Modern Languages

It might seem as if globalization is making the whole world speak English. But spend time in any major city and you are likely to encounter a cornucopia of languages. Even monolingual people have different ways of speaking to their bosses or teachers, their intimate friends or their pets. And if you live in India or Nigeria, you might use five different languages during a typical day. Katrin Kohl makes a passionate case for why we must embrace languages in all their diversity. When you study a language, you open a unique doorway into the world, immerse yourself in a different way of seeing, and discover new ways of communicating with people from different cultures on their terms. Kohl argues that language diversity is of vital importance to human societies, sustaining the complexity of human nature, culture and technology. We should care about preserving it as much as we care about preserving the diversity of our biological world.

Preface: Why Languages Matter 1 Understanding Identity Divergence and Convergence in the World of Languages Cultural Identities and Language Diversity Preserving Linguistic Identities Languages as a Political Minefield Notes 2 Experimenting with a New Medium Tapping into Creative Potential Everyone’s a Linguist Committing to a Language The Infinite Potential of Transferable Skills Notes 3 Exploring Difference Untranslatable Words? Translating Nuggets of Cultural History The Past and Future of Translation Notes 4 Training Cultural Intelligence The Role of Languages in Cultural Intelligence Does Language Influence How We Think? Cultural Intelligence in Practice Recognizing Limits Notes 5 Developing the Imagination Straight to the Heart Creative Subversions Stimulating the Imagination Notes 6 Negotiating Globalization National Identity and Globalization Legacies of Colonialism National or Transnational? Empowering Language Diversity Notes Afterword: Sustaining a Multilingual Future Notes Further Reading Index