Hi! Beatriz.  Please do me a favor take my last version ot the essay from here because I lost your email.

Thousand OF THANKS.  

Wishing you the very best for this weekend.

Corrected version

IDENTITY AND BILINGUILISM IN TIMES OF GLOBALIZATION

By Caicedo, JEFFERSON

“People think that language is only words, that is not true, language is also culture; it is a way of being.”

Dany Laferrière.

Article II of Decree 3870 and Law 1064 allowed for the Colombian government to establish measures for supporting and strengthening non-formal and public educational programs. In addition, the Ministry of National Education published Estándares Básicos de Competencia en Lengua Extranjera in November 2004, which further outlines the measures to be taken by the Colombian government to make the country bilingual in Spanish and in English by 2019. This initiative is now known as the Programa Nacional de Bilinguismo (“PNB”). These events led to the adoption of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in 2004. According to the PNB, all high school students must achieve level B-2 in English upon graduation. However, experts in the field of linguistics, in the cultural sectors, and within linguistically marginalized communities view bilingualism as a mechanism of globalization that fails to recognize the so-called “minority” languages and their importance to the preservation and development of cultural identity.

 In the Colombian context, bilingualism in practice is a national development program that imposes English as the primary language of the political, economic, and socio-cultural world to the exclusion of native languages, even including Spanish. Furthermore, bilingualism threatens to uproot and subsume cultural identities that are intrinsically tied to these native languages.

             The government justifies the program by claiming that English means “progress”, “more opportunities” to improve one's socio-economic status, and is the overall key to participating in a globalized world. Notwithstanding, for communities such as Palenque de San Basilio, indigenous in La Guajira and parts of San Andrés who face the elimination of their languages, this is empty rhetoric. They argue that the government assumes that all Colombian citizens want to be bilingual. Although the mentioned community sees the benefit of learning English, they claim that more support should be provided to the development and legitimization of their languages as a primary language of the government, business, and education sectors.  For instance, the same way the government makes great efforts to introduce English materials in schools, television in English, teachers training and assessment, etc., this same way the government has to do efforts to create material, books, have translations of The Constitución Nacional and literature into these so-called minority languages. In sum, African descendants (Raizales and Palenquero from the Caribbean region of Colombia), Indigenous and Rom or Gypsy communities who have their own linguistic traditions, do not see any strong and serious measure implemented by the government to safeguard and guarantee the promotion and development of their identity.  

            It is necessary to keep in mind that it is through and from the language that people manifest their existence, know and express their knowledge of the world.   This discussion is not merely a matter of identity but a matter of recognizing the existence of the other.  Therefore, these communities, from their otherness, have to be valued because they also make part of the historical construction of the pluri-ethnic, democratic and participative nation.

The paradox of the excluded 

Every year, universities all over Colombia has several events, such as  El encuentro de Universidades Formadoras de Licenciados en Idiomas, Cafés Francés, La Rencontre Nationale d’Étudiants Universitaires, Classroom Research Congress, among others.   At these events, topics of discussion include the process of teaching and learning, pedagogical methods and curriculum planning.  However, few or non- debates has been proposed regarding linguistic policies to integrate these so-called minority languages in the academic world and to promote awareness of their existence.  Similarly, in a meeting with Ambassador Peter Michael McKenley of the United States of America, held in Santiago de Cali in December 2011, he commented that he had visited some schools around the country and that he observed that little progress had been made in the English level of the students as well as of the teachers, which had made him feel great concern.   This could be seen as proof that the PNB is ineffected.   Nevertheless, Colombian government continues to promote the PNB as the main vehicle for progress despite its failure to uphold the objectives the program.  In sum, this seems to be an engine that nobody can stop, mostly when The Colombian government has just signed the already mentioned Free the Trade Agreement with the U.S.A.

