tider.
05:27
Now don't get me wrong;
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Forstå mig ret,
05:29
I am not against teaching English,
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alle engelsklærere derude;
05:31
all you English teachers out there.
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jeg er ikke imod at undervise i engelsk.
05:33
I love it that we have a global language.
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Jeg elsker, at vi har et globalt sprog.
05:35
We need one today more than ever.
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Vi har brug for et i dag - mere end nogensinde før.
05:38
But I am against using it
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Men jeg er imod at bruge det
05:40
as a barrier.
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som en barriere.
05:42
Do we really want to end up with 600 languages
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Vil vi virkelig ende op med 600 sprog
05:45
and the main one being English, or Chinese?
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og hovedsproget værende engelsk eller kinesisk?
05:48
We need more than that. Where do we draw the line?
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Vi har brug for mere end det. Hvor trækker vi stregen?
05:51
This system
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Dette system
05:53
equates intelligence
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tilsidesætter intelligens
05:56
with a knowledge of English,
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med et kendskab til engelsk
05:59
which is quite arbitrary.
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der er ret arbitrær.
06:01
(Applause)
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[Bifald]
06:07
And I want to remind you
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Og jeg vil minde jer om,
06:09
that the giants upon whose shoulders
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at de giganter, på hvis skuldre
06:12
today's intelligentsia stand
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nutidens intelligentsia sidder,
06:14
did not have to have English,
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ikke behøvede at have engelsk,
06:16
they didn't have to pass an English test.
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de behøvede ikke at bestå en engelskprøve.
06:18
Case in point, Einstein.
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Einstein er et eksempel på dette.
06:22
He, by the way, was considered remedial at school
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Han fik iøvrigt specialundervisning i skolen,
06:25
because he was, in fact, dyslexic.
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fordi han var ordblind.
06:27
But fortunately for the world,
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Men heldigvis for hele verden,
06:29
he did not have to pass an English test.
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behøvede han ikke at bestå en engelskprøve.
06:32
Because they didn't start until 1964
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For de fandtes ikke før 1964.
06:35
with TOEFL,
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Med TOEFL,
06:37
the American test of English.
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The American test of English
06:39
Now it's exploded.
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Nu er det eksploderet.
06:41
There are lots and lots of tests of English.
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Det er masser af engelskprøver.
06:44
And millions and millions of students
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Og millioner og millioner af studerende
06:46
take these tests every year.
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tager disse prøver hvert eneste år.
06:48
Now you might think, you and me,
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Du og jeg tænker sikkert,
06:50
"Those fees aren't bad, they're okay,"
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at betalingen for det ikke er så slemt; det er okay,
06:52
but they are prohibitive
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men de er uoverkommelige
06:54
to so many millions of poor people.
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for så mange millioner fattige mennesker.
06:56
So immediately, we're rejecting them.
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Så vi afviser dem med det samme.
06:58
(Applause)
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[Bifald]
07:01
It brings to mind a headline I saw recently:
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Det får mig til at tænke på en overskrift jeg så for nyligt:
07:04
"Education: The Great Divide."
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„Uddannelse: Den Store Kløft“
07:06
Now I get it,
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Nu forstår jeg det,
07:08
I understand why people would want to focus on English.
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jeg forstår hvorfor folk fokuserer på engelsk.
07:11
They want to give their children the best chance in life.
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De vil give deres børn den bedst mulige chance i livet.
07:15
And to do that, they need a Western education.
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Og for at kunne det, skal de have en vestlig uddannelse.
07:18
Because, of course, the best jobs
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Fordi de bedste jobs selvfølgelig
07:20
go to people out of the Western Universities,
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går til studenter ved de vestlige universiteter,
07:23
that I put on earlier.
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som jeg forklarede tidligere.
07:25
It's a circular thing.
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Det kører i ring.
07:27
Okay.
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Okay.
07:29
Let me tell you a story about two scientists,
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Lad mig fortælle jer en historie om to videnskabsmænd,
07:31
two English scientists.
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to engelske videnskabsmænd
07:33
They were doing an experiment
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De foretog et eksperiment
07:35
to do with genetics
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der havde med genetik at gøre
07:37
and the forelimbs and the hind limbs of animals.
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og de forreste og bagerste lemmer på dyr.
07:40
But they couldn't get the results they wanted.
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Men de kunne ikke få det resultat de ville.
07:42
They really didn't know what to do,
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De vidste virkelig ikke hvad de skulle gøre,
07:44
until along came a German scientist
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indtil der en dag kom en tysk videnskabsmand
07:47
who realized that they were using two words
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som opdagede at de brugte to ord
07:50
for forelimb and hind limb,
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for lemmerne forrest og bagerst på dyret,
07:52
whereas genetics does not differentiate
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hvilket genetikken ikke skelner imellem
07:56
and neither does German.
