Official Foreign Language Could Hold Key to Further Development
We Mongolians are few. The only way we can multiply is through knowledge and the easiest tool for obtaining it is foreign language.
Small countries surrounded by superpowers like Mongolia understood this a long time ago and they have been following a neutralist policy by having first and second official languages and demanding people learn foreign languages. By implementing these types of policies, they did not lose their national customs or traditions, but further developed them.
People from these countries think internationally and businesses gain more profit in foreign markets than they do domestically because they do business better than their big neighbors.
For example, many Swiss citizens speak German, French, Italian and English. Swiss companies such as Glencore, Nestle, Novartis, Hoffmann-La Roche, ABB and Adecco and their financial institutions such as USB AG, Zurich Financial Services, Credit Suisse, Swiss RE and The Swatch Group have become multinational corporations.
Switzerland’s population is 7.8 million and its total area is 40 times less than ours. On average, Swiss citizens have a worth of USD 373,000, making Switzerland the richest country in the world.
Let us have a look at the Netherlands. Again, almost everyone there speaks both Dutch and English. Shell, one of the five biggest oil companies in the world, belongs to the Netherlands. The Dutch people established the first shareholding company and started the first ever stock exchange. Singapore’s success is also linked to foreign language.
The one of the most important common threads amongst these countries is the English language.
English is a compulsory subject in secondary and high schools in these countries. As a result, their people use English as well as their mother language.
The reason why they chose English over other languages is that 70 percent of information on the Internet is in English, 55 countries have declared English as their official language, and 750 million people in total speak this language. Our super power neighbors are learning English quickly.
Most business meetings, contracts and agreements, political or business, are done in English and the role and usage of the English language is expanding internationally. Even though we Mongolians realized this and started doing something about it, the result is not exactly what we wanted.
The Mongolian Government’s resolution was issued in 2005 declaring English as an official foreign language that every citizen must learn and a program was approved to make sure this became a reality. However, the results have been delayed.
English textbooks, which were declared as the best by British Council, were published. But the learning process is different everywhere because every school in Mongolia chooses their own textbooks.
Teachers with good English skills are not interested in teaching at schools with low salaries. We need people who can teach English to others as desperately as we need air and water. The time has come to establish special funds in the Mongolian Employer Owners Association and Management and Industrial Association in order to encourage English teachers with rewards and grants.
It would be nice if graduates with university diplomas could at least speak and write in English fluently. Universities must be non-profit at all times and if their spending exceeds its revenue, endowment funds must be established. Many Government official who own private institutes and universities for profit have to take a closer look at this.
Parents must care more about their children’s English skills and demand a more quality education from schools and teachers. We should always remember that English is the only subject taught in Mongolian schools that is used in the first minute after crossing the border.
If your children speak, understand and think in English, they will change. That is because the content of books and other sources in English is rich with many choices. If one can fluently speak, write and translate in Mongolian and English, they will always have a job with a good salary.
Additionally, people can learn a foreign language after learning English and it will be easier. If all Mongolians speak English and some of us speak Russian or Chinese, our neighbors will come to Mongolia to buy goods and services.
More Russians are coming to Mongolia by bus everyday. If we speak Russian to them, we can sell more goods and services.
If university diplomas are recognized in every country and our people speak English fluently, Mongolian boys and girls can get a jobs anywhere in the world. Mongolian doctors, teachers, and engineers will stop doing small trades.
Then, why are not we doing this? What is stopping us from doing so? We ourselves are.
Uyanga, a blind girl from Darkhan city, learned English on her own. Now she speaks fluent English, completed her Master’s degree in the US and worked for US Congress Library. Today she is leading a non-governmental organization in Ulaanbaatar.
Can you do what Uyanga did?
We Mongolians must. There is no choice.
Translated B.AMAR
Small countries surrounded by superpowers like Mongolia understood this a long time ago and they have been following a neutralist policy by having first and second official languages and demanding people learn foreign languages. By implementing these types of policies, they did not lose their national customs or traditions, but further developed them.
People from these countries think internationally and businesses gain more profit in foreign markets than they do domestically because they do business better than their big neighbors.
For example, many Swiss citizens speak German, French, Italian and English. Swiss companies such as Glencore, Nestle, Novartis, Hoffmann-La Roche, ABB and Adecco and their financial institutions such as USB AG, Zurich Financial Services, Credit Suisse, Swiss RE and The Swatch Group have become multinational corporations.
Switzerland’s population is 7.8 million and its total area is 40 times less than ours. On average, Swiss citizens have a worth of USD 373,000, making Switzerland the richest country in the world.
Let us have a look at the Netherlands. Again, almost everyone there speaks both Dutch and English. Shell, one of the five biggest oil companies in the world, belongs to the Netherlands. The Dutch people established the first shareholding company and started the first ever stock exchange. Singapore’s success is also linked to foreign language.
The one of the most important common threads amongst these countries is the English language.
English is a compulsory subject in secondary and high schools in these countries. As a result, their people use English as well as their mother language.
The reason why they chose English over other languages is that 70 percent of information on the Internet is in English, 55 countries have declared English as their official language, and 750 million people in total speak this language. Our super power neighbors are learning English quickly.
Most business meetings, contracts and agreements, political or business, are done in English and the role and usage of the English language is expanding internationally. Even though we Mongolians realized this and started doing something about it, the result is not exactly what we wanted.
The Mongolian Government’s resolution was issued in 2005 declaring English as an official foreign language that every citizen must learn and a program was approved to make sure this became a reality. However, the results have been delayed.
English textbooks, which were declared as the best by British Council, were published. But the learning process is different everywhere because every school in Mongolia chooses their own textbooks.
Teachers with good English skills are not interested in teaching at schools with low salaries. We need people who can teach English to others as desperately as we need air and water. The time has come to establish special funds in the Mongolian Employer Owners Association and Management and Industrial Association in order to encourage English teachers with rewards and grants.
It would be nice if graduates with university diplomas could at least speak and write in English fluently. Universities must be non-profit at all times and if their spending exceeds its revenue, endowment funds must be established. Many Government official who own private institutes and universities for profit have to take a closer look at this.
Parents must care more about their children’s English skills and demand a more quality education from schools and teachers. We should always remember that English is the only subject taught in Mongolian schools that is used in the first minute after crossing the border.
If your children speak, understand and think in English, they will change. That is because the content of books and other sources in English is rich with many choices. If one can fluently speak, write and translate in Mongolian and English, they will always have a job with a good salary.
Additionally, people can learn a foreign language after learning English and it will be easier. If all Mongolians speak English and some of us speak Russian or Chinese, our neighbors will come to Mongolia to buy goods and services.
More Russians are coming to Mongolia by bus everyday. If we speak Russian to them, we can sell more goods and services.
If university diplomas are recognized in every country and our people speak English fluently, Mongolian boys and girls can get a jobs anywhere in the world. Mongolian doctors, teachers, and engineers will stop doing small trades.
Then, why are not we doing this? What is stopping us from doing so? We ourselves are.
Uyanga, a blind girl from Darkhan city, learned English on her own. Now she speaks fluent English, completed her Master’s degree in the US and worked for US Congress Library. Today she is leading a non-governmental organization in Ulaanbaatar.
Can you do what Uyanga did?
We Mongolians must. There is no choice.
Translated B.AMAR
Comments
Post a Comment