It is true that measures like the release of Law 397 which regulates the arrangements about the cultural property; and Law 1381 of January 25, 2012 (released during the Ministry of Dr. Paula Moreno) about safeguard of the native languages; however, more efforts need to be done in order to have a strong impact on the promotion of the so-called minority communities.

If laws like the above mentioned were effective and efficient, the organization of events like National Encounter of Students of Native Languages, National Forum of Native Language, Congress of Universities trainers in Native Languages, or International Encounter of Communities with Special Linguistic Traditions would be less utopian.   Fortunately, not everything is negative.  Actions like the authorization to translate which is considered the most representative novel in the colombian literature “Hundred years of solitude by García Marquez” in to the Wayuunaiki language—spoken by more than 400.000 people in La Guajira and in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, can be considered a good example to follow in order to include these languages in the social life of the country.

Globalization is something unavoidable in today’s world; it is something undeniable.  It is inextricably necessary to introduce changes in order to be competitive, develop our country and get our economy stronger, albeit those changes must not be applied neglecting the nation’s cultural inheritance which is one of the most invaluable treasures a nation can have.

References

MINISTERIO DE CULTURA. Junio, 2007-Agosto, 2010.  Memorias de una gestión pública en cultura.  Colombia diversa: Cultura de todos, Cultura para todos.

CONGRESO DE LA REPÚBLICA. Julio,  2006.  LEY 1064 Julio 26 de 2006.

MINISTERIO DE EDUCACIÓN NACIONAL. Noviembre, 2006).  Estándares Básicos de Competencias en Lenguas Extranjeras: inglés.

CONGRESO DE LA REPÚBLICA. 1997.  LEY 397 De Agosto de 1997.

EL CONGRESO DE COLOMBIA. Enero, 2010.  LEY No.1381 del 25 de Enero de 2010.

GONZALEZ, T. HERMINIA. 2007.  Entrevista con Peter Wade.  AIBR. Revista de Antropologia Iberoamericana, Septiembre-Diceiembre, Año/Vol.2, número 003.  Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red.  Madrid, España, pp. 421-429.

MINISTERIO DE EDUCACION NACIONAL. Noviembre, 2006.  Decreto Número 3870 de 02 Nov. de 2006.

RODRIGUEZ MOLANO, M. IGNASIO. Noviembre, 2009.  Reflexiones sobre el Bilingüismo en Colombia: Entrevista a Adriana González Moncada.  Eleducdor.

WADE, PETER. Enero-Junio, 2006. Etnicidad, Multiculturalismo y Políticas Sociales en Latinoamérica: Poblaciones afrolatinas e indígenas.  (Ethnicity, multiculturalism and social policy in Latin America: Afro-Latin (and indigenous) populations).  Tabula rasa.  Bogotá, Colombia, No.4: 59-81.

WADE, PETER. Mar., 1993.  Race', Nature and Culture.  Man, New Series, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 17-34.

Dear students,

Remember that tomorrow (Friday, october 19th) Amatoga will be available to help you with both:

your PWP and Project 451

Time: 9-11 a.m. 

Room: 2012

It's strongly encouraged that you schedule an appointment in advance:

Amatoga's e-mail: amatoga.jeremie@gmail.com

Amatoga's mobile number: 316 886 3568

Best regards,

Sol Colmenares

Profesora Escuela de Ciencias del Lenguaje

Universidad del Valle

INTERVIEW TWO                        DATE: OCTOBER 05, 2012

INTEVIEWED:  BETH BARTLETT                 INTERVIEWER: Jefferson Caicedo

Place:  Colombo Americano North site                 Hour:  14: 22         

 

Today we have Beth Bartlett who is the Academic Director of the Centro Cultural Colombo Americano and she is also an Anthropologist.

Jefferson: Our topic for today is this book “Fahrenheit 451” written by Ray Bradbury who was born in 1920 and one of most famous authors of Science Fiction and Fantasy.  He also has published some 500 Poems, short stories, novels and plays.

