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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.
List of contents
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
About the author
Katrin Kohl is Professor of German Literature at the University of Oxford.
Summary
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.
Report
'Anyone who thinks "English is enough" should read this book! It is a well-grounded, elegant and passionate appeal to halt our descent into the fruitless desert of monolingualism.'
David Bellos, Princeton University
'A powerful and timely explanation of the discipline of Modern Languages and why it is fundamentally important both to universities and society.'
Charles F. Burdett, Durham University
'Modern Languages is a clear and engaging reminder to monolingual first-language English speakers of their responsibility to respect, embrace and promote linguistic diversity.'
Times Literary Supplement
