And then we summarise in English for the others’
The lived experience of the multilingual workplace
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11294160 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jo Angouri (0000-0003-0900-1029, University of Warwick, corresponding author), Marlene Miglbauer (0000-0002-2050-2804, Fachhochschule Wiener Neustadt) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Publication date | 2014-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Multilingua (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0167-8507 • E-ISSN: 1613-3684 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/multi-2014-0007 |
| OpenAlex | W2047880278 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 26 |
In multinational corporate companies, multilingualism is often a daily reality for employees and the negotiation of language practices for work and social purposes, a routine. Despite the role of English as a lingua franca, the linguistic ecology of modern workplaces is dynamic, rich and diverse. While English is often used for communication between a company’s headquarters and its subsidiaries, language choice is dynamically negotiated between the interactants in informal meetings and everyday interactions in the workplace. Against this backdrop, the article discusses the lived experience of the multinational workplace. We draw on interview data with 40 employees in senior and junior management posts in 12 companies situated in Croatia, Greece, Italy, Serbia, Sweden and the UK where English is the official corporate language. Special attention is paid to the employees’ perceptions of the role of languages in their daily work life. We focus here on three discourses that have emerged from the analysis of our data: multilingualism and the use of English, multilingualism and cosmpolitanism, and challenges and expectations of multilingualism. Our findings show that the employees draw on a range of linguistic resources in order to manage their work-related interactions, and dominant ideologies in relation to language use come to the fore. We close the article by focusing on the profile of the ‘global’ employee and the impact of the ‘modern’ workplace on the working realities of the participants
Call centre · English as a lingua franca · Ideology · Lingua franca · Linguistics · Multilingualism · Multinational corporation · Negotiation · Pedagogy · Political science · Public relations · Situated · Social science · Sociology · Subsidiary · Second Language Learning and Teaching
Language policy and multilingualism in semi-peripheral higher education research
Multilingualism in performance appraisal interviews
Inclusion in the academic workplace
Monolingual or translingual? Chinese–English bilinguals shifting orientations to English in the workplace
Communication Challenges and Needs in the Multilingual Workplace
Language and Discrimination
Digital international language management
It’s hard for them to even understand what we are saying”(.) Language and power in the multinational workplace
Hey BCC this is Australia and we speak and read English
From bilingualism to multilingualism in the workplace
Translanguaging in tourism
Translanguaging and multimodality in workplace texts and writing
Exploring the politics of linguistic difference
Identities at odds
Embrace it or resist it? Employees’ reception of corporate language policies
Prestigious language, pigeonholed speakers
The working language is Norwegian. Not that this means anything, it seems”
Language management in semi-peripheral game production
English as corporate language” in the multilingual reality of multinational companies
The multilingual workplace realities of Polish truckers
Language policy and practice in multilingual production workplaces
Multilingual professionals in internationally operating companies
Shaping subjects of globalisation
Your language or mine? or English as a lingua franca? Comparing effectiveness in English as a lingua franca and L1–L2 interactions
Workplace multilingualism in shifting contexts
The Sociolinguistic Economy in Contexts of Transience and Change in Danish Multinational Companies
| Unique citing works | 26 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,36 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2025 (11) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 26 |