14 February 2018

Speaker: Gabrielle Hogan-Brun (University of Bristol)

Title: What is the market potential of multilingualism

Venue and Time: room 3.58 (John Percival Building), 12.10

Abstract:

Globalization, the Internet and an era of mass travel have combined to produce a world with a language mix on a huge scale. What is the effect of this multilingualism on society, organizations and individuals? What are the economic benefits and drawbacks? Should we invest in language skills? Should there be interventionist policies, and if so, at what level? Should there be a lingua mundi? This talk takes an objective look at this emotionally charged area, in a time of rapid global change.

Dr Gabrielle Hogan-Brun is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, UK. She is author of Linguanomics. What is the Market Potential of Multilingualism? (2017, Bloomsbury Academic). She has worked with various European organizations on aspects of language policy in multilingual settings. She serves on several international language and editorial boards and is founding editor of the book series Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities.