Minority Languages in Britain

Everybody knows that English is offiial language in Britain. However, there are some minority languages there; for example, Gaelic, Manx, Cornish, Scots, and Welsh. Now, I'm going to simply describe what these are.

Gaelic

This language have 2 different languages: Irish Gaelic and Scotish Gaelic. Irish Gaelic is spoken in Ireland, and is known as Irish. Scotish Gaelic is, of course, spoken in Scotland, especially in Highlands. In 18th century, this was banned because England started to popularize English. Due to this campaign, Scotish Gaelic speakers decreased year after year. Although, about 60,000 people still speak this.

Manx

Manx is spoken in the Isle of Man. This had been disappeared for 30 years because the last native speaker, Ned Maddrell, died in 1974, however, some people has revived again and now the speakers are slowly increasing.

Cornish

Cornish is spoken in Cornwall. Many people could speak this in 16th century, however, the then government had the people speak English. Due to this, the number of the people who could speak Cornish decreased. Then, the last speaker, Dolly Pentreath, died in 1777 so Cornish disappeared once. Yet, the government started to preserve this recently.

Scots

This is spoken in Scotland and Ulster in Ireland. This is called "Lowland Scots" to distinguish from Scotland Gaelic. The number of the speaker is about 1.5 million, and it is the largest number in the minor languages in Britain.

Welsh

Welsh is the most promoted and preserved minor language in recent Britain. In 2001, it is said that about 20% of Welsh people can speak this. The reason why Welsh became minor language is the campaign of speaking English. When England qnnexed Wales in 1536, English became official language and the campaign "Welsh Not" had started. To speak Welsh was strictly prohibited, therefore the number of the speakers decreased. However, people who want to conserve Welsh started to speak it again in 20th century. And thanks to the Welsh education systems and the growth of the population, the number of Welsh speaker is increasing.

Promoting Welsh

I could find two ways of promoting Welsh in progress: teaching in school and TV programs. However, I think it is a little bit insufficient. What can be done more to save Welsh? First, all newspapers delivered in Wales sholuld be written in Welsh. And, all signs should be rewritten in this. And the government should declear 'Welsh is the official language in Wales' when most of Welsh people can speak this. I think these are good ways to save and promote Welsh.

Cheltenham Ladies' College

Cheltenham Ladies’ College (CLC) is the one of the most famous school for girls in Britain. There are 865 girls, and they are divided two types of students, day and boarder. In this school, 75% of students go to school as boarders. They study harder to be a good lady. And this is also famous for gaining high score at GCSE and A Level.

Ethos

The principal and staffs in CLC encourage girls to think about beliefs and values. It seems that they want girls to be independent.

Location

CLC is located in the heart of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, where is in western England. This town is famous for hot spring so a lot of people come for sightseeing. It takes 3 hours by bus from London.

History

CLC was founded in 1853 and first pupils entered in the next year. Dorothea Beale became the first principle of this school in 1858, and she did many things to be a leading school in Britain. Through her effort, CLC is of the top school in Britain now.

Cost

Boarding students need to pay ￡8,843 per term and ￡5,978 for day girls. Girls at the Sixth Form is higher than students mentioned above, it costs ￡9,961 Boarding, and ￡6,751 day girls per term.

Uniform

Girls in CLC must take pride in their appearances so they wear well-dressed uniforms. In this section, I will introduce what they wear. They often wear green, knee-length pleated skirt, white, open-necked blouse and green v-necked sweater with house badge.

Clubs

Most of girls join and try harder at clubs in their free times. They usually belong to art, magazine, drama, football, etc. Above all, I’m surprised that there is a kickboxing club! Girls do kickboxing! Sorry, I can’t imagine.

Universities in Britain

Britain is famous for its high-level education. There are many colleges which have long history and high educationnal systems. Now, I'm going to introduce some universities in UK.

Ancient University

This kind of university has long history. The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the UK. It was founded in 11th century. And this university is famous for the high quality of education, so this has high ranking in the world. This university was ranked the number five in the World University Rankings, done in 2009. On the other hand, the University of Cambridge is famous for its long historical background and high education systems. In the ranking mentioned before, this university is ranked in number two. Also, University of St Andrews (founded in 1411), University of Glasgow (founded in 1451), University of Aberdeen (founded in 1494), and University of Edinburgh (founded in 1582) are categorized into Ancient University.

Class

Britain still exists class system. It's divided into 3 classes roughly: upper, middle, and working. Now, I'm going to describe them below.

1. Upper Class

Generally speaking, people who belong to this class are extremely rich and sophisticated. Royal family is the top of this group. Others are lords who have a lot of properties, such as money, lands, and other much wealth.

