Researching plurilinguistic competences in specialised domains: Looking for means to prevent exclusion

Abstract

Given the growing role of English worldwide and the EU's cultural and linguistic diversity, this article focuses on Europe's need for scientific research into plurilingualism, cultural aspects of meaning and the dynamics of the European linguistic situation, and the need to harmonise European terminology. The author suggests that European terminology in policy-making processes and the translation of terms from (mainly) English into other official European languages should be observed and analysed, citing a case study and highlighting examples of how new terminology occurring in EU texts is translated (mostly) from English into other European languages. The article also focuses on plurilingualism and intercultural communication problems following migration within Europe. In workplaces in many regions, different languages and language variants are constantly in use, often in conjunction with one or more lingua francas. The author argues that organisations need to provide qualified multilingual assistance, as in hospitals, and citing an example of language-planning management in a hospital in Texas, USA, she insists that similar initiatives in Europe should be investigated, for instance projects based on participant observation and action research, with the aim of promoting best practices.