Questões de Vestibular: FAG

‘English is the global language.’ – A headline of this kind must have appeared in a thousand newspapers and magazines in recent years. ‘English Rules’ is an actual example, presenting to the world an uncomplicated scenario suggesting the universality of the language’s spread and the likelihood of its continuation. (…)

These are the kinds of statement which seem so obvious that most people would give them hardly a second thought. Of course English is a global language, they would say. You hear it on television spoken by politicians from all over the world. Wherever you travel, you see English signs and advertisements. Whenever you enter a hotel or restaurant in a foreign city, they will understand English, and there will be an English menu. (…)

But English is news. The language continues to make news daily in many countries. And the headline isn’t stating the obvious. For what does it mean, exactly? Is it saying that everyone in the world speaks English? This is certainly not true, as we shall see. Is it saying, then, that every country in the world recognizes English as an offcial language? This is not true either. So what does it mean to say that a language is a global language? Why is English the language which is usually cited in this connection? How did the situation arise? And could it change? Or is it the case that, once a language becomes a global language, it is there forever?

These are fascinating questions to explore, whether your frst language is English or not. If English is your mother tongue, you may have mixed feelings about the way English is spreading around the world. You may feel pride, that your language is the one which has been so successful; but your pride may be tinged with concern, when you realize that people in other countries may not want to use the language in the same way that you do, and are changing it to suit themselves. We are all sensitive to the way other people use (it is often said, abuse) ‘our’ language. Deeply held feelings of ownership begin to be questioned. Indeed, if there is one predictable consequence of a language becoming a global language, it is that nobody owns it any more. Or rather, everyone who has learned it now owns it – ‘has a share in it’ might be more accurate – and has the right to use it in the way they want. This fact alone makes many people feel uncomfortable, even vaguely resentful. ‘Look what the Americans have done to English’ is a not uncommon comment found in the letter-columns of the British press.

But similar comments can be heard in the USA when people encounter the sometimes striking variations in English which are emerging all over the world. And if English is not your mother tongue, you may still have mixed feelings about it. You may be strongly motivated to learn it, because you know it will put you in touch with more people than any other language; but at the same time you know it will take a great deal of effort to master it, and you may begrudge that effort. Having made progress, you will feel pride in your achievement, and savour the communicative power you have at your disposal, but may none the less feel that mother-tongue speakers of English have an unfair advantage over you. (…)

These feelings are natural, and would arise whichever language emerged as a global language. They are feelings which give rise to fears, whether real or imaginary, and fears lead to conflict. Language is always in the news, and the nearer a language moves to becoming a global language, the more newsworthy it is. So how does a language come to achieve global status?

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In the past year, 3-D printing has been experiencing major breakthroughs, and it promises even greater strides in the fields of sustainability, technology and medical research. Yet the technology is currently being pioneered for another purpose: to help visually impaired children understand the fantastical worlds depicted in classic literary works such as Goodnight Moon and Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?

A project at the University of Colorado is hoping to jump-start the commercial development of tactile books, allowing children to follow along text read aloud by tracing the corresponding raised illustrations with their fingers. The technology converts the images in original titles into pictures you can feel with a 3-D printer. Researchers at the Tactile Picture Book Project are working in conjunction with Denver’s Anchor Center—a nonprofit specializing in helping visually impaired children achieve educational success—on the project.

Tactile books are crucial to early cognitive development for blind children, who typically don’t begin to read Braille until the age of 6. The Anchor Center’s executive director, Alice Applebaum, explained in an interview with Mashable that the project can help even younger children develop the ability to explore the world through their hands. "It is one more opportunity for visually impaired children to experience literacy in an expanded way," she said. "Will it make them better readers? Not necessarily, but it will make them more aware of what the world looks like.

Tactile books are currently pricey to produce, but affordable 3-D printing is projected to be available within the next two to three years.

Researchers aim to eventually have the option available for both parents and educators, allowing them to take photos and send them to a 3-D printer for their personalized tactile book. The Tactile Picture Book Project is also testing workshops and software programs that might make it possible for parents to create tactile books for their own children.Mashable reports that, since the original Goodnight Moon book was printed, titles including The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Cat in the Hat have been added to the steadily growing collection, which means the infamous Everyone Poops can’t be far behind on the list.

Numa época em que a imigração provoca debates candentes e reações violentas em muitas partes do mundo, o FMI lança um alerta sobre o envelhecimento populacional nos países avançados.

No seu relatório econômico global divulgado nesta semana constam as estimações demográficas da ONU indicando que a população local vai se reduzir em boa parte dos países desenvolvidos.

Desde logo, daqui a algumas décadas, a mão de obra ativa terá que sustentar o dobro dos idosos que existem atualmente nesses países, cortando 3% de sua produção econômica por volta de 2050.

Vem então a advertência do relatório: se mais pessoas não forem integradas à população economicamente ativa, o aumento proporcional de idosos poderá reduzir o crescimento dos países avançados. Na circunstância, o FMI afirma que a imigração “pode contribuir para ganhos de longo prazo no crescimento e na produtividade” econômica.

No momento em que Donald Trump freia a imigração legal e reprime mais duramente as entradas ilegais nos Estados Unidos, que as eleições na Itália levaram ao poder uma maioria de parlamentares hostis aos imigrantes e que a Hungria, no último domingo (8), reelegeu pela terceira vez o xenófobo Viktor Orban como seu primeiro-ministro, o FMI não hesita em avançar sua conclusão pró-imigracionista: “é preciso repensar as políticas migratórias para dinamizar a mão de obra disponível nas economias avançadas... políticas mais restritivas [à imigração] exacerbariam de maneira significativa o efeito negativo do envelhecimento da população”.

O Brasil não é citado no relatório do FMI. Mas o país se encontra numa situação similar à dos países desenvolvidos citados acima, com a exceção do Japão onde o envelhecimento populacional é muito mais patente. Resta que os brasileiros estão seguindo a mesma rota de envelhecimento em razão do efeito convergente do aumento da esperança de vida e da queda da taxa de natalidade. A questão imigratória também está na ordem do dia em nosso país.

Como lembrou recentemente na Folha de S. Paulo Leonardo Monasterio, pesquisador do IPEA, o Brasil tem uma proporção bastante baixa de imigrantes.

O país chegou a ter 5,1% de imigrantes no seio de sua população em 1920. Atualmente este percentual é de 0,9%. Na Argentina a proporção de imigrantes no conjunto da população alcança 6% e nos Estados Unidos, 14%. Como foi apontado neste mesmo espaço, a população do país continuará subindo até 2050, para começar a cair em seguida, segundo o Censo Mundial para o século XXI realizado em 2012 e 2015 pela ONU.

Se nada mudar, em 2085 estaremos com uma população similar a de hoje: 208 milhões de habitantes. Na ausência de uma política imigracionista, acumularemos os dois inconvenientes descritos acima: seremos velhos e pobres.