Silver_and_Jade_Tears

Join Date 09/2004

Brazilian Diplomacy Refuse to Learn English

Slap in Face to English-Speakers Everywhere

According to Yahoo Reuters, Brazil refuses to require English as a priority for graduating diplomats. Link

Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, who has given Brazil a much louder voice in the world, said dropping the English requirement was intended to make entry to diplomat school more "democratic."

"We can't allow that somebody doesn't pass the test just because they didn't study or live abroad," Amorim was quoted as saying.

Of course, you can always pass a test by NOT studying, right? This sounds as if Amorim is making excuses for lazy students that don't want to study, or take the time to learn about English and/or American culture. How does one become familiar with practices and languages abroad without studying?

I do understand that because of the "unequal" society in Brazil, that many students wouldn't have the money to live abroad, but studying English in ones own country takes work, not neccessarily money.

Anti-american? Not neccessarily, since Great Britain also speaks English. But it does seem a slap in the face, especially since America has taken the time to build diplomatic relations with Brazil.

Correct me if I am wrong, but don't American diplomats have to learn the language of the country they are assigned to? What would happen if Americans refused to learn any other language? There would be a world-wide riot, accusing the US of being selfish, and isolationists. But when Brazil does it, it is accepted, and everyone moves on.

Fair? No. But then, what is?

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actually, i am brazilian and currently preparing myself for a diplomatic career, so i think i can give u an insider view on this

in reality, it's recquired from every single brazilian diplomat to be highly proficient in at least 3 languages other than portuguese, wich are english, french and spanish... what has chenged now, is that the english test alone is no longer enough to disqualify any applicant.. before this new resolution, if u failed the english test but had 100% of correct answers in all other tests you were simply disqualified.. wich doesn't seem very fair... now it's the overall grade that matters.. if you only have a slight difficulty with english, you will have special english classes for the duration of you course at Instituto Rio Branco, wich is brazil's school for diplomats.. if you are interested in checking more about it i can recomend you some websites. just email me...

now, to make things clear, i am not personally in favour of this new rules of admission to IRBr, but things weren't exactly the way u thought they were..

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most non-US people speak more than just their native language

how many other languages do you speak?

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3 languages, plus my mother language..

English, French, Cantonese and Portuguese

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Join Date 03/2001

+23

I don't know ANY spoken language.

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Besides, there are other countries that a Brazilian diplomat could be affected to where English is not the language in use. What makes you think that a Brazilian diplomt could only be affected to an embassy in the US or in England? A Brazilian diplomat who doesn't speak English could pursue a diplomatic carren anywhere in Latin America, in Europe (other than England), in about half the countries in Africa, in China, Japan, India, and probably a hundred other countries in the world, as long as he knows the official language spoken in that particular country.

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Correct me if I am wrong, but don't American diplomats have to learn the language of the country they are assigned to

First of all--you are showing your American bias by assuming that all Brazilian diplomats are going to be stationed in an English speaking country. Brazil has embassies throughout Latin America and Europe where English would not be an official language.

Second off--this doesn't say that the Brazilians won't learn the language once they have been given assignments to work in a country. It just says that you won't have to come into the service already being fluent in the language. This is what happens in the US. You do not need to have ANY training in ANY language in order to enter the US foreign service. Once you have been assigned to your first post, you will undergo language courses. It would be impossible to require American Foreign Service Officiers to know the languages before they are offered entrance into their training courses because they switch assignments every couple of years--they would need to enter with several languages--which is a rare feat in America. Many enter with none.

Silver and Jade--you like to write articles with very firm, unwavering support of something with the appearance that you havent really thought it through entirely. There is no slight, real or perceived, by Brazilian diplomats not having to pass english proficiency before entering the foriegn service. However, you've decided that they are anti-American and disrespecting us. All that does is futher hatred and animosity. Try to investigate more, and give people the benefit of the doubt.

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ah, but ethnocentrism is so fun!

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u know a funny thing? talking about ethnocentrism and stuff related to it.. there's been some discussion on semantic forums in wich i participate about the correct application of American... should it be used to describe one's nationality? after all, we know that america is a continent wich can be divided in many diferent ways (geographically, politically, culturally, etc) not a country... it's funny to hear US citizens claming that they r truly Americans when all u need to be American is to be born in colombia, peru, haiti, or even cuba... heheheh

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"American" should be anybody from North or South America. Reading South American literature, you'll see things translated to English that strictly say "American," not Peruvian, Hatian, whatever. Or as Che Guevara wrote, "American" to him meant anyone of the mixed Amerindian/European/African hodgepodge that has developed here. I like that definition.

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