Jefferson: To begin I want to ask you a question:  Having information is mean to have power, to control and to influence others to what extent can we see this? And do you agree with vision?

Beth: Having information is a mean to have power?  Yeah.  I do believe having information is power absolutely.  Aah, information for example provide people with the knowledge….to know what they can do and where they can go in order to change perhaps circumstances of their lives (Yeah), and I do believe that…that people who don’t have access to information either purposely or.. Or just for the circumstance, are people who are really limited in their possibilities in life and they’re kind of dependent, in way, on other people intervening in their life and helping them.  Do you see what I mean? So I think that in Colombia…. Definitely there are also a lot of people who don’t have access to a lot of information and therefore… a kind of power less (Oh.  Yeah, I believe that, uhum.

Jefferson: I would like to…just to read one passage from the book (uhum, sure).  It’s on page ninety-one. 

‘Oh, but we’ve plenty of off-hours.

Off-hours, yes.  But tie to think? If you’re not driving a hundred miles an hour, at a clip where you can’t think of anything else but the danger, then you’re playing some game or sitting in some room where you can’t argue with the four-wall televisor.  Why? The televisor is “real”.  It is immediate, it has dimension.  It tells you what to think and blasts it in.  It must be right.  It seems so right.  It rushes you on so quickly to its own conclusions your mind hasn’t time to protest, “What nonsense!”’.  He is telling us that sometimes here is too much information that the people do not know where is real information (Yeah, that is too much or that i- is-is a scude, and I say squede you understand, it’s present one opinion, right).  What’s your point of view about this?

Beth:  And also she’s talking about the fact that… you know… if you are… it seems to me, if you’re really busy you’re doing a lot.  You don’t really have that much time to think about such as things.  Just thinking in information and you’re taking the sort of implicit opinion that might be behind that information.  So for example when we look at news, media.  We look at media right now, unfortunately I would say that it’s not very objective (uhun), right? At all; and I not taking just about Colombian media, I’m talking about American, I’m talking about British, european, Canadian.  Like for example if you look at American news you sees MSBNC, you see MBC, you see CNN and then you see FOX; and the different is huge.  They are editorializing, they presenting their opinions and if you listen to that enough, you start really analyzing, you might just sort of assume those opinions as your own by the way how long have you been here in Colombia?)Twenty-five years (Okay).

Jefferson:  What opinion do you have talking about Colombian media?

Beth: I think it’s just awful, I’m really sorry but; it’s really, really bad.  I mean the way that news is reported here is obvious that is been manipulated by the government, so thus  there is a real like a free press here, but also eh.. the study of journalism here which isn’t terribly….uh,  it needs to be more rigorous in terms of based on facts (yeah, be more… like objective?) Exactly, and uh--yeah, I’m sorry but… it’s not in person, it’s not in person (yeah).

Jefferson:  Actually I was in a like a conference with a man called eh… oh my goodness, I forgot.  He came from USA (Uhun) He was talking—okay he touched many topics but one of the topics I remember, he asked okay what the survey of population say about afro-Colombian people here? And he had a slide that said ten per cent and raised my hand not that’s wrong, you’re wrong; it’s like twenty-seven per cent, and he said but this what the media or the ones that were in charge of doing the survey reported, so it’s kind of…just to mention an example.

Beth: You know that anything that… that has to do with numbers is easily manipulated, manipulable I would say, yeah? (Yeah) but ten per cent ends way too low, right? Okay.

Jefferson: Okay, I would like to… The author here mentions three things that we need in order to get better in terms of what we do, in terms of the influence of media.   The first thing is ah.. He says:  do you know why books such these are so important? Because they have quality, so the first thing we need in formation is Quality.  The second thing is what he calls Leisure.  He says: ‘Oh, but we’ve plenty of off-hours.   Off-hours, yes.  But time to think?

