LINGUISTIC BIOGRAPHY
Interview with Edouard B. (77 years old): Son of Polish parents, born and raised in Belgium; he is married to a Polish woman and he has worked
in an international environment (in Germany and in Luxembourg).
Before the interview, I did some research about my
interviewee; wrote and reviewed my questions, found a time and place for the
meeting and recording, etc. As behind a mother tongue and any other kind of
contact with a second or third language there is a real story, reason or need;
during the interview I had to concentrate and listen closely to what my
interviewee said about his life in his early years.
E (Edouard) : Le français. ... D’abord
parce que j’ai fait toute ma scolarité dans cette langue; ensuite, tout mon
environnement extérieur à la cellule familiale ... (amis, activités sportives
ou culturelles), durant mon enfance, adolescence, âge adulte, s’est déroulé en
français.
C: 2. Donner de brèves informations de fond pour
comprendre lieu et du contexte de temps. (Biographie langagière) / Give brief
background information to understand place and time context. (Biographie langagière)
E: Né dans la partie flamande de Belgique de parents immigrés polonais,
j’ai commencé à parler le polonais au sein de la famille et aussi en dehors,
car la colonie polonaise, très importante, organisait des activités culturelles
et sportives, notamment en dispensant des cours de polonais aux enfants; ... j’ai
aussi appris à parler le flamand dans la rue, je ne suis pas allé à l’école,
car la guerre battait son plein lorsque je devais y aller. ... A l’âge de 7
ans, je suis venu vivre avec mes parents dans la partie francophone de la
Belgique, et, rapidement, le français a pris le pas sur le flamand et le
polonais, ... ce dernier n’était plus utilisé qu’au sein de la famille. J’ai
appris la langue anglaise à l’école secondaire qui était une deuxième langue
obligatoire ; je l’ai perfectionnée en suivant des cours du soir. ... Quant à
l’allemand, j’ai été forcé de l’apprendre lorsque j’ai trouvé un emploi en
Allemagne.
As Lévy defined the language biography as: “Forme particulière
de récit de soi, la biographie langagière” (Lévy, 2008), I decided to open my
interview with a question related to affectivité de la langue: “Which language do
you feel is your mother tongue?” (question nº1) . This way, I allowed Mr. E. to
start talking frankly about his experiences with languages. Certainly, when
analysing the answers of my interviewee, I had to compare “natural
bilingualism” with school bilingualism”. The first one is done in a natural
environment without a specific training, while in the second one the L2
appropriation is done in a school environment, mainly through instruction.
To learn a second language it is generally a requisite in
order to graduate from school, university, etc. In answer to question nº2, Mr.
E explained: “J’ai appris la langue anglaise à l’école secondaire qui était une
deuxième langue obligatoire; je l’ai perfectionnée en suivant des cours du soir.”
Then, Mr. E. defined his German as... “Quant à l’allemand, j’ai été forcé de
l’apprendre lorsque j’ai trouvé un emploi en Allemagne.” In effect, the
knowledge on certain particular domains can be technical (limited knowledge for
specialized usages) or functional (capacity of using two languages with or
without a plain ease on the exercise of a function, a defined occupation, etc).
E: ... Pas que je sache, je n’avais pas 2 ans lorsque la guerre a éclaté
et près de 7 ans à l’armistice. ... Je peux cependant dire que la concentration
de Polonais avant la guerre et pendant la guerre était telle qu’il existait un
comité organisateur des activités polonaises où mon père était secrétaire ...
(il avait appris à écrire, contrairement à ma mère qui savait lire, mais pas
écrire, elle l’apprit par elle-même lorsque je commençai à aller à l’école,
après qu’elle avait plus de 30 ans), les autochtones flamands se sont vus
obligés d’apprendre à parler le polonais, ma mère ne savait pas parler le flamand,
c’était inutile, ... car les commerçants ou bien s’exprimaient en polonais ou
étaient tout simplement des Polonais.
In this diachronic approach to Mr. E.´s life in central
Europe, the concept of family (and friends) is a key one: it acted as a motor
as a driving force so as to incorporate new knowledges and new identities. In the
context of language learning, Norton has stated: “I use the term identity to
reference how a person understands his or her relationship to the world, how
that relationship is constructed across time and space, and how the person
understands possibilities for the future
(Norton, 2000).” Although Mr. E. did not give precise
details about his linguistic identity (question nº3), his earliest memories of
Polish language are closely related to the Second World War: “la concentration
de Polonais avant la guerre et pendant la guerre...” We could appreciate that
the Polish community in Belgium had an important role in trying to keep
language alive, although historic and social circumstances were very difficult.
