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Most P1 pupils in Scotland learn one foreign language, latest figures show

The majority of pupils in the first year of primary school are learning a foreign language.
The Scottish government said that by the end of this school year, 21 out of 32 councils would have taught P1 pupils an additional language to English.
By 2020, it hoped every pupil would learn an additional language in P1, a second by P5, with the policy continuing until the end of S3.
All councils are expected to achieve the government's 1+2 languages policy.
On a visit to Edinbarnet Primary School in West Dunbartonshire, Minister for Learning, Dr Alasdair Allan, said: "In today's global, multi-cultural world it is more important than ever that young people have the opportunity to learn languages from an early age, to equip them with skills and competencies for the globalised economy.
"We want to ensure the enthusiasm for languages starts at an early stage in a child's education.
"Here at Edinbarnet, it's great to see that happening in P1, at a time when a majority of councils are now meeting the commitment."
Last year, the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey (SSA) showed 89% of people in Scotland believed learning an additional language from the age of five was important.
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http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-35550042
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Translation support and funding


Funding

Publishing Scotland Translation Fund

Designed to encourage international publishers to translate works by Scottish writers, a new Translation Fund was launched on 25 August at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. The fund is administered by Publishing Scotland on behalf of Creative Scotland. Its purpose is to support publishers based outside the UK to buy rights from Scottish and  UK publishers and agents by offering assistance with the cost of translation of Scottish writers. The funding will be received in the form of a grant.

Priority will be given to the translation of contemporary literature, including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, writing for children and graphic novels. Assessment criteria will also include the merit of the work to be translated, financial need of the publisher, track record of publisher and translator, and the proposed marketing plan. An expert panel will meet twice a year to assess applications.

For more details, see the Press Release of 25 August 2015. Before applying, please read the terms and conditions. To apply, complete the application form and send it to Lucy Feather by 27 November 2015.


European Union

The EU's new Creative Europe programme offers funding opportunities for the translation of European fiction. The maximum grant available is €100,000, for the translation of 3 to 10 books. There is also (in 2014 and 2016) the opportunity to apply for 'framework' agreements for the translation of 5-10 books a year for 3-4 years, which is up to €100,000 a year. The applicants must bepublishing houses or publishing groups looking to translate works of fiction from/into specified member state languages. Welsh and Scottish Gaelic are also eligible.The next deadline is 3 February 2016. This fund has an annual deadline. Details appear on the CreativeEuropeUK website.

Translation into English, Scots or Gaelic

List of language-based organisations that provide information, support and/or funding for publishers interested in translating and publishing books from that language into another language.

Canadian support for translation other than French or English: Canada Council for the Arts
Estonian: TRADUCTA funded by The Cultural Endowment of Estonia
Italian: Cultural Division of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The Cultural Division of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is offering funding - either a "prize" or a "contribution" - to publishers for the translation into English of an Italian literary or scientific work:
  • prize if the book has already been translated, published and on sale in the foreign market
  • contribution as an incentive to the future translation of an Italian work which will be published.
There are two deadlines a year: 30 April and 31 October. Apply using the application form (download Word version). The Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Edinburgh is happy to supply more information. E: iicedimburgo@esteri.it or phone 0131 668 2232.
Japanese: Japan Foundation
Lithuanian: Books from Lithuania
The Lithuanian Culture Institute promotes Lithuanian literature and Lithuania's authors in the world. It runs the Translation promotion program www.booksfromlithuania.lt/en/translation-promotion-program and organises publishers' visits to Lithuania, especially during the Vilnius Book Fair, the biggest in the Baltics (held each February). The LCI has recently launched its new website - lithuanianculture.lt (more info in English coming soon). Lithuania will be the market focus (along with Estonia and Latvia) at the 2018 London Book Fair.
Norwegian: Norwegian Literature Abroad (NORLA)
Polish: The Poland Translation Programme (The Polish Book Institute)
Portugese: Directorate of Books and Libraries (DGLB, Portugal)
Slovenian: Trubar Foundation
Swiss books: Pro Helvetia
Turkish: TEDA Project

Other useful sources of information

British Centre for Literary Translation website: This website lists opportunities including funding and competitions.
PEN Translates Award: This award will fund up to 75% of translation costs for selected projects. When a publisher's annual turnover is less than £100,000 it will consider supporting up to 100% of translation costs.
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http://www.publishingscotland.org/about-publishing/translation-support-and-funding/

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Independence debate: Yes, Scotland?

Even pro-unionists accept that the country has all the ingredients to be a viable nation state


After 307 years as part of Great Britain, Scotland will soon decide whether it is time to once again go it alone. Opinion polls suggest that nationalists still fall short of the numbers needed to unpick the 1707 parliamentary union with England that lies at the heart of the UK. But nationalist and pro-union campaigners alike agree that with eight months of febrile campaigning to go, the result of September’s historic referendum is far from assured.