And the third thing he says: ‘Only if the third necessary thing could be given us.  Number one, as I said quality of information.  Number two: leisure to digest it.  And number three: the right to carry out actions based on what we learn from interaction of the first two.  And I hardly think a very old man and a fireman turned sour could do much this late in the game.  What’s your perception, what is your point of view regarding these three things that the author mentions here? Ray Bradbury.

Beth: Je, je, je, but this is referring to what? Taking in information, transforming, and interaction (yeah).  Well I think it goes back to the previous point we were talking about.  Aah…if you don’t time to think about the information that you’re receiving, you might tend to just assume other’s people opinions as your owns; yeah? So in that way it becomes kind of manipulated by however is feeding that information.  So definitely yeah… Not just… I- I think that perhaps the idea that we leisure in order to think about things.  Leisure is out of premium these days; I think just more it’s a… to possess critical thinking skills (that’s it, more than that point, rather than just time.  It’s the ability to question things in an intelligent way; process things in an intelligent way, to be able to accept, to reject based piece of information (and I would say) more than leisure.  I think it involves a lot more than just leisure (I see.  And I would mention be responsible with what you do with information) exactly, exactly.   Like a good example of lack of responsibility will be for example these idiots that’ve been protesting about MIO, you know the last couple of weeks and they’ve been very irresponsible; yeah they’ve got certain information, but what’s the action that they’ve taken? The action that they’ve taken have been damaging to the citizens and to the government and to the finances of the city (yeah, you are right) uhum, so you ARE right; it leads the responsible action that’s taken.

Jefferson:  Okay, okay Beth I think that this all for today, I thank you (this’s a pleasure) a lot giving me this opportunity and I hope to have you soon,  again (okay my darling, thank you) okay, thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTERVIEW                DATE: OCTOBER 05, 2012

INTEVIEWED:  JoEllen Simpson                   INTERVIEWER: Jefferson Caicedo

Place:  Colombo Americano North site                 Hour:  15: 17

 

Today we have DR. JoEllen Simpson who is a PhD in Linguistics and the General Director of the Centro Cultural Colombo Americano in here in Santiago de Cali.

Jefferson:  It’s been said that the new way of slavery is through no access to education or through no access to knowledge.  What’s your perception about this issue or is it possible to perceive this issue here in the Colombian context?

JoEllen: I agree, I don’t think it’s right but I agree that it happens.  I think that even at the universities the type of education that’s given at the public universities is different than the type of education that’s given in the private universities.  And I think that part of that is to keep people stupid so then they don’t ask for more things.  Fortunately though with internet more and more information is available, so the people who are self - motivated can find the information themselves and they can overcome some the limitations to the system.

Jefferson:  How can we perceive this non -access to education deeper, in which way or at what extent is it possible to perceive this like non-access to education?

JoEllen: Right, I think you can see it mostly at the public schools level in the schools.  If you look here in Cali the different between public schools and private schools… again just like with the private and public university.  Public schools have briefly resources, the professors don’t have books to work with, sometimes they don’t even have a board that can write on, the students have not enough chairs, students don’t have materials.  And if you go to private schools where people lot money to go< they have the latest technology, so that access to information, access to quality education is very different.

Jefferson: We were discussing with my peers at the university and they said that even if we access to that type of media, the information, They said that it-s like a distraction, an invasion (if we can say that) of a lot information just to get people distracted.  And I would to read a passage from the book, on page thirty-seven.  It says like this:

Being with people is nice.   But I don’t think it’s social to get a bunch of people together and then not let me talk, do you? An hour of TV class, an hour of basketball or baseball or running, another hour of transcription history or painting pictures, and more sports, but do you know, we never ask questions, or at least most don’t< they just run the answers at you, bing , bing, bing, and us sitting there for four more hours of film –teacher.   That’s not social to me at all.

Jefferson: What your opinion about what the character said here?

