"Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers."
This topic involves studying the role of multilingualism in international education, including the value of learning multiple languages, the role of language in intercultural communication, and the challenges of language learning in an international context.
Second language acquisition: This topic covers the process of learning a second language, including the factors that influence success in language learning, such as age, motivation, and learning strategies.
Multilingualism and its benefits: This topic explores how speaking multiple languages can benefit individuals, societies, and the global community. It includes research on cognitive benefits, job opportunities, cultural understanding, and communication.
Language policy and planning: This topic discusses the development of language policies for education systems, government organizations, and businesses. It covers the decision-making process for choosing which languages to teach, where to allocate funding for language programs, and how to evaluate language education outcomes.
Bilingual and multilingual education models: This topic covers the different models of bilingual and multilingual education, including immersion, dual language, and content-based language instruction. It includes research on the effectiveness of these models and strategies for implementing them.
Language assessment and evaluation: This topic covers the assessment of language proficiency and the evaluation of language education programs. It includes specific tests and standards used for measuring language proficiency, such as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
Language teacher education: This topic covers the training and professional development of language teachers in multilingual and international education settings. It includes the development of language teacher curricula, research on effective teacher training programs, and strategies for integrating technology into language teaching.
Language and culture: This topic examines the relationship between language and culture, including how language reflects cultural values and how culture shapes language use.
Language and identity: This topic explores how language use and multilingualism shape individual and group identity, including issues of language maintenance, language shift, and language loss.
Language learning materials and technology: This topic discusses the role of technology in language learning, including online resources, adaptive learning programs, and virtual and augmented reality platforms. It also considers the development and adaptation of language learning materials, such as textbooks and multimedia resources.
Sociolinguistics and language variation: This topic covers the study of language use in different social and cultural contexts, including language variation and change, language attitudes and ideologies, and the influence of globalization on language use.
Bilingualism: This is the most common type of language learning in which an individual knows and can use two languages proficiently.
Trilingualism: Tri-lingualism refers to a person who can speak and understand three different languages comfortably.
Multilingualism: This type of language learning is more than three languages, and it indicates that an individual can understand and speak multiple languages.
Heritage language learning: Heritage languages refer to languages spoken by a person's family, community, or ancestral background. Heritage language learning is different from language learning because it involves learning a language that is already present in a person's environment.
Second Language Acquisition: This type of language learning occurs when an individual learns a language that is not present in their environment. An example is learning Spanish as an English speaker.
Immersion Language Learning: This involves complete language emersion, where an individual learns the language by being surrounded entirely by it, such as studying or living in a country where the language is spoken.
Language Maintenance and Loss: When people migrate to another country, they often face the challenge of maintaining their first language and learning a new one. This can lead to language loss, where an individual's first language may fade away.
Additive Bilingualism: In additive bilingualism, the individual has complete exposure to both languages, and both languages are developed to a high level.
Subtractive Bilingualism: In this type of bilingualism, an individual's first language is lost or diminished as they become proficient in a second language.
"It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population."
"More than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one language other than their mother tongue."
"But many read and write in one language."
"Multilingualism is advantageous for people wanting to participate in trade, globalization and cultural openness."
"Owing to the ease of access to information facilitated by the Internet, individuals' exposure to multiple languages has become increasingly possible."
"People who speak several languages are also called polyglots."
"Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the so-called first language (L1)."
"The first language (sometimes also referred to as the mother tongue) is usually acquired without formal education, by mechanisms about which scholars disagree."
"Children acquiring two languages natively from these early years are called simultaneous bilinguals."
"It is common for young simultaneous bilinguals to be more proficient in one language than the other."
"People who speak more than one language have been reported to be better at language learning when compared to monolinguals."
"Multilingualism in computing can be considered part of a continuum between internationalization and localization."
"Due to the status of English in computing, software development nearly always uses it."
"Some commercial software is initially available in an English version, and multilingual versions, if any, may be produced as alternative options based on the English original."