About Multilingual Manchester
Multilingual Manchester aims to promote awareness of language diversity. We are based at the University of Manchester.
Multilingual Manchester Description
Manchester’s language and cultural diversity is one of its outstanding assets: More than 200 languages are spoken in the Greater Manchester area. Some two-thirds of secondary school pupils in inner Manchester have a heritage and family language other than English. A large proportion of Manchester’s work force have excellent foreign language skills enabling them to communicate directly with business partners from Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia and Africa. The city’s business sector includes commercial services that specialise in translation, import and distribution of books, music and films in other languages, consultancy and advertising in other languages, and more. Manchester’s many ethnic and language minorities are here to stay, and multilingualism is a permanent part of our urban landscape in public signs and public services, in businesses, markets, and cultural centres.
Multilingual Manchester is a cluster of activities that aim to promote awareness of language diversity, to identify and respond to language needs (such as foreign language learning, access to English courses, and maintenance of heritage languages), and to document and inform about some of the many smaller language spoken in the city. Our work includes online documentation of language use in Manchester communities, studies of language policy, exhibitions and social networking surrounding the theme of languages, and surveys of language needs. We bring together university students, experienced researchers of international repute, community representatives, and members of local services. We are interested in contacts, offer for collaboration, and requests for information, from school, local authorities and local services, businesses, media, related research projects, and students wishing to carry out research on one of Manchester’s many community languages, or on language policy and community multilingualism
View our web archive of reports and events calendar on http://mlm. humanities. manchester. ac. uk /aboutus. html
Follow our activities on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr
Contact us:
Professor Yaron Matras [yaron. matras@manchester. ac. uk] tel. 0161 275 3975
Charlotte Jones [charlotte. jones@manchester. ac. uk] tel. 0161 275 5999