The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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thelinguist.uberflip.com APRIL/MAY 2016 The Linguist 21 FEATURES outwards and have facilitated the transit of migrants over centuries. In an age of air travel, it is too easy to overlook the importance of waterways and access to the sea in the creation of diverse populations in the past. Multilingualism can sometimes be identified as a modern, as well as a quintessentially urban, transformation. However, whatever shifts in population have been brought about by recent conflicts and economic deprivation, migration has been changing the linguistic landscape across the breadth of human history. Ancient Rome was surely as diverse and multilingual as today's classrooms in Finsbury Park. Each city portrait is unique, yet certain common trends emerge from this research, adding to our understanding of the complex phenomenon that is multilingualism today. One of the key findings is the notion of hierarchy: a distinction between elite and vernacular bilingualism, e.g. the inequality of status accorded by a society to different languages. It has now become the fashion for cities to promote their diversity and lay claim to vibrant multiculturalism by alluding to data on the numbers of different language speakers. This tendency of 'bean-counting' is challenged in The Multilingual City, 1 a new publication which provides an overview and analysis of the Lucide research, in which the concept of the "vitality of urban multilingualism" is proposed in the first chapter as a more meaningful measure. Accordingly, it is asserted that vitality is only created when multilingualism is nurtured and celebrated by three key factors: demography, institutional support and status. As a teacher educator, I have a particular interest in the status of so-called 'migrant languages' (the official EU term) in the sphere of education. I feel passionately that the language skills of all children should be recognised and valorised in our schools, regardless of the economic standing or cultural prestige associated with the language concerned. It is both reassuring and empowering for children to know that their teachers give value to their family's culture and language, rather than just a passing nod to their country of origin. All too often there is still a tacit assumption that the nation state will encompass one language, compounded in Britain by a general lack of curiosity about language. Then there is the label to disable: the designation of EAL (English as an additional language) immediately problematises a child's bilingualism. This can lead children to feel shame about their heritage and to hide their language skills, even in the modern languages classroom. There they are increasingly taught that we learn another language in order to enhance employment prospects, so their mother tongue becomes irrelevant because it is not useful. However, language defines identity and shapes the way we think and view the world: it cannot be judged uniquely by economic utility or reduced to another line on a CV. Notes 1 King, L and Carson, L (2016) The Multilingual City, Multilingual Matters IN THE HOOD Finsbury Park's diverse community turns out for its annual anti-racism festival, UpRise (above); and (below) the balloon shop, owned by a Polish entrepreneur, which Sarah and her guests visited Each city portrait is unique, yet certain common trends emerge… One of key findings is the notion of hierarchy: a distinction between elite and vernacular bilingualism © SHUTTERSTOCK