Language Choice in Multilingual Encounters in Transnational Workplaces

Autor/in	Kingsley, Leilarna
Titel	Language Choice in Multilingual Encounters in Transnational Workplaces
Quelle	In: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 34 (2013) 6, S.533-548 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0143-4632
DOI	10.1080/01434632.2013.807271
Schlagwörter	Work Environment; Multilingualism; Questionnaires; Focus Groups; Employee Attitudes; Language Usage; Intercultural Communication; Banking; Foreign Countries; Language Planning; Models; Guidelines; Databases; Case Studies; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Official Languages; Meetings; Electronic Mail; Second Languages; Interviews; Luxembourg + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Arbeitsmilieu; Mehrsprachigkeit; Multilingualismus; Fragebogen; Arbeitnehmerinteresse; Sprachgebrauch; Interkulturelle Kommunikation; Bankgeschäft; Ausland; Sprachwechsel; Analogiemodell; Richtlinien; Datenbank; Case study; Fallstudie; Case Study; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Office language; Amtssprache; Meeting; Tagung; Elektronischer Briefkasten; Second language; Zweitsprache; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik
Abstract	This paper is based on research conducted in banks in the international banking centre of Luxembourg. Operating in the globalised context of international banking and multilingual Luxembourg, financial institutions are an ideal focal point for investigating policy and practices in complex multilingual and transnational work spaces. Two theoretical models are the primary frameworks used to explore top-down management (explicit official language policy) and employees' practices and beliefs (implicit policy). The database for the study includes a first phase of interviews with management in 10 banks, followed by a second phase of questionnaires and focus groups with employees in three case study international banks. Taking an exclusively bottom-up perspective, this paper explores employees' complex practices through genres of communication. An analysis of employees' broad frequency patterns indicates that English is the language most frequently used alongside others. A number of languages are flexibly used in meetings, informal communication and more hybrid genres (emails and presentations). The ethnolinguistic composition of employees and transactional/relational functions of language are the two most important bottom-up pressures on language choices. However, above all, English emerges as an essential lingua franca for involving and including all employees in these contexts. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10