New Global Humanities video highlights the impact of Cambridge research into multilingualism.
The short film features Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics Faculty members: Wendy Ayres-Bennett, Professor of French Philology and Linguistics; Ianthi M. Tsimpli, Professor of English and Applied Linguistics and former Cambridge Language Sciences (CLS) co-Director; Napoleon Katsos, Professor in Experimental Linguistics and Cambridge Bilingualism Network founder; Brechtje Post, Professor of Phonetics and Phonology and CLS co-Director; and Ioanna Sitaridou, Professor of Spanish and Historical Linguistics.
They talk about their research on multilingualism and its real-world impact on the lives of young people and adults in the UK and beyond.
This includes raising learning outcomes across the world and supporting refugees coming to the UK. The research has also helped push languages higher up the political agenda and raise awareness in government and society about the value of languages in helping tackle key issues of our time.
The video promotes the Global Humanities initiative set up by the School of Arts and Humanities in 2020.
The Global Humanities Initiative aims to transform the way we teach, research and think about the Humanities by bringing different cultures and perspectives into dialogue with each other to create a more diverse and globally aware research agenda and curriculum.
Wendy Ayres-Bennett explains “Languages are vital for dealing with key issues of our time: community cohesion; international development; defence, diplomacy and national security; international trade and business; and health and well-being.
In Cambridge, our expertise across many different disciplines allows us to research multilingualism from a broad and fascinating range of perspectives.
Now, as part of the Global Humanities initiative, there are new opportunities for us to explore multilingualism in parts of the world where that remarkable phenomenon is the norm.”