JoEllen: This actually sounds like ideas… umm modern ideas.   It a virtual marking where the teacher is not even there.  I mean these ideas of film.  The... You’ve been watching a film of positives…There’s not interaction.  It was writing sixty years ago and he was talking almost about the way education is now where the teacher is no present.  I think it’s not happening in a lot of places.   Most education just go face to face from the teacher at the classroom and students are encouraged to speak, especially in Colombia.   Students are encouraged to show their ideas and to speak.  But there is a certain… where the teacher at the front of the classroom, expressing ideas and the students are just taking notes, and … (like automatized?) yes. 

Jefferson: There is another passage I want share with you to go to the end of this interview; on page sixty-eight, it says:

Better yes, give him one.  Let him forget there is such a thing as war.  If the government is inefficient, too top-heavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it.  Peace, Mantag.  Give the people context they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how munch corn Iowa last year.  And it continues like that but I’ll stop here because of the time.   What your perception about this just read passage?

JoEllen: Yeah! Of course, you hear someone speaking about that; complains.  Ok, why may I score? Why score to memorize who much corn is produced in Iowa? Or am I here to learn how to do something? And then you so many kids today that are thinking about the literature … which is mentioned here, so is it popular culture? Is it memorizing facts? Is it… from my point of view education should be focused on giving students tools to do something.  Not just a brain full of facts but a brain that’s capable of reading information, collecting information, making decisions (4:15’)...   (Jefferson: Aha, I think something important here is like to give the students or the people the possibility to transform, to apply changes in their environment.  I don’t know if you… (JoEllen: I agree, I agree.  That’s all education should be for: to give students tools to do something at this. 

Jefferson:  Okay.  JoEllen,  ummm, I thanks to much to you for accepting this short interview and I hope that later on in the future time we are going to meet again.

JoEllen: That sounds good.  Thank you so much.

 

What kind of writer I am

I am a Didion writer, I am looking for an answer, the problem is I don't know what the question is, then it's a bit more difficult to know what I am looking for. Joan Didion writes for knowing an answer she says: "Let me tell you one thing about why writers write:  had I known the answer to any of these questions I would never have needed to write a novel. That's the difference between her and me, she knows the question and  I need  the whole package, question and answer. But we both need stories, I am a story adict, they are my answers to an unknown question.   

THE TYPO OF WRITIER I AM

BY

CAICEDO JEFFRSON

Version one: October 5, 2012

In general term I may say that I am not the person who feels like to be a specific kind of writer or to be classified in one group or another. The reason I have this mindset is because for me writing is a matter of moments for write, of how do you assume the topic you are to write about, of how mach you much you are informed about the theme; writing is a mixture of many little details that the writer put together to build a paper; depending on how well the writer mix the up and use them, the quality of the paper S/he come up can be worth enough or a mess.

To answer the question which was the reason I wrote those letters above, I would say that I define myself as a mixture of a Grand plan writer and a Patch work writer because I like having lots of information about what I am going to write and at he same time, I use data from different sources.

IDENTITY AND BILINGUILISM IN TIME OF GLOBALIZATION

By Caicedo, JEFFERSON

“People think that language is only words, that is not true, language is also culture; it is a way of being.”

Dany Laferrière.

Article II of Decree 3870 and Law 1064 allowed for the Colombian government to establish measures for supporting and strengthening non-formal and public educational programs. In addition, the Ministry of National Education published Estándares Básicos de Competencia en Lengua Extranjera in November 2004, which further outlines the measures to be taken by the Colombian government to make the country bilingual in Spanish and in English by 2019. This initiative is now known as the Programa Nacional de Bilinguismo (“PNB”). These events lead to the adoption of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in 2004. According to the PNB, all high school students must achieve level B-2 in English upon graduation. However, experts in the field of linguistics, in the cultural sectors, and within linguistically marginalized communities view bilingualism as a mechanism of globalization that fails to recognize the so-called “minority” languages and their importance to the preservation and development of cultural identity.

