At the UN French slips and English stands tall

Exercise 2C

Translate the following sentences from the text, paying attention

to the underlined parts.

1. And when it comes to the vexing matter of dealing with the French, fluency in the language should not be too much to expect.

2. But France is a far cry from Kyrgyzstan.

3. Now that the Democrats have taken over the Senate, they might have been expected to pose a few tough questions be­fore rubber-stamping Bush's ambassadorial appointees.

Exercise 21

Find the Russian equivalents for the following word combina­tions:

Senate confirmation hearing generous donor

political appointees to justify one's ambitions nominees for the embassies respected career diplomat to volunteer one's commitment to

Exercise 22

Learn the following words and use them in the given sentences.

a) to justify — justified — (un)justifiable — justification:

1. Nothing can be said in__________ of the aggressors' ac­tions.

2. The spokesman was supposed__________ the country's

activities to the public.

3. Our actions are __________, we are many, and of suffi­cient passion to make our world a better place in which to live.

4. At the head of the list of anticipated problems was naked aggression by one state against another.

b) to respect—respected — (dis)respectful—respectable — (ir) respective — (dis)respect — respectability:

1. The counterparts greeted each other and occupied their places.

2. The delegates listened in_________ silence as the speak­er gave an opening speech.

3. The candidate had to admit that he had applied for the j ob for the sake of.

4. He is a man much_________ and admired by all his col­leagues.

5. If they had any__________ for human life the terrorists

wouldn't do such terrible things.

6. She holds a very responsible and_________ position in

the firm.

7. for the whole political class has grown as poli­ticians have found it increasingly hard to deliver in office.

8. The job of a diplomat is on offer to anyone with the right qualifications, of their sex.

9. The hunt for the Third way, which has been going on more or less since Blair announced the birth of New Labour, is in many________ paradoxical.

c) to commit — committed — commitment — committee:

1. Representatives of the member-states are to attend a___

______ meeting.

2. The minister is firmly_________ to pursuing the adopted

policy and to implementing the programmes.

3. The realization of the programme would not have been pos­sible without the deep of the officials to the

chosen course.

4. The British government is going_________ considerable

resources to improving the rail system.

5. The council must move toward_________ on the part of

arms-producing countries to significantly improve monitor­ing of arms transfers.

d) to volunteer — (in) voluntary — volunteer volunteerism:

1. The privatization of some old industries concealed the na­tionalization of new ones; in each case a service formerly

performed by the private or___________ sector operates

under Treasury terms and conditions.

2. We are innovative and pioneering, compassionate and fair- minded, to give large amounts to charity.

3. The government has begun to close failing schools and is

encouraging private-sector management and_________

to get involved.

4. Others claim that we are____________ raising a genera­tion of problem children.

5. The American philosophy of__________ consists in the

idea of improving oneself by helping others.

 

Exercise 23

Bring out the difference in meaning of the following words by making up sentences about diplomacy.

donor / sponsor / fundraiser/ appointee / nominee/refugee

Exercise 24

In each blank, write the most appropriate of the words studied earlier or their derivatives.

1. The President refused to either__________ or deny the

rumour that Mr. N. would be__________ ambassador to

New Zealand.

2. The new ambassador, a generous Republican________

presented his_________ to the Court of St James. He was

not a__________ diplomat but his__________ for the

embassy in London had been_________ by the Senate,

which, in fact, had agreed to all the other president's___

3. The issue of development in the UNO and in the program­mes of countries is focused on the problem of

poverty.

4. The permanent members should use their position not only

in the interest of their_________ countries but also in the

interest of the international community.

5. The farmers received_________ subsidies from the gov­ernment.

6. Since her__________ she has had to deal with two major

crises as ambassador. Thanks to her energy and______,

she was a success.

7. It was the commercial__________ of the Venetian mer­chants that drove their government to war with Genoa.

8. He came from a less__________ background — the ille­gitimate son of an actress.

9. There can be no_________ for using nuclear weapons.

10. The employees have expressed________ anger at being

given extra work. All extra work should be done on a purely basis.

11. The secretary ordered plane tickets by phone and received of the purchase in the mail.

12. The judge did not feel the thief had any__________ for

breaking the law.

13. As a skilled worker, he earned a very__________ wage.

14. It was through the ___________ of their friends that they

were able to keep the farm operating.

Exercise 25

Complete each sentence with the correct form of the followingwords. There is one word too many:

to address

to confirm

to emphasize sovereignty

to commit

to nominate

to negotiate (2)

to dispatch

to concern

to urge

to threaten ambition

1. Mr. Alatas has made it clear that he would not convene talks unless he was convinced of the of all the par­ties.

2. The latest attempt at______________________ broke down on Friday

after one of Mohawk factions walked out of_____________.

3. Each country____________ one official who did much of the

groundwork.

4. D.H. even managed to squeeze in a few hours in Strasbourg,

___________ the European parliament before arriving in

Helsinki.

5. Last night J.D. was accused of sabotaging thousands of Brit­ish jobs for the sake of personal.

6. The American Ambassador in Delhi______________ that his

country____________ India and Pakistan to hold talks to try

to avert the____________ of war over Kashmir.

7. Mr. U.____________ the need for a preventive UN force to

___________ to hot spots before hostilities break out.

Exercise 26

Translate the following into English using some of the studied vocabulary.

Иногда подбор в американские зарубежные представи­тельства доходит до анекдотических случаев. Характерен в этом смысле ставший в 19... году широко известным факт назначения на пост посла США на Цейлоне владельца 129 магазинов женского платья некоего Г. только потому, что он пожертвовал во время избирательной компании 37 тыс. дол­ларов в фонд республиканской партии. Что собой представ­лял этот американский посол, можно видеть из опублико­ванной во всех крупных американских и европейских газе­тах записи беседы этого претендента в сенатской комиссии США.

