• Title/Summary/Keyword: official language

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Adopting Local Languages as Official Languages: Effect on Women and Rural Individuals' Labor Force in Burkina Faso

  • YAMEOGO, SOULEYMANE
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.42 no.2
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    • pp.31-56
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    • 2020
  • This study investigates the impact of the use of the main local languages in Burkina Faso (Moore, Dioula, Fulfulde) on labor force participation. Using Ethnologue language data, I compute the relative language distance reduction index, after which I use a probit/logit model and instrumental variable approach to account for language use policy endogeneity. This study finds that the use of the Moore language increases the likelihood of labor force participation by 36 percent, with a strong impact on women at 59 percent, nine times higher than men, and 38.3 percent for rural individuals, five times higher than individuals living in urban areas. The Dioula language exhibits comparable trends, while Fulfulde has a negative impact on individuals. The study recommends the use of local language(s) as official language(s) to improve labor force participation. However, a bilingual approach combining local and international language(s) will be of use to account for globalization and international competitiveness. The findings here may be of use to researchers and policymakers as part of their effort to increase the labor force participation rates of women and rural individuals. Moreover, this research has significant implications with regard to the implementation of language use policies in a variety of postcolonial language contexts.

Introduction of Questionnaires for Quality of Life of Patients with Malignant Tumors of the Central Nervous System into Neurosurgical Practice in the Republic of Kazakhstan

  • Akshulakov, Serik;Aldiyarova, Nurgul;Ryskeldiyev, Nurzhan;Akhmetzhanova, Zauresh;Gaitova, Kamila;Auezova, Raushan;Doskaliyev, Aidos;Kerimbayev, Talgat
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.17 no.2
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    • pp.873-876
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    • 2016
  • Background: Studies of quality of life (QoL) of oncological patients is carried out using questionnaires approved in many international clinical studies. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer EORTC QLQ-C30 (Quality of Life Questionnary-Core 30) and its special brain cancer module EORTC QLQ-BN20 are widely used in the world neurooncologic practice. They are available in more than 80 official versions of 30 languages of the world. Previously we used the official versions in Russian, which often causes difficulty in understanding for native Kazakh language speakers, who comprise more than 60% of our respondents. This was the reason for creating a version of Kazakh language. Therefore, in 2014 for the first time the process of adaptation of questionnaires to the Kazakh language was initiated. Materials and Methods: The translation process of questionnaires to Kazakh language was held in accordance with the requirements of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer EORTC on QoL and consisted of the following stages: preparation - translation - pilot testing - approval. The official permission of authors and "Guideline on translation" was obtained which was developed by the working group of the EORTC on QoL. The pilot testing of EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BN20 questionnaires was conducted on the basis of the Department of Central Nervous System Pathology of the "National Centre for Neurosurgery" in patients with malignant tumors of the central nervous system. Results: The official versions of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and QLQ-BN20 questionnaires in Kazakh language were introduced and adapted in practical neurosurgical operations in Kazakhstan. Conclusions: The approved versions of the questionnaires in Kazakh language are now available for mainstream use on the official website EORTC.com. The versions of these questionnaires can be used in domestic cohort studies and clinical practice in the Republic of Kazakhstan. The use of these tools for assessing QoL will help professionals in the planning of individual treatment strategies and selection of the necessary therapy.

The truth beneath: Officialization of English in Korea (무엇이 진실일까?: 영어공용화에 관한 연구)

  • Chang, Sunmee
    • English Language & Literature Teaching
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    • v.17 no.4
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    • pp.357-373
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    • 2011
  • There have been great controversies over making English as an official language in Korea. They have been triggered since some scholars published books and articles claiming that officialization of English is the best option for Korean people who spend significant amount of their life time to learn English. Those who are happy about the idea believe that officialization of English will be a good help for Korean people to gain a high degree of English proficiency, while others worry about possible negative impact on Korean language and culture. There are more diverse views and opinions on this issue. The distance between pros and cons about officialization of English doesn't seem to be negotiated. This study has been conducted not for finding the solution to the controversies. It is for understanding how those whose successful career and high living quality depend on gaining high command of English feel about acknowledging English as an official language of Korea. The results show that overall ideas on the officialization of English of research subjects are similar with those of scholars in academia. Around two third of total number of the research subjects expressed their criticism against the idea. One interesting thing is that all of the subjects, regardless their positions, think that there are serious problems in English education policy and system in Korea.