 In the Colombian context, bilingualism in practice is a national development program that imposes English as the primary language of the political, economic, and socio-cultural world to the exclusion of native languages, even including Spanish. Furthermore, bilingualism threatens to uproot and subsume cultural identities that are intrinsically tied to these native languages.

             The government justifies the program by claiming that English means “progress”, “more opportunities” to improve one's socio-economic status, and is the overall key to participating in a globalized world. Notwithstanding, for communities such as Palenque de San Basilio, indigenous in La Guajira and parts of San Andrés who face the elimination of their languages, this is empty rhetoric. They argue that the government assumes that all Colombian citizens want to be bilingual. Although the mentioned community sees the benefit of learning English, they claim that more support should be provided to the development and legitimization of their languages as a primary language of the government, business, and education sectors.  For instance, the same way the government makes great efforts to English material in schools, television in English, teachers training and assessment, etc., this same way the government has to do efforts to create material, books, have translations the The Contitucion Nacional and literature into these so-called minority languages. In sum, African descendants (Raizales and Palenquero from the Caribbean region of Colombia), Indigenous and Rom or Gypsy communities who have their own linguistic traditions, do not see any strong and serous measure implemented by the government to safeguard and guarantee the promotion and development of their identity.  

            It is necessary to keep in mind that it is through and from the language that people manifest their existence, know and express their knowledge of the world.   This discussion is not merely a matter of identity but a matter of recognizing the existence of the other.  Therefore, these communities, from their otherness, have to be valued because they also make part of the historical construction of the pluri-ethnic, democratic and participative nation.

·         The paradox of the excluded 

Yearly we have a bunch of events that are held in our country e.g.  El encuentro de Universidades Formadoras de Licenciados en Idiomas, Cafés Francés, La Rencontre Nationale d’Étudiants Universitaires, Classroom Research Congress, among others, in which it has been discussed the process of teaching and learning, pedagogical methods and curriculum planning but few or none debates has been proposed regarding linguistic policies to bring those so-called minority languages to academic world or to promote their existence.  Likewise, in a meeting with the Ambassador of The United States of America (Peter Michael McKenley) held in Santiago de Cali in December 2011, he commented that he had been visiting some schools around the country and that he had observed that there was little advance in the English level of students as well in the teachers’, which had made him feel great concern.   This could be seen as a proof that the PNB is not having the results expected.   Even though, this seems to be an engine that nobody can stop, mostly when The Colombian government has just signed the already mentioned Free the Trade Agreement with the EE.UU.

It is true that there have been issued some legislation like the Law 397 which regulates the arrangements about the cultural property; and the Law 1381 of January 25, 2012 (released during the Ministry of Dr. Paula Moreno) about safeguard of the native languages; however, these have been just warm attempts that have not had strong impact on the situation of so-called minority communities.

If laws like the above mentioned were effective and efficient, the organization of events like National Encounter of Students of Native Languages, National Forum of Native Language, Congress of Universities trainers in Native Languages, or International Encounter of Communities with Special Linguistic Traditions were less utopian.   Even though, not everything is negative.   Measures like the authorization to translate which is considered the most representative novel in the colombian literature “Hundred years of solitude by García Marquez” in to the Wayuunaiki language—spoken by more than 400.000 people in La Guajira and in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, can be considered as a good example to follow in order to include these languages in the social life of the country.

It is true; globalization is something unavoidable in today’s world.  In order to be competitive, develop our country and get our economy stronger it is inextricably necessary to introduce changes, albeit those changes must not be applied neglecting the country inheritance which is one of the most invaluable treasure a nation can have.

References

MINISTERIO DE CULTURA. Junio, 2007-Agosto, 2010.  Memorias de una gestión pública en cultura.  Colombia diversa: Cultura de todos, Cultura para todos.

CONGRESO DE LA REPÚBLICA. Julio,  2006.  LEY 1064 Julio 26 de 2006.