Для американской практики подбора кадров на такие высшие дипломатические посты, как пост посла, назначе­ние Г., обусловленное внесением с его стороны большой суммы денег в избирательный фонд республиканской партии, представляет собой не единичный случай. Такие послы США, как бывший посол в Англии У., бывший посол в Бон­не Б., а также послы в ряде других стран своим назначением были обязаны прежде всего своим взносам в избирательный фонд правящей партии.

Как видно, для дипломатического аппарата США стало характерно назначение на дипломатические должности, осо­бенно послов, представителей крупных монополий, соче­тающих дипломатическую деятельность с коммерческими операциями в пользу своих монополий и рассматривающих дипломатические посты как своеобразную награду за поддер­жку во время избирательной кампании той или иной партии.

Working in pairs

1. Find as many sentences in the text as you can which clearly

mean the opposite to what is felt.

2. Explain what ideas the author wants to convey to us through

the sentences you have found.

3. Give your reasons why he uses the ironic style.

4. Try to guess the author's attitude towards the ambassadorial appointees.

5. Discuss the importance of the English and French languages for diplomacy.

While reading the article by Barbara Crossette taken from the "USA Today" consider the following questions.

1. Which language is gaining in importance internationally and which is losing ground?

2. Is Howard Leach right in believing that English is "the true language of love and diplomacy"?

3. What is a younger generation's choice?

4. What does Mr.Chamie mean by saying that English is "a very accepting language"?

5. What is Barbara Crossette's position on the subject?

AT THE UN FRENCH SLIPS AND ENGLISH STANDS TALL

UNITED NATIONS, March 23 — For diplomatic New York, no directory is more essential than the "blue book," the-com­prehensive guide to all foreign missions published about twice a year by the United Nations protocol department. Want to know the name of the Thai ambassador (and his wife), the Australian envoy (and her husband) and their telephone numbers? Which of four names to use to address a military attache? An e-mail ad­dress? It is all there. But the newest edition of the book, com­piled in December and now a best seller at the United Nations bookstore, has moved into some interesting new trend-watching territory. For the first time, it asked the 189 United Nations mem­ber nations to name the language in which all correspondence to their missions should be addressed.

Mon Dieu! If this is any indication, French is fast slipping as the language of diplomacy. Given a choice of French, English or Spanish (the other three official languages, Arabic, Chinese and Russian, cannot be handled by most word processors), an over-

whelming majority chose English. Only one, Canada, chose both English and French. Isolated Myanmar did not answer. "English is creeping up as the main language of the United Nations", said the discreetly anonymous editor of the diplomatic guide, titled simply "Permanent Missions to the United Nations No. 285". But she hastened to add that what happens in New York may not be reflected in capital cities around the world, where the United Nations still tries to address governments in a wider assortment of languages.

Still, with more than 120 countries choosing English, com­pared with the 40 or so listing French and about 20 choosing Spanish (another language growing in use at United Nations head­quarters), the preference seems pretty clear. Moreover, the pref­erence for English was widespread. Among the Europeans, East and West, English is the first choice, except for French-speaking nations-like Belgium or Luxembourg, and Romania and Albania. All of the former Soviet republics opt for English. So does the Arab world, except for Lebanon, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. All the Lusophones — the Portuguese-speaking countries, in­cluding Brazil — choose English, too.

And look at what has happened in Indochina. Several years ago Boutros-Ghali, the former United Nations secretary general who now heads Francophonie, a spirited group trying to pro­mote (or save) French worldwide, came back from a conference in Hanoi a little gloomy about the future of French outside France and French-speaking Africa. The blue book proves him right. Vietnam, the jewel in the crown of colonial France, wants to operate in English in New York. Cambodia and Laos stayed loyal to French, but diplomats from Southeast Asia think it is only a matter of time before a younger generation changes that. Across Asia, English has become the working language of di­plomacy and business. Factoring in China and India, with over a third of the world's people, leads to the conclusion that 97 per­cent of the global population (or rather the elite of those coun­ties) choose English as their international link language, said Joseph Chamie, who watches numbers and spots trends for the United Nations.

"With modernization and globalization and the dominance of the American educational system and media, English — and American English in particular — is increasingly becoming the mode of communication", said Mr. Chamie, director of the orga­nization's population division. An American born in Lebanon, he first spoke-Arabic, which he describes as "a very beautiful language with an unbelievably large vocabulary". Later, he learned English, French, German and Hindi. His daughter is learn­ing Spanish, so he is trying to pick that up, too. "English has certain advantages over other languages", Mr. Chamie said. "One, it doesn't have gender; that makes it easier. And it's a very ac­cepting language in that all the countries have their own variet­ies and people are willing to tolerate variation in dialect and ac­cent or pronunciation". And he added: "English doesn't have any kind of stratification. Other languages do. In other words, a per­son who has been educated could speak in a way that is very different from the language of the street. In English, we do not evaluate people as much by how they speak as in some of the other languages". And he said that, politically, it does not have as many overtones as other languages, adding that its evolution from a colonial language to a universal means of communicating has largely stripped it of its stigma. "It's spoken in India, it's spo­ken in Australia, it's spoken all around the world", he pointed out. In other words, it no longer belongs to anyone in particular.

Challenge or support the following statements:

1. French is fast slipping as the language of diplomacy.

2. French has become the working language of diplomacy and business.

3. American English is increasingly becoming the mode of com­munication.

4. English has no advantages over other languages.

5. English is a very accepting language.

6. English doesn't have any kind of stratification.

7. Politically, it doesn't have as many overtones as other lan­guages.

8. English no longer belongs to anyone in particular.

Have you solved the puzzle of the language priority for diplo­matic work?

 

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