2.Middle Class

I guess this is ordinary class. Most of them work as doctors, lawyers, professors, bankers, busenessmen, and so on. Above all, people who can earn a lot of money in these occupation are classified into 'upper-middle' class. On the other hand, people who can't earn much money in this class are recognized 'lower-middle' class. By the way, upper and middle class people support the Conservertive Party.

3. Working Class

this cass is divided into two categories: skilled working and unskilled. Skilled working class people are needed some technical skills and knowledge for their job. They usually work as technologists: for example, plumbers, electricians, etc. Unskilled workers do the job that everyone can do, such as cleaners, deliverers, and so on.

They look dirty and speak rough. And they usually depend on junk food so they tend to die young compared with upper and middle class people.

And there is a class dosen't belong to each class above.

4. Underclass.

People who are belong to this class are umemployed, homeless.

Location & size

Britain is located at the latitude between 50 and 60 degrees north, the longitude about 0 degree west. The size is about 240,000 square kilometers. It's said that this is about two-third the size of Japan. Population is about 60 million. It is about half as large as that of Japan.

Britain is located in higher than Japan, however, it seldom snows compared with Japan.

Vivienne Westwood

Now I’m going to write about Vivienne Westwood. As you know, this is the name of a brand. This is also that is one of the best designers representing Britain. Writing about her and her products is good for you to be interested in British culture, so let me introduce her.

Beginning

She was born in Derbyshire on April 18 1941, and she moved to London with her family 9 years later. She studied fashion and silver work after graduating a grammar school. At that time, she made a lot of clothing. This experience made her become the world-famous fashion designer later.

Career

She met Malcolm McLaren in 1965 and they started their business. They opened their boutique, called ‘LET IT ROCK’. She designed many eccentric clothes. When punk rock movement had started in Britain, Vivienne and Malcolm aimed at this. Vivienne had started making clothes, mixed punk culture. Her clothes were really radical at that time. Leather jacket for motorcycle riders and rock singers and messy T-shirts were particularly made. On the other hand, her husband, Malcolm, managed the famous punk rock band, called Sex Pistols. They were in the most important position of punk movement then. After this movement, they changed the name of their shop ‘Worlds End’, and Vivienne also changed her concept for making clothing. Her clothes were more funny and originated, and those who were fashionable all over the world impressed her clothes. After all, she became famous. Now, her items are loved all over the world.

How is Vivienne in Japan?

Of course, Vivienne Westwood is very popular among young Japanese. But, the products are very expensive, so boys and girls cannot buy them a lot. However, they want Vivienne! Almost all young people who think like that have wallet. Vivienne’s wallets are comparatively cheaper (about 20,000 yen) than other items (for example, clothes are about 70,000 yen on average). Also, they are attracted to Vivienne’s icon, called ‘orb’, I guess. It looks very smart and noble. Accessories are popular in Japan, too. They are really smart and funny designs. By the way, I have been attracted to the orb! I don’t have a wallet, but I have a belt and a muffler! they're cool…Nothing with the article, sorry!

Anyway Vivienne is still popular in the world, if you have some interests, why don’t you visit the website?

Blog Reports

Sorry to be late. Now, I'm going to write down my feedback to friends.
I thought everybody's very interesting! I can't decide who the #1 is. But, Azusa's research is better, I think. I haven't ever known New Zealander speak different English pronunciation. This is really interesting for me! Also, it was easy to understand because of the good structure. I enjoyed!

But, sorry, I haven't been able to decide who is the best.

Reports: Treaty of Waitangi

Introduction

Now I am going to introduce the Treaty of Waitangi and firstly, I would like to write down the reason that I chose this topic as an introduction. I thought that I had much information of the Treaty at first. And, I was interested in historical events. That is to say, I was interested in what has been done in New Zealand. These are the reasons.

What is the Treaty of Waitangi?

The Treaty of Waitangi is the document for founding New Zealand and it is famous for the shortness; only three articles are in the Treaty (Maori version). Also, it takes its name from the place where it was first signed. The Treaty was made between the British Crown and about 540 Maori chiefs.

