Hello. This is 6 Minute English from
BBC Learning English. I’m Sam.
And I’m Rob.
In this programme, we’ll be hearing
about an issue experienced by many
child refugees who are forced to leave
their home – the loss of their first, native
language, or mother tongue, as they start
a new life, learning to speak a
new language, in a new country.
Julie Sedivy and her family left their
home in what was then Czechoslovakia
and is now the Czech Republic during
the Cold War, when Julie was a small
child. After several years travelling
through Europe, they arrived in Canada
as political refugees with no English.
We’ll be hearing about Julie’s childhood
when learning English started to replace
her native language, Czech, and,
as usual, we’ll be learning some
new vocabulary as well.
But first, I have a question, Rob. Julie’s
family left their home as political
refugees, but every year millions of
people are also displaced because of
war, persecution, or the damaging effects
of climate change. So, according to the
United Nations, how many people around
the world are currently living as
displaced refugees? Is it:
a) 3 million? b) 53 million? or,
c) 103 million?
I’ll guess it’s 103 million.
I’ll reveal the answer later in the
programme, Rob. Like many child refugees,
Julie spoke only her mother tongue,
Czech, at home with her brothers, sisters
and parents who, in the beginning, spoke
no English at all. Here she describes to
Michael Rosen, presenter of BBC
Radio 4 programme, Word of Mouth,
going to an English-speaking
school for the first time.
...so, you went into school not, to
start off, with really understanding
what was going on, is that right?
That's right. I just kind of interpreted
things as best I could, and my memory
of that is that that was not particularly
difficult or traumatic. I think by then
I'd had the experience of being dunked
into various unfamiliar languages
numerous times, and I had faith that it
would sort itself out, and that everything
would be just fine; and it was of course...
At school, Julie was dunked into
unfamiliar situations, a bit like a biscuit
being dunked into a cup of tea. Often,
dunk means to dip something into
liquid, but here, the meaning is that
Julie was suddenly dropped into a new
situation for a while, then taken out, as
her family travelled through Europe.
By the time she arrived in Canada,
Julie had been exposed to several other
languages including Italian and French.
She had experienced many difficulties,
but never given up hope of finding a
new home. Julie had faith – in other
words, trust or confidence, that everything
would sort itself out, a phrase meaning
to stop being a problem automatically,
without having to do anything.
Over the following years, Julie faced
many challenges: going to school and
making friends; helping her parents as
they struggled in the English-speaking
world; and grieving for her native
language which she slowly forgot, and
with it, the chance to speak Czech with
her dad before he passed away. Julie
shares her thoughts on losing and
refinding her mother tongue in
her book, Memory Speaks.
Through it all, Julie kept alive her belief
that by speaking two, three or even more
languages, we don’t forget who we are,
but instead gain a sense of tolerance,
an idea which she talked about with
BBC Radio 4’s, Word of Mouth.
The idea that you can be both of Mexican
ancestry, for example, and speak
Spanish, and be a full-fledged American,
or in my case come from a country like
the Czech Republic, continue to speak
my language and to be a Canadian and
very proudly so and very invested in
Canada as a society. There's a number
of studies that suggest that the very
presence of people with blended ideas
in a society seem to lead to greater
acceptance between groups. It creates
the sense that this is not an either-or,
that we can coexist, perhaps precisely
because we have evidence that these
cultures can coexist
within a single person.
For Julie, there’s no contradiction in
being a Canadian refugee speaking
Czech, or a Spanish-speaking immigrant
who’s a full-fledged – or fully developed –
American. These are not either-or situations –
cases where there is only a choice
between two options, with no third
possibility. Instead, a peaceful coexistence
can develop, as shown in the
life of Julie Sedivy herself.
Right. it’s time to reveal the answer
to my question: how many people
around the world, like Julie, are
living as displaced refugees?
Well, I said it was 103 million. Was I right?
And that was the correct answer,
Rob, a number which, according to the UN,
is only going to grow. Now it’s time to
recap the vocabulary we’ve learned
from this programme about losing our
mother tongue – the native language you
were brought up speaking by your parents.
If something is dunked, it’s dipped into
a liquid, like a biscuit in a cup of tea, but
if someone is dunked into a situation,
they’re suddenly placed into a new and
unfamiliar setting before being
removed again after a short time.
If you have faith in something or
someone, you have trust or
confidence in them.
The phrasal verb to sort itself out,
means to stop being a problem
without having to do anything.
The adjective full-fledged
means completely developed.
And finally, an either-or is a situation
where only a choice between two options
is possible, with no third alternative.
And that brings us to the end of this
programme. Bye for now!
Bye bye!