Multilingualism in the workplace: Language practices in multilingual contexts

AbstractThis article derives from a three-year ethnographic project carried out in Norway focusing on language practices of Brazilian families raising their children multilingually. Analyses of interview data with two Brazilian parents demonstrate the relevance of examining intersectionally the participants’ orientation to categorisations such as social class, gender, and race/ethnicity. Additionally, I explore how parents make sense of their transnational, multilingual experiences, and the extent to which these experiences inform the language-related decisions they make in the home. Advancing family multilingualism research in a novel direction, I employ a southern perspective as an analytical position that: (i) assumes the situatedness of knowledge production; (ii) aims at increasing social and epistemic justice; (iii) opposes the dominance of Western-centric epistemologies; and (iv) sees the global South as a political location, not necessarily geographic, but with many overlaps. Finally, I draw on the notions of intercultural translation and equivocation to discuss the intercultural encounters parents reported. The overarching argument of this article is that forging a southern perspective from which to analyse parental language practices and beliefs offers a theoretical framework that can better address the issues engendered by parents engaged in South–North transnational, multilingual practices.

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“No more Korean at Home.” Family language policies, language practices, and challenges in Korean immigrant families: Intragroup diversities and intergenerational impacts

Linguistics and Education ◽

10.1016/j.linged.2021.100929 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 63 ◽

pp. 100929

Author(s):

Hakyoon Lee

Keyword(s):

Immigrant Families ◽

Language Policies ◽

Language Practices ◽

Korean Immigrant ◽

Family Language ◽

Korean Immigrant Families ◽

At Home

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Pedagogical Translanguaging to Create Sustainable Minority Language Practices in Kindergarten

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13073613 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (7) ◽

pp. 3613

Author(s):

Carola Kleemann

Keyword(s):

Language Learners ◽

Kindergarten Teachers ◽

Pedagogical Practices ◽

Institution Building ◽

Language Practices ◽

Language And Culture ◽

Raising Awareness ◽

Core Areas ◽

Assimilation Policy ◽

Shed Light

The coastal areas of Finnmark have deep Sámi roots. With the Norwegian assimilation policy—Norwegianization—the transition to the Norwegian language has been extensive here, placing the region outside Sámi core areas. Nevertheless, indigenous Sea Sámi identity still exists, and language vitalization and raising awareness of culture are shown in Sámi institution building. Within these frames, kindergarten teachers with Sámi backgrounds work to strengthen their local Sámi language and culture in a Sámi department of a kindergarten outside the core Sámi areas. This article aims to shed light on how the use of their bilingual resources in pedagogical translanguaging practices can build sustainable language practices for North Sámi. With children and adults, we explored how culturally aware, situated outdoors activities, such as building a campfire and gathering berries, encouraged children’s use of North Sámi. Both children and adults recorded these activities with GoPro cameras. The material was transcribed and analyzed using Conversation Analysis and translanguaging. For this article, I chose three episodes in which kindergarten teachers used their bilingual language register to interact with children in different pedagogical practices to give children input in North Sámi. Pedagogical translanguaging with young language learners in an emergent bilingual situation could help strengthen North Sámi language and culture outside Sámi core areas.

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(C)overt linguistic racism: Eastern-European background immigrant women in the Australian workplace

Ethnicities ◽

10.1177/14687968211005104 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 146879682110051

Author(s):

Ana Tankosić ◽

Sender Dovchin

Keyword(s):

Social Exclusion ◽

Immigrant Women ◽

Language Skills ◽

Psychological Trauma ◽

Ethnographic Study ◽

Eastern European ◽

Language Practices ◽

Ethnic Language ◽

Eastern European Immigrant ◽

Power Equality

Linguistic racism explores the varied ideologies that may generate and endorse monolingual, native, and normative language practices, while reinforcing the discrimination and injustice directed towards language users whose language and communicative repertoires are not necessarily perceived as standard and normal. This article, thus, investigates linguistic racism, as a form of existing, but newly defined, racism against unconventional ethnic language practices experienced by Eastern-European immigrant women in the Australian workplace. Our ethnographic study shows that, once these women directly or subtly exhibit their non-nativism, through a limited encounter with local expressions, non-native language skills, and ethnic accents, they become victims of covert and overt linguistic racism in the form of social exclusion, mockery, mimicking, and malicious sarcasm in the hierarchical power environment of the workplace. As a result, these migrants can suffer from long-lasting psychological trauma and distress, emotional hurdles, loss of credibility, and language-based inferiority complexes. We, as researchers, need to highlight the importance of combatting workplace linguistic racism and revealing language realities of underprivileged communities. In that way, we can assist them in adapting to host societies and help them regain some degree of power equality in their institutional environments.

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