Projects
Click on the tiles below to read more about each project
Click on the tiles below to read more about each project
“Since 2009 The Languages Company has been centrally involved in language policy is-sues, in particular as it relates to the multilingual city, which we have seen as a major driver of change in the 21st century. The city is a concentration of different, changing cultures which are creating new kinds of identity. London, New York, Madrid, Johannes-burg and Mumbai are living examples of the “common sense of belonging based on cul-tural and linguistic diversity” referred to in one of the most challenging documents pub-lished by the European Union in recent years – Amin Maalouf’s 2008 report on Intercultural Dialogue.
Cities are important in this context for a number of reasons:
- They are living examples of what can be and how diverse communities may inter-relate.
- They are places where policy discourse can be created more easily.
- They are places where the constraints of national policies and national discourse can be modified or overcome.
- The city is the locus for multilingualism in all its functions – learning and using languages, and in all its sites – institutional, commercial, educational, and gov-ernmental. It therefore provides a great opportunity to bring together policymakers and stakeholders at both local and national levels.
- Cities also link to other cities, and provide the space where new generations are creating their new realities.”
Most importantly, cities are NOT national. They can be ‘beyond the nation’.
– Dr Lid King