General Public
Welcome!
Many people in Germany speak two, three or even more languages in their daily lives. Some have migrated here; other’s families go back several generations. Their heritage languages are maintained through familial communication, in social circles and through contact with the heritage country. With in-migration from practically every country on earth, Germany is undoubtedly multilingual!
The University of Hamburg boasts a great tradition of research into multilingualism – for example through the research cluster LiMA (= Linguistic Diversity Management in Urban Areas). Throughout Germany, too, there is increasing recognition of multilingual realities and the need to cultivate multilingual skills. This recognition is not least indicated by the founding and financing of a research cluster devoted to research on multilingualism and education by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Within this cluster, investigations are conducted into inter alia languages spoken in Germany, factors relating to heritage-language maintenance, multilingualism as an educational resource and advantage.
The research cluster was supported by the Coordination Office for Multilingualism and Language Education – aka KoMBi – at the University of Hamburg from 2013 to 2020. In this role, KoMBi would receive enquiries from educational practitioners, parents, journalists and other interested members of the public about multilingualism. We therefore created this site to present information and materials of interest to different target groups. Much of the content is based on research conducted by academics in the field of multilingualism and language education, including our own research cluster.
Because this ‘practical’ content has been developed for a German-speaking audience, based on demographics in the German-speaking area and designed for implementation in the German education system, the materials and information that we present are, for the most part, in German only. If you wish to flex your multilingual skills, go to the German version of our website to read about the opportunities associated with multilingualism, stories told by users of different languages or to watch short videos about multilingualism in and for learning. For educational practitioners, we have compiled extensive literature lists in the areas of early childhood education, multilingualism in the classroom, text revisions in different languages and heritage language education. Even if you don’t understand German, you can still peruse the design and layout of these materials.
For parents of multilingual children – or those thinking of raising a multilingual family – we have gathered tips and advice. The following are some examples in English:
- Raising Multilingual Children
by Julia Festman, Gregory J. Poarch, Jean-Marc Dewaele - Bringing up a Bilingual Child - How to Navigate the Seven Cs of Multilingual Parenting: Communication, Confidence, Commitment, Consistency, Creativity, Culture and Celebration
by Rita Rosenback
Blogs:
For children growing up multilingually in Germany, there are a number of publishers that produce story books in different languages.
We have also gathered media reports on multilingualism. Some examples in English are:
- The huge benefits of working in your second language. BBC, 29.05.2018 by José Luis Peñarredonda
- Language study: What is language worth? The Economist, 11.03.2014 by R.L.G.
Finally, we present a small selection of photographs depicting the multilingualism that is all around us in contemporary cities.
We hope you enjoy our site!
The Coordination Office for Multilingualism and Language Education (KoMBi)