II. Peoples and Languages.

1. South Africa. The population of South Africa is divided into four ethnic groups: the Black Africans (of which the Nguni and Sotho groups account for 90% of the black population, which also accounts for 76% of the country’s entire population); the Whites who account for around 13% of the population; the Asians (accounting for about 3%); and the Coloreds (who are of mixed White and Black descent and account for 9% of the population). The population is about 39 million people (2000est.)

The Republic of South Africa has 11 official languages. They are Afrikaans, English and nine African languages belonging to the Bantu group. South Africa resembles Canada in having two recognised languages within its borders: English and Afrikaans, or Cape Dutch. Afrikaans developed from Dutch, but it also has words from other European and African languages.

Government documents are printed in each of the country’s 11 languages. Spoken government transactions occur in any official language the speakers choose.

2. Bulgaria. According to the 2001 census, Bulgaria's population is mainly ethnic Bulgarian (83.9%), with two sizable minorities, Turks (9.4%) and Roma (4.7%). Of the remaining 2.0%, 0.9% is distributed among some 40 smaller minorities, the most numerous of which are the Russians, Armenians, Vlachos, Jews, and Crimean Tatars. 1.1% did not declare their ethnicity.

Bulgaria has had the slowest population growth of any country in the world since 1950s, except Saint Kitts and Nevis (due to their high emigration rate). Growth has been negative since the early 1990s, due to the economic collapse and high emigration. In 1988 the population was 8,859,000 people, and in 2001 7,950,000. Now Bulgaria suffers a heavy demographic crisis.

Bulgarian is the mother tongue of 84.8% of the population; it is a member of the Slavic languages. Bulgarian is the only official language, but other languages such as Turkish and Romany, are spoken corresponding closely to ethnic breakdown.

3. Japan. Japan’s population is estimated at around 127.4 million. For the most part, Japanese society is linguistically and culturally homogeneous with only small populations of foreign workers, mostly from Korea, China, Viet-Nam, Brazil and some other countries of the Pacific Ocean region. Japan also has indigenous minority groups such as the Ainu and Ryūkyūans, and social minority groups such as the burakumin.

Japan has one of the highest life expectancy in the world, at 81.25 years of age as of 2006. However, the Japanese population is rapidly aging, the effect of a post-war baby boom followed by a decrease in births in the latter part of the 20^th century. In 2004, about 19.5% of the population was over the age of 65.

The changes in the demographic structure have created a number of social issues, particularly a potential decline in the workforce population and increases in the cost of social security benefits such as the public pension plan. It is also noted that many Japanese youth increasingly prefer not to marry or have families as adults. Japan’s population is expected to drop to 100 million by 2050 and to 64 million by 2100. Demographers and government planners are currently in a heated debate over how to cope with this problem. Immigration and birth incentives are sometimes suggested as a solution to provide younger workers to support the nation’s aging population. Immigration, however, is not popular.

About 99% of the population speaks Japanese as their first language. The Ainu language is moribund, with only a few elderly native speakers remaining in Hokkaido. Most public and private schools require students to take courses in both Japanese and English.

4. India. It is not certain which racial groups first occupied India. The assumption is often made that the first inhabitants had much in common with the aborigines of Australia, as well as with other tribal groups still found in isolated, forested regions of Southeast Asia. Therefore, the term ‘proto-Australoid’ has been applied to the racial type represented by a number of tribes still living in India in its eastern part. Other early arrivals were the ancestors of the peoples, now living mainly in southern India, who speak languages of the Dravidian family. The Mongoloid peoples have also been in India a long time. Their present-day descendants include several tribal groups living along the frontiers of Myanmar (Burma), China (Tibet), Bhutan and Nepal. A lot of migrants of inner Eurasian origin began to filter into India through passes on the northwestern frontier of the country. These invaders, known as Aryans, had relatively light skin and spoke languages of the Indo-European family. Throughout the history new groups continued to penetrate India, mainly from north-west: Persians, Arabs, Afghans, Turks, Mongols, and, since the 16^th century, small numbers of Western Europeans. Over the millennia all these peoples have interbred in varying degrees. The resulting mixture is so highly complex that it is virtually impossible to draw clear racial distinctions among the people of India today. Linguistic difference is much clearer than those of racial groupings. Two linguistic groups, the Indo-Arian and Dravidian, account for all but a tiny proportion of the population. But people of India are known to speak 325 languages. The Constitution lists 15 official Indian languages. Of the Indo-Arian languages are Hindi, the official national language, Urdu (which is also the official language of Pakistan), Sanskrit, Bengali, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Orija, Assamese, Kashmiri, Sindhi. The list of official languages includes four Dravidian tongues: Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada. The first group of languages is used mainly in the north and centre of the country, while the Dravidian languages predominate in the southern states. But very often for communication between people of different nationalities English is used. The general policy of the government is to encourage progressive use of Hindi as the official language, but English continues to be used alongside or in addition to Hindi for most official purposes (in Government and Parliament), in business and commercial purposes and for communication between the States of India.

Read, act and retell this dialogue.

A:	Are there regional dialects in Britain?
B:	Yes, there are lots of dialects, not only each country of Great Britain has a dialect of its own, but many large towns have their own accents as well. Thus, the Beatles made the Liverpool accent or “Scouse” known to the world by their songs.
A:	Do you think that accent still plays an important role for getting a position in society?
B:	Well, times change, of course. People are more tolerant to regional accents, but even such a well-known politician as Margaret Thatcher had to work hard at her accent. Isn’t it an illustration of the importance of an accent?
A:	What is RP?
B:	Well, it’s an abbreviation for Received Pronunciation, a non-regional standard British English, often regarded as a prestige form. It is traditionally called Received in the sense “accepted as standard”.
A:	Is it the same as BBC English?
B:	Well, very much so. BBC English is traditionally correct English, especially as formerly spoken by BBC announcers and news readers.
A:	Which part of Great Britain has contributed most to the prestigious accent?
B:	The southeast, it’s there that Britain’s best universities, Oxford and Cambridge, are situated.
A:	Do people in the UK distinguish between the southeastern and northern accents?
B:	Yes, they do. There are also some traditional stereotypes southerners and northerners and their accents.
A:	I’d very much like to know about these stereotypes.
B:	Well, the southerners often think they are rather sophisticated. The northerners are considered more cheerful and friendly. And some southerners, especially Londoners consider the whole of England north of London provinces with little culture.