Independent University Newspaper
Copenhagen Business School

Popular searches:

Independent University Newspaper

Copenhagen Business School

Is it a good thing when CBS Wire and CBS favor English?

|   11. Sep 2017

By Niels Jørgen Lindtner, cand. merc. fil.

On the 14th of august, I had a little reader’s letter in Kristeligt Dagblad, wherein I proposed, that students of economy were to read Xenophon’s Oikonomikos. Prompted by rector Per Holten-Andersen I forwarded my letter to CBS Wire – maybe it will occasion a debate, he wrote me. Not that a debate, of course, was the object of my desire. My desire was and is to see Xenophon’s Oikonomikos as an obligatory part of every CBS student’s curriculum, but I heeded him nonetheless. Even now, sitting in my rococo chair I feel a bit puzzled, does a debate really have more to say than rector in regard to what’s on the curriculum? I suppose that depends on the rector!

So I forwarded my little letter to CBS Wire. However, the kind editor soon replied, that the wire is in English, not Danish, so if I could write something in English and target it for a CBS audience – then she would be willing to have a look at it.

Now I could write something about why I want students of economy to read Oikonomikos – present my reasons, but I think that something else needs to be addressed here first. For why is it, that CBS Wire is not in Danish?

Are the majority of students at CBS not Danes?

When I went to my final exam on the 31st of May this year, defending my master’s thesis, we were three Danes sitting there at the green clothed table together. My supervisor Morten Sørensen Thaning, a Dane, and the external examiner, Jørgen Huggler, a Dane, and then myself – a Dane! And what language were we speaking? English! Very unnatural – if you ask me.

And I regret to say, that I think it is with language as it is with everything else: if something is not looked after it deteriorates, expires – it corrodes. Or in other words: when we Danes don’t use our own language, it becomes poorer.

If the Danes are to follow the logic that is being practiced at CBS, then we have to rename Danmark to Denmark just as Handelshøjskolen has been renamed to CBS. I like to think, that as long as Denmark is Denmark, then Danish is also the prevailing language, why I can’t help think, that CBS is going in the wrong direction, when they insist on making their first language English instead of Danish. I belong to Denmark, before I belong to the world.

And in regard to Xenophon’s Oikonomikos I never once thought that the students at CBS should be reading it in English! Best, of course, if the students were proficient in Greek and could read it in the author’s own tongue, but, luckily, a Danish translation by Signe Isager is available in Danish.

So the question is: is it a good thing, when CBS Wire and CBS favor English – in effect excluding Danish?   

Is it a good thing when CBS Wire and CBS favor English?by

  • News

    Staff layoffs: What happens if you’re fired

    The clock is ticking. On Thursday morning (5 October), CBS employees will know if they are up for dismissal or not. But what will happen on the day? What emotional stages are you likely to encounter? And who will be there to pick you up when you are feeling the blow of being laid off? CBS WIRE has talked to HR and the consulting agency Actief Hartmanns to provide you with answers.

  • News

    Network, network, network – CBS graduates advise on getting your first job

    There are many approaches to finding your first job. Three recent CBS graduates talk about how they landed theirs. Their approaches were quite different, yet they all highlight networking as a key element.

  • News

    A-Z of the dismissals

    In these final days of September, the fate of a number of CBS employees is being decided. The final amount of money saved on salaries via voluntary severance agreements (aka redundancy packages, Ed.) and senior agreements will be known.  After this, the actual number of employees up for dismissal will be decided by management – and then the individuals will be selected.

  • News

    Layoffs break the crucial trust between organisation and employee

    CBS is laying off a number of employees soon, which will affect our university in different ways. When employees are fired without having done anything wrong, it shatters the trust between the organisation and employees, while also taking a toll on productivity, according to a CBS expert. Layoffs also affect the ‘survivors’, who are forced to adapt to a changed workload and the loss of cherished colleagues.

  • News

    Here to help – at the touch of a button and at Campus Desk

    Exam anxiety? Lost student card? I’ve wedged my car between a Fiat 500 and a lamp post, can you help? You never know what you’ll be asked next. But that’s just how the Campus Desk team like it. And if they can’t fix your problem, they’ll know someone who can. CBS WIRE asked the team about the whole range of topics they advice on every day.

  • Gif of the week
  • News

    CBS Quiz Time: Unraveling the success story

    A successful university environment such as CBS is often associated with academic pursuits, but campus life extends far beyond the classroom. At CBS Quiz Time, a student society motivated by creative thinking and social engagement, students join in a refreshing range of creativity, excitement, and social interaction. CBS WIRE talked to Celine Møller-Andersen to find out about the society’s vision, strategies and the factors that are driving its rapid expansion.

  • News

    Why so sudden? The CBS financial crisis explained

    Employees and union representatives have posed many questions in the wake of the 17 August announcement of a firing round. In this interview, University Director Arnold Boon explains how Senior Management has been working with the budget and a change of financial strategy since the fall of 2022, and why layoffs are now necessary.

Follow CBS students studying abroad

CBS WIRE collaborates with Videnskab.dk

Stay connected

Close