Introducing Creative Multilingualism

The introduction presents the concept of Creative Multilingualism, outlines the structure of and motivations behind the present volume, and identifies the various audiences for whom the book is intended. It unpacks what is meant by the term ‘multilingualism’, explores the effects of ‘monolingualism’, and highlights the relationship at the core of the book – that between language and creativity.

10. Creating Languages

Chapter 10 sets out on a journey of discovery, homing in on some key questions concerning the interplay between creativity and languages, finding out what motivates language inventors to create an artificial language such as Esperanto and equip mythical folk such as Elves and the Dothraki with distinctive languages. It further considers the extraordinary linguistic inventiveness that allows us to create and appreciate language play, such as puns.

7. Getting Creative in the Languages Classroom

Chapter 7 draws on empirically based methodologies in the field of Second Language Education to consider creative alternatives to the prevalent emphasis on language learning for functional purposes, investigating the extent to which they may enhance foreign-language acquisition in schools and beyond.

9. Languages at Work

Chapter 9 looks at the role languages play in working contexts. It examines how increasing your linguistic flexibility and learning languages extend your communicative and cultural range in ways you can deploy for career purposes; and how glimpses of careers in which people use foreign languages tell us something about what makes languages valuable personally, culturally, professionally and financially – sometimes all at once.

6. Prismatic Translation

Chapter 6 develops an innovative theory of translation that captures its creative dimension. The metaphor of the ‘prism’ enables translation to be seen not in terms of functional equivalence but as a release of multiple signifying possibilities. This idea is put into practice through literary critical research into the many translations of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, and into the importance of different scripts (e.g. Chinese, Arabic, alphabetic) as a factor in translation; we also use the approach to inspire creative writing in schools.

3. Not as 'Foreign' as You Think

Chapter 3 deploys methods from historical and experimental linguistics to examine how speakers of one language manage to understand people speaking another (related) language, identifying strategies they use to create meaning in response to the ‘other language’ – and strategies with which they create barriers to understanding in order to preserve a distinctive identity.

8. Inspiring Language Learners

Chapter 8 showcases work with schools in creative writing workshops and the Multilingual Performance Project (MPP), exploring the energy languages can bring to classroom work when they provide a context in which it’s OK just to have fun with languages, encourage experimentation with new expressive resources, and build confidence with linguistic diversity.

4. A Breath of Fresh Air… Ivan Vyrypaev's Oxygen (2002)

Chapter 4 investigates interaction between languages in the performing arts – theatre, stand-up comedy, grime, rap, opera – and the types of creativity this generates in response to cultural contexts and audiences, drawing on media and performance studies, and working with artists ranging from Russian dramatists to Black British and British Asian musicians from Birmingham and Leicester.

1. The Creative Power of Metaphor

Chapter 1 looks at processes of figurative language in the interplay between thought and language from the vantage point of cognitive linguistics, exploring how different languages give their speakers different perspectives on the world through the way metaphors shape even the most fundamental concepts, such as time.