Before signing the Treaty

In the first of 19 century, many settlers came from Europe, and explored the lands and started working. Soon, some settlers behaved at their will, and whole New Zealand became lawless nation. Moreover, French wanted to annex New Zealand. Maori were afraid of these situations, therefore they implored to British government to protect them in 1831. Two years later, British Resident, James Busby, came to New Zealand for Maori protection, growing numbers of settlers, and trade interest. By the way, he is the first key person of the Treaty. Two more years later, he drew up the He Wakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga (the Declaration of independence of New Zealand), and it was signed by 52 Maori chiefs. The content of the declaration asserted the independence, and all sovereign power and authority remained Maori chiefs and tribes. In 1837, British government decided to intervene New Zealand to ensure the colonization and land transaction that defrauded Maori were stopped. Then, the second key person of the Treaty, William Hobson, was appointed as consul to New Zealand in 1839. He worked for obtaining sovereignty over all or part of New Zealand.
And then, on 6 February 1840, the Treaty of Waitangi was signed. Almost all Maori chiefs were suspicious of the Treaty because the intention was unclear. Nevertheless, Tamati Waka Nene was accepted the treaty. He has been said that he was the first Maori chief who accepted the Treaty. After all, however, most of Maori chiefs signed the Maori text of the Treaty. After signing, they were involved in troublesome accidents.

Contents of the Treaty

In the Maori text, British Crown guaranteed rangatiratanga and taonga. Taonga means authority and taonga is property (e.g. lands, culture, languages etc.). Instead of these things, Maori gave up their kawanatanga. Maori thought that the word ‘kawanatanga’ meant ‘governance’. They believed that their authority still remained them if the government was managed by Britain.
On the other hand, Maori gave up the kawanatanga to Queen, and allowed the exclusive right to purchase their lands in the English text. Instead, Queen guaranteed to protect Maori. And ‘kawanatanga’ in the English text meant ‘sovereignty’; therefore both interpretations, English and Maori, were widely different.

Different interpretation

I mentioned the meaning of ‘kawanatanga’ in the chapter above. Maori thought it was governance, however Britain meant it was sovereignty. British government intended to have all sovereignty power and authority over New Zealand. Though, Maori chiefs believed that their power was guaranteed to protect. These differences of interpretation have been still controversial. However, how were the differences made?
It has been said that the word ‘kawanatanga’ did not have definite meaning when the Treaty was translated. William Hobson intended to express that Queen had all sovereignty and the translator of the Treaty, Henry Williams and his son Edward were hard to define the meaning of ‘sovereignty’ in Maori. Eventually, they decided to put the word ‘kawanatanga’ because they thought that this word was the closest meaning to express ‘sovereignty’.

(this section was referred to here)

After signing the Treaty

Because of the differences of the interpretation, British and Maori often conflicted. In 1840, about three months later the signature the Treaty, William Hobson proclaimed sovereign over all of New Zealand. After that, all Maori deemed under the Crown authority. Then, Wairau incident was occurred in 1843. Europeans and Maori clashed in the Wairau Valley in this incident. Then up to five Maori, and 22 Europeans were killed. And, Hone Heke cut down the British flagpole four times for the resistance against British control. From 1845 to 1846, Britain and Maori fought in Kororareka (now Russell), and British won the war and governor George Grey claimed victory and Maori submission. In 1860, New Zealand Wars began. These were the biggest wars that Britain and Maori had ever fought, I suppose. And then, Britain had been eager to take the Maori land and Maori had reacted what Britain had done to them for a long time. Then, the position of Maori had been getting smaller, and the protection that was guaranteed by the Treaty was almost ignored. However, such situation changed in 1975.

The Waitangi Tribunal

New Zealand government passed the Treaty of Waitangi Act and in 1975, the Waitangi Tribunal was established. This commission was founded for protecting Maori, under the oppression for a long time. In this Tribunal, Maori can request their grievances (complaints) if Britain violates the Treaty. And if the Tribunal decides that grievances are reasonable, Maori will give some compensation. The Tribunal is necessary in New Zealand today that Maori have better life.

Conclusion

Finally, I will write some opinion on the Treaty of Waitangi. This Treaty is marvelous for Maori (of course, I mean that the Maori text is marvelous!), however Britain had intended to gain their interests on New Zealand, so the Treaty had been ignored for a long time. Nevertheless, they reacted for British colonization and finally, a little bit though, I felt that their property and position are getting better, thanks to the Waitangi Tribunal. I hope that both Maori and English can live together more friendly.

References

Most of the contents are referred to Treaty of Waitangi section in NZhistory.