C: 4. Quelle décision de politique linguistique avez
-vous fait au sujet de vos propres enfants? /Which language policy decision did
you make regarding your own children?
E: ... Nous avons délibérément décidé de parler le français. ... Grandissant
en Allemagne, les enfants auraient appris à parler l’allemand. ...Nous ne
voulions pas utiliser le polonais (langue de la mère) afin de ne pas risquer de
les perturber avec trop de langues d’une part, et, d’autre part, à cause du
contexte politique général de l’époque où la Pologne vivait dans une dictature
d’Etat communiste dirigée par l’Union soviétique. ... Avec le recul, j’estime
que, sentimentalement, que c’est une faute que la mère ne parle pas sa langue
maternelle à ses enfants qui sont alors privés d’une partie affectueuse que la
mère n’a pu exprimer qu’artificiellement à travers d’une langue apprise.
Mr. Edouard B. was keen on answering my questions and
sharing his thoughts about his schooling experiences in Belgium. Besides, he
also identified some of these language practices in his own kids’ schooling.
As a necessary step when conducting social studies research,
the interview represents a challenge, as both parties cannot know how everything
will turn out. By answering “Which language policy decision did you make regarding
your own children?”(question nº4), the spontaneity with which my interviewee connected
geography, family histories and languages made me think the concept of
translanguaging practice. Nowadays this term refers to a concept that goes
beyond deliberate language switching in the classroom to embrace different
practices of multilingualism, mostly considered within but not limited to an
educational setting. Probably Mr. E. and his wife used translanguaging (Polish)
to speak about topics they did not their kids to know about (couple stuff, money
issues, etc). However, there seem to be some regrets about language policy:
What would have happened if his wife had talked (and taught) to their children
in Polish?
E: ... Le polonais est une
langue sentimentale parce que je l’utilisais avec mes parents et que je
l’utilise quelque fois avec mon épouse et lors de mes séjours en Pologne, je le
classe en deuxième position; ... l’allemand est une langue apprise à l’âge adulte
que je domine au niveau de la compréhension et du parler, beaucoup moins pour l’écrit,
il me servait durant ma vie en Allemagne et me sert encore lors de mes
déplacement dans ce pays, je le classe en troisième position ; ... l’anglais,
appris à l’école secondaire et perfectionné par la suite a été utile dans ma
vie professionnelle, mais c’est une langue apprise, scolaire et non pratiquée journellement
comme c’était le cas avec l’allemand, je classe l’anglais en numéro quatre ;
... enfin, le français est ma richesse personnelle pour ce qu’elle me permet d’exprimer
le moindre de mes états d’esprit, je classe le français en première position. Je
ne connais pas l’espagnol.
Mr. E. has a very clear picture of how and why he used and
still uses each language. Although in some parts of the interview he gave me too
much information all together, most of the data is relevant. Regarding content,
in answering question nº5, Mr. E. opens up the most: “ Le polonais est une
langue sentimentale parce que je l’utilisais avec mes parents et que je
l’utilise quelque fois avec mon épouse et lors de mes séjours en Pologne”. He keeps
the rhythm in his sentence; however I can notice a change in his voice due to
emotions. In general, his voice is modulated but sometimes a bit low. It goes
up and down, which makes his narration much more interesting as he catches my
full attention. His speech is articulated, as he expresses his ideas and
thoughts in a clear and effective way. Mr. E. gives his insight by using a
simple and everyday language; he does not use many adjectives or adverbs.
C: 6. Vous considérez-vous d'avoir une identité plurilingue?
Pour quoi? /Do you consider yourself to have a plurilingual identity? Why?
E: Oui, parce que je parviens facilement à passer d’une langue à une
autre et à réfléchir dans chacune de ces langues. Je pense qu’il n’existe pas
de traduction parfaite d’une langue vers une autre. Il est fréquent de
rencontrer des cas où il est impossible de transposer une idée émise dans une
langue vers une autre langue de manière identique. ... Ainsi, il m’est arrivé
de lire des traductions françaises de romans anglais puis de lire les mêmes
œuvres en anglais; j’éprouvais plus de plaisir dans lecture originale anglaise.
...Un deuxième exemple est le roman Anna Karénine de Léon Tolstoï que j’ai lu
d’abord en français puis en polonais; la version polonaise m’était bien plus parlante
que celle en français, probablement à cause de la proximité des langues russe
et polonaise.
