What is it about?
Bilingual formal meetings are best conducted in ways which are non-repetitive, but still take into account the different language groups present in the meeting. In bilingual settings, however, using two languages often leads to repeating everything. We show how this can be avoided by using the two languages according to the principles of professional language use.
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Why is it important?
Using one's own language in a formal context is a civil right and makes communication more efficient. Paying attention to language use saves time and energy.
Perspectives
The data of this study seems to be rather unusual: a formal setting which is bilingual in every way. The meeting documents are provided in two languages and both languages are spoken equally in the meetings. The officials are quite amazing with excellent language skills and an eye for inclusion. In general, it seems that a lack of planning and language policies easily lead to monolingual solutions. These are understandable in truly multilingual and multicultural settings, but not e.g. in settings typical of academic life where national languages and English are present.
Merja Koskela
University of Vaasa
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: From Slow Repetition to Awkward Omission: Economic, Efficient, and Precise Language Use in Bilingual Formal Meetings, Multilingua, January 2016, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/multi-2014-0075.
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