MINISTERIO DE EDUCACIÓN NACIONAL. Noviembre, 2006).  Estándares Básicos de Competencias en Lenguas Extranjeras: inglés.

CONGRESO DE LA REPÚBLICA. 1997.  LEY 397 De Agosto de 1997.

EL CONGRESO DE COLOMBIA. Enero, 2010.  LEY No.1381 del 25 de Enero de 2010.

GONZALEZ, T. HERMINIA. 2007.  Entrevista con Peter Wade.  AIBR. Revista de Antropologia Iberoamericana, Septiembre-Diceiembre, Año/Vol.2, número 003.  Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red.  Madrid, España, pp. 421-429.

MINISTERIO DE EDUCACION NACIONAL. Noviembre, 2006.  Decreto Número 3870 de 02 Nov. de 2006.

RODRIGUEZ MOLANO, M. IGNASIO. Noviembre, 2009.  Reflexiones sobre el Bilingüismo en Colombia: Entrevista a Adriana González Moncada.  Eleducdor.

WADE, PETER. Enero-Junio, 2006. Etnicidad, Multiculturalismo y Políticas Sociales en Latinoamérica: Poblaciones afrolatinas e indígenas.  (Ethnicity, multiculturalism and social policy in Latin America: Afro-Latin (and indigenous) populations).  Tabula rasa.  Bogotá, Colombia, No.4: 59-81.

WADE, PETER. Mar., 1993.  Race', Nature and Culture.  Man, New Series, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 17-34.

IDENTITY AND BILINGUILISM IN TIME OF GLOBALIZATION

By Caicedo, JEFFERSON

“People think that language is only words, that is not true, language is also culture; it is a way of being.”

Dany Laferrière.

Article II of Decree 3870 and Law 1064 allowed for the Colombian government to establish measures for supporting and strengthening non-formal and public educational programs. In addition, the Ministry of National Education published Estándares Básicos de Competencia en Lengua Extranjera in November 2004, which further outlines the measures to be taken by the Colombian government to make the country bilingual in Spanish and in English by 2019. This initiative is now known as the Programa Nacional de Bilinguismo (“PNB”). These events lead to the adoption of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in 2004. According to the PNB, all high school students must achieve level B-2 in English upon graduation. However, experts in the field of linguistics, in the cultural sectors, and within linguistically marginalized communities view bilingualism as a mechanism of globalization that fails to recognize the so-called “minority” languages and their importance to the preservation and development of cultural identity.

 In the Colombian context, bilingualism in practice is a national development program that imposes English as the primary language of the political, economic, and socio-cultural world to the exclusion of native languages, even including Spanish. Furthermore, bilingualism threatens to uproot and subsume cultural identities that are intrinsically tied to these native languages.

             The government justifies the program by claiming that English means “progress”, “more opportunities” to improve one's socio-economic status, and is the overall key to participating in a globalized world. Notwithstanding, for communities such as Palenque de San Basilio, indigenous in La Guajira and parts of San Andrés who face the elimination of their languages, this is empty rhetoric. They argue that the government assumes that all Colombian citizens want to be bilingual. Although the mentioned community sees the benefit of learning English, they claim that more support should be provided to the development and legitimization of their languages as a primary language of the government, business, and education sectors.  For instance, the same way the government makes great efforts to English material in schools, television in English, teachers training and assessment, etc., this same way the government has to do efforts to create material, books, have translations the The Contitucion Nacional and literature into these so-called minority languages. In sum, African descendants (Raizales and Palenquero from the Caribbean region of Colombia), Indigenous and Rom or Gypsy communities who have their own linguistic traditions, do not see any strong and serous measure implemented by the government to safeguard and guarantee the promotion and development of their identity.  

            It is necessary to keep in mind that it is through and from the language that people manifest their existence, know and express their knowledge of the world.   This discussion is not merely a matter of identity but a matter of recognizing the existence of the other.  Therefore, these communities, from their otherness, have to be valued because they also make part of the historical construction of the pluri-ethnic, democratic and participative nation.

