Hør dog hvad de siger - Note-to-Self: Trials & Errors

speakers of the language also speak English? I.e. can one expect a fair proportion of the native
and foreign language speakers of the language to also use English? IF the language is deemed
‘large’, and IF the speakers of the language are deemed not to speak English, THEN the lan-
guage is an important language. If the language is deemed ‘small’, OR if the speakers are
deemed to also speak English, then the language must be less important as an international
language. We see all the quoted informants agree that the languages are ‘large’, but we see
also that they disagree whether the speakers of the languages also speak English and hence
whether it is an important language 54 . In Toulmin’s terminology they use the data of the
speakers’ English abilities to support their claim about the languages’ importance. The crucial
point I want to stress is that all of the informants are aware of the logic of English as the de-
fault foreign language – the warrant that ‘if a people speak English, there is no need to learn
their language’.
Languages in the educational system – other reasons for promoting languages
A very similar tendency can be observed when we ask informants not about the importance of
the languages in international communication, but about which language should be taught in
Danish schools. Admittedly, the questions are closely related. However, other elements beside
a language’s importance as international language must be considered when deciding whether
to put them on the curriculum, i.e. if it is the national language, if it is the languages of neigh-
bouring nations, if the languages are regionally (as opposed to globally) important languages,
if they are minority languages in the state etc.
We asked informants first about the relative size of a list of languages in the educational
system, viz. Danish, English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, Swedish, and Norwegian,
(as well as ‘immigrant languages’ which I will not get into). Secondly, we asked them which
languages should be upgraded in the educational system. It may come as a surprise that Eng-
lish averages on a par with Danish, actually slightly above Danish (4.62 compared with 4.59
on a 5-point scale). One reason for this has to do with the definition of ‘educational system’.
If it is interpreted as ‘primary school’, which it is by some informants, the influence of Eng-
lish is probably overestimated; if it is interpreted as ‘primary, secondary, and tertiary educa-
tion’ it is maybe closer to facts, seeing as many higher educations are, if not conducted in
English, at least relying heavily on literature in English.
54 The causality of the rationality should probably not be overstressed. It may actually be that informants intuitively
(or for some inexplicated other reason) deem the language to be insignificant, and only afterwards rationalize
their immediate response as one about the ability to use English.
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