Working language

Abstract: The Charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was officially adopted in February 2009. Article 34 of the Charter states that, ‘The working language of ASEAN shall be English’. In this article, I first briefly trace the development of English in ASEAN and demonstrate that, even in those countries of the ASEAN group which were not colonies of Britain or the United States, English has become increasingly important. I show that, in almost all the cases, the language policies of ASEAN countries require people to learn their respective national language and English. This combination of the learning of English is along with the learning of a national language, which can be a national lingua franca such as Bahasa Indonesia in Indonesia and Filipino in the Philippines. Consequently, local and indigenous languages, other than the national language, are being replaced by English in many school curricula and also in other domains. It is also rare to find government schools in ASEAN teachi...

Abstract: In the multinational corporation (MNC) context the crossing of linguistic boundaries and the fast-paced change of linguistic ecologies due to market trends and new business activities is the rule rather than the exception. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to discuss language policy and language practice in one consortium of three multinational companies and to problematise the extent to which the dynamics of language use are reflected in the companies' language policy. The paper draws on interview and questionnaire data and discusses the employees' perceptions of language practices in their workplace context and the perceived implications of the companies' official policy. The analysis shows that the language policy in these MNCs is constructed as being flexible where both employees and managers typically take a ‘what works’ approach regarding language practice. Special attention is paid here to the use of local languages in relation to English which is the official working language. The analysis shows that employees construct multilingualism as a ‘given reality’ and as an ‘opportunity’ and foreground the social aspect of non-L1 language use in the workplace. The paper closes by problematising the concept of de jure language policy and its strategic (non)implementation in the case discussed here.

Abstract: The Bangkok Declaration of 8 August 1967 heralded the formation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). While today all ten nations of Southeast Asia are members, the number of founder member states was only five: Indonesia; Malaysia; the Philippines; Singapore; and Thailand. Brunei joined in 1984, Vietnam in 1995, Laos and Burma (Myanmar) in 1997 and finally, Cambodia, in 1999. In what may strike members of the European Union as particularly remarkable, the use of languages was not stipulated in the Bangkok Declaration. English has always been the sole official and working language of the group. In her study of the process behind this adoption of English as the only official language, Okudaira interviewed a number of key ASEAN figures and received answers, of which these are representative:

Abstract: East and Southeast Asia represents a linguistically and culturally diverse region. For example, more than 700 languages are spoken in Indonesia alone. It is against this backdrop of diversity that the ten countries that comprise Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have recently signed the ASEAN Charter which, while calling for respect for the region's languages, cultures and religions also officially nominates English as ASEAN's working language. In this article, we examine the language education policies of the region and consider the implications of these policies for the maintenance of linguistic and cultural diversity on the one hand and the promotion of English and the respective national languages on the other. As ASEAN is closely connected to the three major countries of China, Japan and South Korea, as indicated by the ‘ASEAN + 3’ forum, we also include these countries here. We stress that, as space forbids an in-depth treatment of the language education policies of each of the 13 countries, we have chosen to describe and discuss in some depth the policies of 5 countries (China, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam), as these provide a cross-section of language policy contexts and approaches in the region. We add brief notes on the policies of the remaining countries.