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Official Foreign Language Schools in Korea, 1894-1906 (관제기(1894-1906) 관립 외국어학교 연구)

  • Hahn, Yong Jin
    • (The)Korea Educational Review
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    • v.23 no.1
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    • pp.57-81
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    • 2017
  • The purpose of this study is to summarise the educational meanings of Official Foreign Language Schools(hereafter, OFLS) in Korea, 1895-1906. Especially, I try to find out the foreign language policy of the Joseon Dynasty and the comparative superiority between six foreign language schools - Japanese School, English School, French School, Russian School, Chinese School, and German School - through the traits of teachers and the change of students numbers at the Regulation Period. As a part of Kabo Reforms, the government had abolished the of Civil Service Examination System and status system, and foreign languages worked as a cultural capital to acquire modern civilization and to escalate one's social status. The results were as follows: Firstly, the OFLS have to be regarded as one of the highest educational institute during the Regulation Period. The eligibility of the OFLS was over 15 years old, but most of the incoming students were over 20 years old. Secondly, many of the OFLS's teachers were specialists of military, diplomat and mechanics. Especially, Martel, the teacher of French school played an important role for the neutral diplomacy policy of the Great Korean(Dae-Han) Empire during the Regulation Period. Thirdly, the recruit of new members of the OFLS was affected by the political and social circumstances at that time. Fourthly, the statistics of incoming students during the Regulation Period was concentrated on Chinese school, French school, and English school in due order. Thus, it differed from the commonly accepted ideas of students' statistics which was concentrated on English School and Japanese School. Fifthly, the OFLS were not only for the training of official interpreters(譯官通事), but also the cultivation of civil servants who could become statesman.

Computer Codes for Korean Sounds: K-SAMPA

  • Kim, Jong-mi
    • The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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    • v.20 no.4E
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    • pp.3-16
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    • 2001
  • An ASCII encoding of Korean has been developed for extended phonetic transcription of the Speech Assessment Methods Phonetic Alphabet (SAMPA). SAMPA is a machine-readable phonetic alphabet used for multilingual computing. It has been developed since 1987 and extended to more than twenty languages. The motivating factor for creating Korean SAMPA (K-SAMPA) is to label Korean speech for a multilingual corpus or to transcribe native language (Ll) interfered pronunciation of a second language learner for bilingual education. Korean SAMPA represents each Korean allophone with a particular SAMPA symbol. Sounds that closely resemble it are represented by the same symbol, regardless of the language they are uttered in. Each of its symbols represents a speech sound that is spectrally and temporally so distinct as to be perceptually different when the components are heard in isolation. Each type of sound has a separate IPA-like designation. Korean SAMPA is superior to other transcription systems with similar objectives. It describes better the cross-linguistic sound quality of Korean than the official Romanization system, proclaimed by the Korean government in July 2000, because it uses an internationally shared phonetic alphabet. It is also phonetically more accurate than the official Romanization in that it dispenses with orthographic adjustments. It is also more convenient for computing than the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) because it consists of the symbols on a standard keyboard. This paper demonstrates how the Korean SAMPA can express allophonic details and prosodic features by adopting the transcription conventions of the extended SAMPA (X-SAMPA) and the prosodic SAMPA(SAMPROSA).

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Language Choice in Philippine Government Websites: Sociolinguistic Issues and Implications

  • Concepcion, Gerard P.
    • SUVANNABHUMI
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    • v.13 no.1
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    • pp.35-64
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    • 2021
  • Government websites provide useful and timely information to the public such as government's history, organizational values, codes of ethics, public services, facts about public official, among others. Using language choice as framework, the study seeks to examine what language is used, in what contents, and in what kind of website. The study employed online observation in 235 Philippine government websites (.gov.ph) via content analysis. As a result, English is overwhelmingly used; while Filipino, the Philippines' national language, and only a handful of regional languages, are minimally used in the contents. Discussion will follow how multilingualism can improve the dissemination of information and communication more conveniently and efficiently from the government to its citizens.

A Study on the Introduction of the Research Official for the Maritime Accidents Inquiry System (심판연구관제도의 도입에 관한 연구)

