Multilingual Practices in Workplace Communication
Summary
Workplace communication increasingly involves diverse linguistic repertoires. Multilingual practices have moved beyond simple code-switching to encompass translanguaging, language brokering and strategic use of lingua francas. Organisations deploy formal language policies alongside emergent, bottom-up practices that shape daily interaction from shop floors to global boardrooms. These practices influence collaboration, productivity and identities. Ethnographic and sociolinguistic studies highlight the role of multilingual interaction in reinforcing social ties, mediating power imbalances and enabling labour mobility. Employers and employees negotiate formal norms and vernacular routines, drawing on individual and collective language resources to accomplish tasks, solve problems and build trust. Practical applications extend to policy-making, training programmes and technological solutions that recognise multilingualism as an asset rather than an obstacle.
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Multilingual Practices in Workplace Communication publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in multilingual practices in workplace communication across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Multilingualism: The use of multiple languages by individuals or groups in interaction.
Translanguaging: The process by which speakers draw on their full linguistic repertoire to communicate meaning.
Lingua franca: A common language adopted for communication between speakers of different native tongues.
Language brokering: Mediation performed by bilingual or multilingual individuals to facilitate communication for others.
Linguistic landscape: The collection of signs, symbols and language practices that constitute a sociolinguistic environment.
References
- Labour mobility across the Baltic Sea: Language brokering at a blue-collar workplace in Sweden. Language in Society (2022).
- Language policy and linguistic landscaping in a contemporary blue-collar workplace in the Dutch–German borderland. Language Policy (2021).
- The multilingual workplace realities of Polish truckers: A case study in the Netherlands. Multilingua (2020).
About these summaries
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