So what would an independent Scotland look like? And what would be the impact on the remaining UK, or “rump UK” as some observers call it, of the departure of 8.3 per cent of its population and about 9.2 per cent of its gross domestic product?
Among the blizzard of contention and spin that surrounds the independence debate, some points of broad consensus are clear. Nationalists argue that being part of the UK has held Scotland back, while their opponents contend that the union has been central to its economic success. But the leading players on both sides accept that Scotland has all the ingredients to be a viable nation state.
If its geographic share of UK oil and gas output is taken into account, Scotland’s GDP per head is bigger than that of France. Even excluding the North Sea’s hydrocarbon bounty, per capita GDP is higher than that of Italy. Oil, whisky and a broad range of manufactured goods mean an independent Scotland would be one of the world’s top 35 exporters.
An independent Scotland could also expect to start with healthier state finances than the rest of the UK. Although Scotland enjoys public spending well above the UK average – a source of resentment among some in England, Wales and Northern Ireland – the cost to the Treasury is more than outweighed by oil and gas revenues from Scottish waters.
One of the favourite citations touted by the nationalist Yes Scotland campaign is a quote from a 2007 Daily Telegraph article by David Cameron, now UK prime minister, that argued there was no point in trying to keep Scotland inside the union “through fear of the economic consequences” of leaving.
“Supporters of independence will always be able to cite examples of small, independent and thriving economies across Europe such as Finland, Switzerland and Norway,” Mr Cameron wrote. “It would be wrong to suggest that Scotland could not be another such successful, independent country.”
Yet as Mr Cameron these days takes pains to point out, an acknowledgment that Scotland could succeed alone does not mean it would be better off than within the UK. Over the past year, Mr Cameron’s government has published a series of papers arguing that Scotland benefits from free access to the UK’s market of more than 60m people and from the security of being part of a large and powerful state.
Scotland’s fiscal health will also be challenged by the relatively rapid ageing of its population and the long-term decline of oil output from depleted North Sea reserves.

In a research paper this week, James Knightley, senior economist at ING, said the high transition costs of separation and uncertainties over currency and the terms of EU membership meant that the material benefits of independence were “far from clear”.
Yet Mr Knightley also noted that greater sway over its own economy could be a real advantage for Scotland. Nationalist leaders argue that local control of such “economic levers” as tax reform, immigration policy and welfare will open the way to a fairer and wealthier society. September’s referendum will hinge in large part on whether Scotland’s voters agree.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2014
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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/5b5ec2ca-8a67-11e3-ba54-00144feab7de.html#slide0
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Teach Scots to kids as standard says leading head

SCOTS should be put at the centre of the Scottish Government’s initiative to promote language learning in the country’s schools, it has been claimed.

Headteacher Isabel Lind said the Scots language was a valuable educational tool and should be included in the 1+2 initiative, which seeks to have children learning two foreign tongues alongside English at primary school.
Ms Lind, who picked up the Ted Wragg Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Pearson Education Awards in London last year for her 44-year career, said Scots was an obvious choice for one of the languages.
“I would like Scots to be one of them,” she said. “If we don’t do something, it will die out. People don’t necessarily know which words are Scots, they are just words we use in everyday speech. There are over a million people speaking Scots according to the census and 58,000 speaking Gaelic.”

“I want my children [pupils] to be bilingual. We need to love language, and I celebrate the words the children bring from home or their grannies.”
Ms Lind’s Aileymill Primary in Greenock focuses heavily on music, poetry, drama and dance, and Scots plays a key role in language learning. But despite her focus on the arts, she criticised Curriculum for Excellence, which was introduced in 2010, for lacking “rigour”.
“What worries me about Curriculum for Excellence is the balance,” she said. “Learning is not always exciting – you need that rigour. I think there’s a danger it’s not there, and that’s my worry. It’s a mistake to throw out the baby with the bathwater and some of the excellent work that went on with the [previous] 5-14 curriculum.”

A report published by the Scottish Government’s Modern Languages Working Group in 2011 called for a “radical change of approach” in language learning. But giving evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s education committee, experts warned the plans to teach two foreign tongues in primary school are unrealistic. They said the lack of suitably qualified teachers would hold up attempts to introduce languages.
There is also a debate about whether schools should stick with languages such as French and German, or put more emphasis on Mandarin and the languages of emerging economies.
The drive to introduce foreign tongues in schools comes despite falling numbers of languages assistants in the classroom.

Both the British Council and consul generals of France, Germany, Italy and Spain have previously warned the Scottish Government about the dwindling numbers of native speakers working in Scotland’s schools.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government is committed to supporting all of Scotland’s languages. The teaching of Scots can be incorporated into the 1+2 programme. The appointment of Scots language co-ordinators in schools also has the potential to open up different ways of promoting Scots through learning and teaching.”

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