Education in First Languages

Aubrey Pilgrim (letter, May 6) wants to know if other countries educate children in their native language. Many do. Most European countries provide bilingual education for immigrant children: Belgium (Arabic, Turkish), Denmark (Turkish), France (Portuguese, Arabic, Italian), Germany (Turkish, Greek), the Netherlands (Turkish, Arabic), Norway (Turkish, Urdu, Vietnamese) and Sweden (Finnish, Turkish, Serbo-Croatian, Greek and Arabic). Studies done by European scholars show that children in these programs acquire the second language of the country as well as and usually better than those in “immersion” programs.

Interest in languages spoken by indigenous minority communities in Europe is also high. These include Basque, Catalan, Frisian, Galician, Letseburgish, Irish, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, Breton, Sardinian, Corsican, Ladin, Occitan, Romani, Friulian and, when spoken in Italy, Albanian, Croatian, Slovenian and French, Flemish (in France), German (in Italy, Belgium, Denmark and France) and Danish (in the Netherlands). All but three minority languages (East Frisian, Sardinian and Romani) are taught in primary education in the European Economic Community and none are forbidden by law in the EEC. No member of the EEC has passed the equivalent of Prop. 227.

STEPHEN KRASHEN, Professor

USC School of Education