Introduction

Abstract

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1 Margie Berns (2007 Berns, Margie. 2007. “‘The Presence of English: Sociocultural, Acquisitional, and Media Dimensions.’”. In In the Presence of English: Media and European Youth, Edited by: Berns, Margie. New York: Springer. Kees de Bot and Uwe Hasebrink[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) cites Hofstede's model of cross-cultural differences in opposing the notion that the diffusion of the English language around the world could lead to a loss of cultural identity and the adoption of US world views, values and cultural traditions (or, in shorthand, worldwide cultural ‘McDonaldization’). A more likely outcome is that contact with and use of English will lead to an additional or hybrid identity. 2 Wierzbicka and Cliff Goddard have been working on this list of primes for many years; the most recent version can be found in Wierzbicka (2006 Wierzbicka, Anna. 2006. English: Meaning and Culture, New York: Oxford UP. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]: 18). 3 This short example contains almost a quarter of the list of universal semantic primes: I, someone/person, people, something, good, think, feel, say, hear, know, before, a short time, not. 4 There is a good chance that the ethnographer they have in mind is Anna Wierzbicka! 5 Kramsch (2008 Kramsch, Claire. ‘Theorizing Translingual/Transcultural Competence’. Paper given at the MLA Convention. December 27–302008, San Francisco. [Google Scholar]) contrasted Pratt's account of ‘doubling’ with Judith Butler's (2003 Butler, Judith. 2003. “‘Values of Difficulty.’”. In Just Being Difficult? Academic Writing in the Public Arena, Edited by: Culler, Jonathan and Lamb, Kevin. 199–215. Stanford, CA: Stanford UP. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) account of translation. Just as much as Steiner, Butler sees translation as a ‘common predicament’, and a word that inevitably collocates with ‘limits’ and ‘failure’. 6 I would be interested in receiving the views (by email) of each and every bi-, pluri- and multilingual European teacher of English on this matter!