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- og det samme gælder for tysk.
07:58
So bingo,
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Så bingo!
08:00
problem solved.
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Problemet var løst.
08:02
If you can't think a thought,
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Hvis du ikke kan tænke en tanke
08:04
you are stuck.
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sidder du fast.
08:07
But if another language can think that thought,
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Men hvis et andet sprog kan tænke den tanke
08:09
then, by cooperating,
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kan man, gennem samarbejde,
08:11
we can achieve and learn so much more.
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opnå og lære så meget mere.
08:16
My daughter
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Min datter
08:18
came to England from Kuwait.
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kom til England fra Kuwait.
08:21
She had studied science and mathematics in Arabic.
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Hun havde studeret videnskab og matematik på arabisk.
08:24
It's an Arabic medium school.
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Det var på en arabisk middelskole.
08:27
She had to translate it into English at her grammar school.
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Hun var nødt til, at oversætte det til engelsk på grammatikskolen.
08:30
And she was the best in the class
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Og hun var den bedste i sin klasse
08:32
at those subjects.
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til de fag.
08:34
Which tells us
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Hvilket siger os,
08:36
that when students come to us from abroad,
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at når vi får studerende ind fra udlandet,
08:38
we may not be giving them enough credit
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giver vi dem måske ikke credit nok for,
08:40
for what they know,
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hvad de ved
08:42
and they know it in their own language.
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og hvad de ved på deres eget sprog.
08:45
When a language dies,
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Når et sprog dør,
08:47
we don't know what we lose with that language.
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ved vi ikke hvad vi mister med det sprog.
08:50
This is -- I don't know if you saw it on CNN recently --
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Det her er -jeg ved ikke om I så det på CNN for nyligt-
08:54
they gave the Heroes Award
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de gav Heroes Award
08:56
to a young Kenyan shepherd boy
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til en ung kenyansk hyrde
08:59
who couldn't study at night in his village,
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som ikke kunne læse om aftenen i hans landsby,
09:02
like all the village children,
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som de andre børn i landsbyen kunne det,
09:04
because the kerosene lamp,
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fordi røgen fra petroleumslampen
09:06
it had smoke and it damaged his eyes.
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havde skadet hans øjne.
09:08
And anyway, there was never enough kerosene,
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Og alligevel var der aldrig nok petroleum
09:11
because what does a dollar a day buy for you?
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for hvad kan du købe for en dollar om dagen?
09:14
So he invented
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Så han opfandt
09:16
a cost-free solar lamp.
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en omkostningsfri solcellelampe.
09:19
And now the children in his village
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Og nu kan børnene i hans landsby
09:21
get the same grades at school
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få samme karakterer i skolen,
09:23
as the children who have electricity at home.
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som de børn der har elektricitet i hjemmet.
09:27
(Applause)
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[Bifald]
09:33
When he received his award,
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Da han modtog denne pris,
09:35
he said these lovely words:
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sagde han disse vidunderlige ord:
09:37
"The children can lead Africa from what it is today,
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„Børnene kan lede Afrika fra det det er i dag,
09:40
a dark continent,
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et mørk kontinent,
09:42
to a light continent."
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til et lyst kontinent“.
09:44
A simple idea,
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En simpel idé,
09:46
but it could have such far-reaching consequences.
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men det kan have så vidtrækkende konsekvenser.
09:50
People who have no light,
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Mennesker der ikke har lys,
09:52
whether it's physical or metaphorical,
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uanset om det er fysisk eller metaforisk,
09:55
cannot pass our exams,
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kan ikke bestå vores eksaminer
09:58
and we can never know what they know.
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og vi vil aldrig finde ud af hvad de ved.
10:01
Let us not keep them and ourselves
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Lad os ikke holde dem eller os selv
10:04
in the dark.
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i mørket.
10:06
Let us celebrate diversity.
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Lad os hylde forskelligheden.
10:09
Mind your language.
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Hold af dit sprog.
10:12
Use it to spread great ideas.
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Brug det til, at sprede gode idéer.
10:16
(Applause)
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[Bifald]
10:23
Thank you very much.
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Mange tak skal I have.
10:25
(Applause)
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[Bifald]
Reviewed by Niels Justus
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Patricia Ryan - Language teacherPatricia Ryan has spent the past three-plus decades teaching English in Arabic countries -- where she has seen vast cultural (and linguistic) change.
Why you should listen
UK-born language teacher Patricia Ryan has spent most of the past 40 years teaching English in the countries of the Arabian Gulf.
She is currently teaching at Zayed University in Dubai, and studying for a second Masters degree in Law.
Patricia Ryan | Speaker | TED.com