#blommaert

[immersionfrancaise]

The standard is always accented, it is perhaps even the most salient accent available, indexical of middle-class, national, middle-age identities as well as of a certain level of educational background, ethnicity, geographical or even racial identity.

Blommaert et al. (2006) “On Being Declared Illiterate”

[qsfrombooks]

He does this by committing a very common error: merging the real processes of economic globalization with the ways in which they are represented discursively (Fairclough 2006: 5).

The Sociolinguistics of Globalization (Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact) / Blommaert

[qsfrombooks]

the sociolinguistic process is reduced to a confrontation between a language from the outside (e.g. English) and people from the inside (old-style natives, to some extent) who are forced to use the outside language (e.g. Webb 1994; Mazrui 2004). The scheme thus drawn is attractively simple and it invokes moral and political frames of independence versus oppression, exclusion versus inclusion, respect versus rejection. Sociolinguistic reality alas! is considerably more complex and ambiguous.

The Sociolinguistics of Globalization (Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact) / Blommaert

[fleetling]

[…] and the capacity to make a thing of beauty ensures a joy forever, as we know.

Jan Blommaert, Grassroots Literacy

[qsfrombooks]

the sociolinguistic process is reduced to a confrontation between a language from the outside (e.g. English) and people from the inside (old-style natives, to some extent) who are forced to use the outside language (e.g. Webb 1994; Mazrui 2004). The scheme thus drawn is attractively simple and it invokes moral and political frames of independence versus oppression, exclusion versus inclusion, respect versus rejection. Sociolinguistic reality alas! is considerably more complex and ambiguous.

The Sociolinguistics of Globalization (Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact) / Blommaert

[qsfrombooks]

He does this by committing a very common error: merging the real processes of economic globalization with the ways in which they are represented discursively (Fairclough 2006: 5).

The Sociolinguistics of Globalization (Cambridge Approaches to Language Contact) / Blommaert

[mpcbuscomtoolkitsdc-blog]

MPC and languages

#3

How does MPC police language use? 

Firstly, courses such as Taal in Bedrijf and Specialisatie Bedrijfscommunicatie teach us to use clear and plain language in written as well as spoken communication. 

Secondly, we must also practice speaking standard Dutch in formal settings. This means that we must loose our local accents, because when you have heavily-accentuated language,  people will take you less serious. Especially in formal conversations, for example, did you ever hear a CEO talking in his local dialect while addressing his employees? Well, me neither, because it would not be appropriate. While doing so, he looses his “power of words”.

How does MPC commodify its subdomains of management and communication? 

We are introduced to various genres and specific vocabulary, as communication is of great importance, no matter the job.

How does MPC resist or facilitate the ‘stampede towards English’?

Well, they offer the same courses in Dutch and in English. Yet, I would like to add that the level of English wasn’t always that great. For example, one professor would cause instant ‘giggling’, because while he meant “Bear with me”, the whole class understood -every single time by the way- “Beer with me”. 

How does MPC sell ‘upwardly mobile trajectories’ to prospective students?

MPC convinces prospective students that they offer both of best worlds: business and business communication. Plus, they present language as a commodity: we as soon-to-be communication specialists possess all the tricks of the trade called internal and external communication.

[mpcbuscomtoolkitsdc-blog]

#2