Exploring Multilingualism

Linguistic diversity is a fact of human life – as is the imbalance in status between languages.

In the current context of globalisation, this imbalance is manifesting itself most strikingly in the rise of ‘global’ English as the universally recognised lingua franca, and the pressure this in turn puts on other less globally ‘useful’ languages.

The features in this section will present findings from our evolving research on the interaction between multilingualism and creativity, but also address aspects of the context in which our research is taking place. From the difficulties and opportunities of Modern Languages in schools to insights into the impact Brexit will have on languages and their status in the UK, we will be looking at social and political issues to better understand how we can make linguistic diversity more visible, valued, and vibrant.

Would it be better if we all spoke the same language?

The idea of everybody speaking the same language is not novel, and neither is the notion that this would have significant practical benefits. Indeed, the usefulness of a common language shared by all people is one of the ideas that lie behind the design of languages such as Esperanto, but also behind Star Trek’s universal translator device. A universal language would clearly resolve the huge range of communication problems that are caused by language diversity.

Do you have butterflies in your stomach or little deers jumping in your heart?

Metaphors, linguistic diversity and foreign language learning.

Anyone who has learned a foreign language knows that some words are more difficult to master than others. This seems to be particularly true for words with multiple meanings, and specifically words that can be used metaphorically.

Poetry workshops: celebrating community languages

Matthew Reynolds is Professor of English and Comparative Criticism and leads the Prismatic Translation strand of the Creative Multilingualism research programme. Here he describes an Arabic creative writing workshop he organised in collaboration with the Oxford Spires Academy Poetry Hub, led by writer Kate Clanchy.

Creative Multilingual Identities Conference

The Creative Multilingualism research programme held its annual programme conference at the Institute of Education, University of Reading, in February 2018 on the theme of Creative Multilingual Identities. The aim of the two-day conference was to explore how creative processes create and shape multilingual identities.

Multilingualisms in World Literature image

Multilingualisms in World Literature Conference

This international conference on the subject of multilingualism and multilingual identities was organised by Creative Multilingualism's World Literatures strand and held at SOAS in January 2018. It began with a question about the relationship between language and identity in multilingual contexts, and an invitation to explore the modes of creative response that literature and other forms of cultural production can offer to such contexts.

What can the UK learn from African multilingualism?

Katrin Kohl, Professor of German Literature at the University of Oxford and Lead Researcher on the Creative Multilingualism research programme, attended a Language and Development Conference held in Senegal in November 2017. Here she explores what the UK can learn from multilingualism in African countries.

Does the image of Germans in the UK press affect whether pupils want to study the language?

As a German teacher in English secondary schools for many years, I became more and more aware of how difficult students found learning languages. Most started keen but got disheartened somewhere along the way, and even those who sustained their enthusiasm often did not opt for languages post age 14 (the end of the compulsory stage of language learning in England).

The words of the prophets are written on subway walls: metaphor and graffiti

An old song from Simon and Garfunkel states that “The words of the prophets are written on subway walls”. But how do street artists specifically represent socio-political crises on the walls and in the corners of big cities? How are socio-political issues framed in the visual messages conveyed by street art? What type of metaphors are used, and which constraints do they present for their interpretation by different types of viewers?

Portuguese creative writing workshop with Hélia Correia

Continuing workshops run as part of the Prismatic Translation strand of the Creative Multilingualism research project, the Portuguese author Hélia Correia (Camões Prize 2015) was invited to hold a workshop with a group of pupils at

“Reader, I went through a wedding ceremony with him”: Translating Jane Eyre

Literature gets translated into many languages. But what can we learn from these translations – especially the very many translations of a book like Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre which has been translated innumerable times into at least 25 languages?

Slanguages: how artists are getting creative with languages

How do you use slang in sign language? Can drums be used to communicate more than just a musical beat?

Words and images: a royal wedding?

How do words and images, respectively, construct meaning in the increasingly frequent multimodal messages to which we are exposed on a daily basis? Are images used to simply decorate linguistically-conveyed messages, or do they construct specific meanings in a more efficient way than words would do? Advertisements on billboards, for example, are often composed of images enriched with linguistic slogans and text detailing the main features of the advertised product, or the humanitarian aim of a social campaign.