An increasing number of multilingual organisations such as multinational corporations (MNCs) choose to address linguistic diversity through corporate language policies, for example by adopting a common corporate language. Although a common corporate language may improve efficiency of communication at the front-line level, previous research has…

Research on economic activity in Africa consistently ignores the importance of individuals' linguistic repertoires. We argue that an important contributing factor to the persistence of this lacuna is the lack of visibility of language in the social and economic data that is collected by governments through social surveys. We examine the specific…

This paper documents the Dominant Language Constellations (DLC) in my personal multilingual repertoire, as it traces my path and pathos (or passion) of learning languages--starting with my mother tongue which has been a point of reference for most other languages that I have learnt during my life. It is also a sort of memoir of different periods…

Given the realities of this increasingly connected, complex, and conflicting age, governments and policymakers around the world are recognizing the importance of global education. The field of literacy has not been immune to the pressure to globalize. Today, the notion of literacy must account not merely for social processes but also for global…

Multilingualism in the workplace is different from multilingualism at home or in other domains of social life. It has more direct, yet entangled, economic and social implications and serves interactional purposes which can be at any point on the continuum of goal-orientation and relationship-building. Multilingualism in the workplace is both a…

The modern workplace is international and multilingual. Both white and blue collar employees are expected to be mobile, work increasingly in (virtual) teams (Gee et al. 1996) and to address complex organisational issues in a language that, often, is not their first language (L1). This results in a number of languages forming the ecosystem of…

In the second year module "Professional Contexts for Modern Languages" at Lancaster University, students take 20-25 hour placements, and using a multimodal forum, they articulate their challenges, development and understanding of the varying contexts in which they are working. In summative assessment, students across languages and types…

This thematic collection of four papers explores a number of perspectives on companies in which multiple languages are used. The "organisational" perspective concerns the question of how the presence of or demand for multiple languages in the company is managed--how companies are guided by national and other policies in regard to the use…

Offers lessons learned about working in multicultural and multilingual environments: (1) carefully plan communication requiring interpreters/translators; (2) strive for mutual knowledge creation; and (3) allow for sufficient time and process in workshops to support participants' need for clarification. (JOW)

Examines demographic changes in the United States since 1980s influencing the recent effort to assert English over other languages. Key issues include: efforts to ensure English dominance in English-Only initiatives; court rulings on English-Only regulations in the workplace; and bilingual education legislation. Reviews current research on…