  • 이철환
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Marine Environment & Safety
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    • v.8 no.2
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    • pp.71-78
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    • 2002
  • For the first Maritime Accident Inquiry System in Korea, Central Marine Accidents Inquiry Committee were founded in Seoul and District Marine Accidents Inquiry Committee in Busan city In 1963 to determine the circumstances of the accidents and causes. At the present day, it was settled as Maritime Safety Tribunal tough several revision of the Law and regulations regarding the Maritime Accident Inquiry System. In Korea, there occurred about m cases of marine accident, and as a result, about 200 people were lost human lives in average per year. In accordance with the change of circumstances such as traffic increasing and being bigger in size, being faster in speed, etc., the causes of the marine accidents become complicated year by year. Accordingly, in this moment, it is meaningful that the introduction of the Research Official who assists the Judges probing the cases fair and square. In this Paper, with the consideration of the several kinds of Research Official System, such as the Research Official of the Korean Supreme Court, the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office and the Constitutional Court, Japanese Supreme Court, Law Clerk in USA, etc., the selection, numbers, duty of the Research Official were studied. The results of the study are as follows; 1. The Research Official to be appointed among the person having long enough career as a Judge, Investigator engaged in the Maritime Safety Tribunal due to he sho띨d have capability to confirm perfectly logical judgement and to collect enough material for the conclusion of the causes of the case. The one who understands the foreign language is preferred for the study of the foreign cases; 2. It will be logical to post 3 joint Research Officials in Korea Maritime Safety Tribunal in Seoul after due consideration the cases treated a year; 3. It will be logical for the Research Official to perform the collection of material and inspection of the scene for the trial and inquiry of the cases, to attend the cases filed suit to the Supreme Court, to make commentarial papers regarding the judged cases, to collect statistics of marine accidents and to devise a reform measure through in-depth analysis of the accidents frequently occurred, to study for the improvement of the Maritime Accident Inquiry System;

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The Dilemma of Language in Education Policies in Ghana and Tanzania

  • Dzahene-Quarshie, Josephine;Moshi, Lioba
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.36
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    • pp.149-173
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    • 2014
  • This paper examines language policies of Ghana and Tanzania (former British Colonies) since independence. The view that language use in education is a problem for African countries is evident in the ever changing language in education policies in many African countries. Because of the inevitable multilingual situation in many African countries, there are unavoidable challenges in their quest to adopt a language policy that works for the entire country since it is not practical to adopt all the languages spoken in the country as Media of Instruction. Ghana is not immune to this challenge and has fallen victim to this tendency to change the language in education policy from time to time in an attempt to adopt a satisfactory policy which would yield the intended results. Tanzania, however, is one of the few African countries that have found a sustainable language in education policy since independence. Nonetheless, it has its fair share of challenges as a consequence of the perceived competition between Kiswahili and English as official languages. The paper discusses the challenges that both Ghana and Tanzania face against the background of colonization. The paper also offers a discussion on possible future perspectives for the two countries.

Linguistic and Educational Factors Affecting TOEFL Scores: Focusing on Three OECD Countries in EFL contexts

  • Lee, Young-Hwa;Kim, Seon-Jae
    • International Journal of Contents
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.33-40
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    • 2010
  • This study aims at investigating the linguistic and educational factors affecting TOEFL scores, focusing on three OECD countries, Korea, Japan, and Finland. The data comprise document analysis on curriculums, websites, and literature. The findings reveal that the number of Korean test-takers and their TOEFL scores gradually increased year by year. Finnish test-takers consistently gained greatly high scores, and Japanese examinees showed the lowest scores. The languages Korean, Japanese, and Finnish are all far distant from English and receive little support on historical grounds from the Indo-European family tree. In Finland, however, Swedish which belongs to Indo-European languages is still used as an official language with Finnish. Korea and Finland adopt English education from Year 3 in primary school, whereas English is not an official subject in primary school at present in Japan. Finnish students are taught a foreign language in addition to English from primary school. These seem to support the result of the high TOEFL scores of Finnish test-takers. This study concludes that social context which includes linguistic and educational environments are the main factors which affect TOEFL scores.

Public Opinion of the King Sejong Institute in China - Based on the Analysis of Media Reports from WeChat Official Accounts

  • Wanting Jiang
    • International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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    • v.11 no.3
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2023
  • International public opinion on King Sejong Institute (KSI) is one of the most important factors influencing its overseas development as a worldwide non-profit educational service organization. China is one of the overseas strategic regions for KSI to spread the Korean Language. This paper intends to assess KSI's current public opinion environment in China. With content analysis of 87 news reports related to KSI in WeChat Official Accounts from 2014 to 2022, this paper attempts to assess the public opinion environment of KSI in China. In this paper, we show that the Chinese media' s current attention to KSI is generally lacking. The current reports focus more on activity narrations, and the main report factors come from local media and universities' oncampus news, which have relatively weak dissemination power and limited influences. On one side, the reasons are related to the characteristics of Chinese media, while the KSI establishment method in China also accounts for a lot. Therefore, it is necessary for the KSI to timely adjust the cooperation mode and publicity strategies according to the Chinese political and cultural characteristics to promote the sustainable development of KSI in China by continuously improving the public opinion environment.