·         The paradox of the excluded 

Yearly we have a bunch of events that are held in our country e.g.  El encuentro de Universidades Formadoras de Licenciados en Idiomas, Cafés Francés, La Rencontre Nationale d’Étudiants Universitaires, Classroom Research Congress, among others, in which it has been discussed the process of teaching and learning, pedagogical methods and curriculum planning but few or none debates has been proposed regarding linguistic policies to bring those so-called minority languages to academic world or to promote their existence.  Likewise, in a meeting with the Ambassador of The United States of America (Peter Michael McKenley) held in Santiago de Cali in December 2011, he commented that he had been visiting some schools around the country and that he had observed that there was little advance in the English level of students as well in the teachers’, which had made him feel great concern.   This could be seen as a proof that the PNB is not having the results expected.   Even though, this seems to be an engine that nobody can stop, mostly when The Colombian government has just signed the already mentioned Free the Trade Agreement with the EE.UU.

It is true that there have been issued some legislation like the Law 397 which regulates the arrangements about the cultural property; and the Law 1381 of January 25, 2012 (released during the Ministry of Dr. Paula Moreno) about safeguard of the native languages; however, these have been just warm attempts that have not had strong impact on the situation of so-called minority communities.

If laws like the above mentioned were effective and efficient, the organization of events like National Encounter of Students of Native Languages, National Forum of Native Language, Congress of Universities trainers in Native Languages, or International Encounter of Communities with Special Linguistic Traditions were less utopian.   Even though, not everything is negative.   Measures like the authorization to translate which is considered the most representative novel in the colombian literature “Hundred years of solitude by García Marquez” in to the Wayuunaiki language—spoken by more than 400.000 people in La Guajira and in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, can be considered as a good example to follow in order to include these languages in the social life of the country.

It is true; globalization is something unavoidable in today’s world.  In order to be competitive, develop our country and get our economy stronger it is inextricably necessary to introduce changes, albeit those changes must not be applied neglecting the country inheritance which is one of the most invaluable treasure a nation can have.

References

MINISTERIO DE CULTURA. Junio, 2007-Agosto, 2010.  Memorias de una gestión pública en cultura.  Colombia diversa: Cultura de todos, Cultura para todos.

CONGRESO DE LA REPÚBLICA. Julio,  2006.  LEY 1064 Julio 26 de 2006.

MINISTERIO DE EDUCACIÓN NACIONAL. Noviembre, 2006).  Estándares Básicos de Competencias en Lenguas Extranjeras: inglés.

CONGRESO DE LA REPÚBLICA. 1997.  LEY 397 De Agosto de 1997.

EL CONGRESO DE COLOMBIA. Enero, 2010.  LEY No.1381 del 25 de Enero de 2010.

GONZALEZ, T. HERMINIA. 2007.  Entrevista con Peter Wade.  AIBR. Revista de Antropologia Iberoamericana, Septiembre-Diceiembre, Año/Vol.2, número 003.  Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red.  Madrid, España, pp. 421-429.

MINISTERIO DE EDUCACION NACIONAL. Noviembre, 2006.  Decreto Número 3870 de 02 Nov. de 2006.

RODRIGUEZ MOLANO, M. IGNASIO. Noviembre, 2009.  Reflexiones sobre el Bilingüismo en Colombia: Entrevista a Adriana González Moncada.  Eleducdor.

WADE, PETER. Enero-Junio, 2006. Etnicidad, Multiculturalismo y Políticas Sociales en Latinoamérica: Poblaciones afrolatinas e indígenas.  (Ethnicity, multiculturalism and social policy in Latin America: Afro-Latin (and indigenous) populations).  Tabula rasa.  Bogotá, Colombia, No.4: 59-81.

WADE, PETER. Mar., 1993.  Race', Nature and Culture.  Man, New Series, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 17-34.