The Treaty of Waitangi

The Treaty of Waitangi is an agreement between British and Maori in 1840. Concluded this Treaty, New Zealand had been one of English territories, however, British committed that they would ensure the Maori’s succession for their land and culture.
Many settlers from Europe landed on New Zealand in the late 1830s, and they often made many troubles against Maori. The Britain government realized that it was important that Maori and British live together peacefully. So this Treaty was concluded. But actually, British needed to control the settlers’ activities and have an authority for annexing.
Before signing the Treaty, a British man, William Hobson, was sent to New Zealand. He made English and Maori drafts of the Treaty. And messengers informed this. The Treaty translated in Maori was advantageous for them, so, many Maori chiefs signed this as a result. This was written that the authority for lands, property is coexisted each other. However, this actually went wrong. It was unfair for Maori. The sovereignty of Britain continued. Why?
This is because the translation of the Treaty was completely wrong. As I mentioned above, it was written in Maori’s Treaty that the authority that Maori originally had was coexisted. However, it was written that all authorities had Britain in English version. This contradiction occurred because of poor translation, but it was eventually advantageous for British. Some Maori signed this, though the Treaty was unclear. But almost all were signed hopefully. And this contradiction has been controversial.
Finally, whether Maori had signed the Treaty or not, result would not have changed, I suppose. This is because it won’t change that Britain would have had authority over New Zealand.

From http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/category/tid/133

How was the settlers in New Zealand?

First settlement started about 1000 years ago, some Polynesian moved to New Zealand and started to live. This settlement was the origin of Maori.
After that, in 1642, a Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman, discovered New Zealand. And Captain James Cook landed on there in 1769. After two explorers came, many European came there and started to settle.
Above all, settlers from England accounted a large amount. Because of poverty, they left their country. They believed that they could be rich and give the best education for their kids there. However, life in New Zealand was really hard. Everyday the men developed the land and did various work, the women did the household, and the kids helped their family. The rich were far above. Nevertheless, the more people came to New Zealand by 1852. Especially, the number of immigrants increased explosively after the signature of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The voyage to New Zealand was quite hard then. Now, we can travel there by airplane if we decide to emigrate to New Zealand. It doesn’t take so much time to go there. But at that time, of course, there was no plane, so they had to go by steamboat. It took quite long time, and because of unsanitary, illness was spread over the ship. Due to this, many children died and they were thrown into the sea.
But life in New Zealand was not entirely hard. Some Englishmen did innovative work there. Like the Treaty of Waitangi, they were involved in many important decisions. They founded many companies. Thanks to them, New Zealand was developed, I think.

From http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/HistoryOfImmigration/en

Introduction!

I will introduce you the interesting structure in NZ! This is ‘Sky Tower’. This famous tower is in the part of Sky City, one of the amusement areas in Auckland. And you will be surprised when you hear how tall this tower is. This is 328m in height, a little bit shorter than Tokyo Tower. However, this is the tallest in Southern Hemisphere, and the 12th tallest tower in the world! Besides, it took 2 years and 9 months to build this huge tower. I suppose it was very big construction.


What can you do there?

Now, I am going to tell you Sky Tower. In this tower, you can enjoy seeing beautiful landscapes, tasting fine cuisine in the restaurants, doing some exciting adventures, and more!



Beautiful views!

First, I will tell you the beautiful view from Sky Tower. There are three circular observation levels, Sky Deck, main observation level, and Sky Lounge, and you can get a beautiful, 360-degree view from each level. Sky Deck, which is the highest observation level (220m) in Sky Tower, offers an amazing view. In the main observation level, not only you can see the views, but also you can do lots of stuff. For example, taking a walk on thick glass floors is very scary and exciting. Surprisingly, there is a post in this level, and you can send a postcard from here. By the way, this post is the highest in Southern Hemisphere. Sky Lounge is interesting too, because you can enjoy both views and drinks. It’ll be so good for you to see nice landscapes as you drink a cup of coffee!


Nice Cuisine!

Next is about restaurants. There are two large restaurants and a café. Café, the Sky Lounge has been introduced already, so I’m going to tell you the other two restaurants. There is a fine restaurant called ‘Orbit’ at 190m, and you can taste wonderful cuisine with views. At 194m, ‘The Observatory’ is famous for offering the guests a fine buffet. These restaurants are cheap, so why don’t you visit them if you come to Sky Tower?


Activities

Third, I will introduce funny activities. SkyJump is the most exciting activity, I think. This is literally to jump off the observation deck. How scary! On the other hand, SkyWalk is to walk around the edge of platform at 192m up! Both of them are so scary, but you can’t stop the adrenalin rush! These are really exciting!


Basic Information


Finally, I’ll update basic information of Sky Tower. It opens from 8.30am to 10.30pm on Sunday to Thursday, and from 8.30am to 11.30pm on Friday and Saturday. The former, last tickets are sold at 10pm, and the latter is sold an hour later than the former. If you visit all observation levels, admission fee is $28.00 and people who visit only main observation deck costs $25.00. Very reasonable! Restaurants are reasonable too! In The Observatory, you can eat buffet, just paying $59.99 at dinner.


Why don’t you visit there if you have an opportunity?





From http://www.skycityauckland.co.nz/Attractions/Skytower.html