Blog

Our research proceeds from the premise that there’s more to languages than their practical benefits for communicative transactions.

This is not just about ‘added’ value. Languages are our key medium for self-expression, and as such they’re at the heart of individual and collective cultural identity. That gives them immense creative potential which is fundamental to our lives as human beings. While being inextricably connected with practical use, that creative potential is also an invaluable resource in its own right.

Our research programme was designed to develop a new paradigm for Modern Languages that is predicated on the intrinsic connection between multilingualism and creativity. This connection is embedded in our linguistic heritage, our linguistic development, and our communicative lives. It can give learners confidence in their innate ability as linguists, and it makes language learning lastingly rewarding. It also holds the key to establishing a common identity for the subject of Modern Languages across educational sectors.

In this section, we feature articles, videos and podcasts that give insights, snapshots and personal perspectives on the many ways in which languages and creativity interact and cross-fertilise each other.

The past is another country – we speak differently there

Most of us (well at least if you’re my age) encountered Chaucer, Shakespeare or Beowulf at school, making us aware that, if we travelled back in time, we might struggle to make ourselves understood. To paraphrase Spock, “it’s English, James, but not as we know it.”

VIDEO: Rinkoo Barpaga on sign language and identity

Rinkoo Barpaga, a deaf comedian and film maker, came to the Creative Multilingual Identities Conference earlier this year to share his experience of using sign language.

In this presentation, he discusses the different sign languages he knows, the development of Urban Sign Language among ethnic minority deaf people, and language barriers he's encountered.

Multilingual Performance Project: Midlands launch and teacher workshop

On Thursday, 8 March the Creative Multilingualism team hosted the first launch event for the Multilingual Performance Project (MPP) in the Midlands.

Community Languages in Schools: Interview with Professor Terry Lamb

In this interview, Professor Terry Lamb shares his insights into the role of community languages in schools and discusses how they should be celebrated, in both formal and informal school spaces.

He also explains how his interest in languages was inspired by a poster for cheese, and explores how language learning can open minds and help to challenge fears and prejudices.

Promotional image for The War Hasn't Yet Started by Dragonfly Design

‘Lessons learnt’ by a professional translator – adapting the same play three times over three years

I have just finished translating Mikhail Durnenkov’s The War Hasn’t Yet Started for the third time in as many years. I’m in an unusual situation – one translator creating three different versions of the same play. As far as I know, that doesn’t normally happen. I have tried to take advantage of each opportunity to re-translate the play, adapting it significantly to the specific target audience.

My love affair with eight languages

Like many polyglots, my language-learning path has taken some very unexpected turns; my seven-year-old self would never have imagined the present me. And if we were ever to meet, her jaw would drop, hard.

Figurative Frames in Political Communication

Many political actors use figurative language to frame political topics. Consider politicians describing immigration as a “flood”, Brexit as a “divorce” or political institutions as a “swamp”.

Such figurative frames can have important implications for political communication, because they influence the way voters see a particular topic, guided by the figurative constructions (metaphors and other tropes) suggested by the speaker.

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.