Within the process of learning additional languages, speakers
may internalize different perspectives and, thus, restructure the thinking
patterns they already have to describe events and scenes (Pavlenko, 2011). In a
language biography, reflections on our attitudes towards language diversity and
plurilinguism are crucial. When I asked Mr. E. if he considers himself to be
plurilingual (question nº6), he answered: “Oui, parce que je parviens
facilement à passer d’une langue à une autre et à réfléchir dans chacune de ces
langues” (French, Polish, German, English). In this context, we agree with the
concept of plurilingualism of the European Council, which takes into account the
regional languages, the minority languages and the migration languages. In his
linguistic biography, Flemish, Polish, French, English and German have played
(and still play) a specific role.
We certainly have ideas about languages and cultures.
Although we have received those images and ideas (mainly stereotypes), they
vary according to the person. The social representations (RP) "ne
requièrent aucun travail autre que l’acte de leur mise en œuvre
énonciative" (Py, 2004: 8).
Besides, stereotypes about languages, countries or nationalities
can be better understood by facing social issues, common fears, language
rights, etc.
Globalization has an impact in the number of people who move
around for diverse reasons. Originally, Mr. E.´s family (from Poland) migrated to
Belgium searching new horizons (job opportunities) and when they did they found
a new way of life and a new language. During his early years Mr. E. needed to
deal with different people speaking other languages and who did not always
dominate Polish. Therefore, in his linguistic experience, to learn French became
urgent: there was an objective need to communicate in another language.
Learning new languages takes time and implies a great
effort. Regarding the learning process, as we reflected in class, the goal of
pedagogy and other social sciences is to go beyond the basic traditional
knowledge of a language. Learners want to achieve a level which allows them to
have a fluency in the language they are learning, making the learning (and
teaching) process as much as experience-based as possible. This helps the
learner to understand that not only the knowledge of grammatical structures is
needed when acquiring a new language. To be able to speak a new language allows
the learner to perceive other cultures in all their richness and complexities
and to understand other ways of thinking and doing things.
Prof. Leo van Lier, in his book "Introducing Language Awareness”
(1995) stated: "Language awareness can be defined as an understanding of
the human faculty of language and its role in thinking, learning and social
life. It includes awareness of power and control through language, and the
intricate relationships between language and culture". Languages are also
a mean to reach a goal and they present many angles. To be able to master our mother
tongue and understand other ways of thinking and doing is key so as to see
"from outside” the complexity, richness and social diversity of language.
Because multilingualism keeps on growing constantly, languages and cultures
become closer.
By increasing our own "language awareness” we will be
able to understand our mother tongue or our own language "repertoire”.
Although the focus on how to learn languages is more related to teachers and
linguists, in a multilingual Europe the why has to be a main concern for
politics, society, education, mediation and policy.
Considering and thinking language awareness paths (geography,
linguistic diversity, economy, work demand, immigration) will help to build
stronger links between languages and collective identities in different
linguistic scenarios.
In psychology, sociology, and anthropology, identity is a
person's conception and expression of their own (self-identity) and others'
individuality or group affiliations (such as national identity and cultural
identity). As Norton asserted: “biographical insights are important in
understanding the relationship between identity and language learning” (Norton,
2000). In my interview with Mr. Edouard B. –through my questions and his
answers– I consider to have covered vital topics related to a linguistic
biography: schooling and family in connection to mother tongue, globalization,
different kinds and types of language, translanguaging, language policies,
language use, language strategies, language and culture, linguistic identity,
plurilinguism, language awareness, etc.
We should identify how the language learner, in this case,
Mr. Edouard B. understood his own world when he started to incorporate other
languages. If we think in Bordieu´s terms (1984), Mr. E. is aware of his
“cultural capital” and it looks like his identity as a French speaker is more
powerful than his identity as a Polish speaker (son of immigrants).
Corina Moscovich
Bibliographical references
LÉVY, D. (2008). Introduction: soi et les langues. In G.
Zarate, D. Lévy & C. Kramsch (dir.), Précis du plurilinguisme et du
pluriculturalisme (pp. 69-81). Paris: Éditions des archives contemporaines.
Norton, B. (2000). Identity and language learning: Gender,
ethnicity and educational change.
Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Pavlenko, A. (2011). (Re-)naming the world: Word-to-referent
mapping in second language speakers. In A. Pavlenko (Ed.), Thinking and
speaking in two languages (pp. 198-236). Multilingual Matters.
Py, B. (2004). Pour une approche linguistique des
représentations sociales. Langages, 154, 6-19.
van Lier, Leo (1995). Introducing Language Awareness.
London: Penguin English.
