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<h1 class="gmail-page-header">Call for new chief government linguist to boost profile of languages in policy</h1>
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<div class="gmail-date">Written by <span class="gmail-author">Richard Johnstone</span> on 28 November 2018 in <span class="gmail-taxonomy">News</span></div>
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<div class="gmail-views-field gmail-views-field-body"> <div class="gmail-field-content"><p>Greater
awareness about the benefits of multilingualism would help boost
crucial post-Brexit areas including international relations and trade,
say researchers</p>
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<div class="gmail-field-item even"><p><span style="font-size:9px"><em><strong>Photo: Adobe Stock</strong></em></span></p>
<p>The government has today been urged to create the post of a
chief government linguist to boost the awareness of modern languages in
policymaking and ensure coordination to increase the numbers learning
new languages.</p>
<p>The call comes from the Open World Research Initiative, a major
modern languages research initiative funded by the Arts and Humanities
Research Council and involving over 100 researchers in fifteen
universities around the UK.</p>
<p>According to the group, increased awareness of the impact learning
languages can have would help improve policymaking in areas as diverse
as international relations, trade, defence, culture and community
cohesion.</p>
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<p>A chief government linguist would be similar to the existing post of
government chief scientific adviser. He or she would be a senior civil
servant who would mobilise executive support and coordinate the
embedding of languages in government policy across a range of
departments, and could act as a champion for languages both within and
outside government, Professor Janice Carruthers, a Modern Languages
Leadership Fellow from Queen’s University, said:</p>
<p>“In both Whitehall and the devolved administrations, support for
languages in departments of education is clearly vital if we are seeking
to ensure that future generations have strong language skills,” she
said. “But it is also important that languages are embedded in policy
across a range of government departments and in government strategies
where they are highly relevant.” </p>
<p>The OWRI project will set out details of the plan to MPs and others at an event in Westminster Hall today.</p>
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<div class="gmail-field-label">About the author</div>
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<p>Richard Johnstone is CSW's deputy and online editor and tweets as <a href="https://twitter.com/csw_deped" target="_blank">@CSW_DepEd</a></p>
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<br>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div></div>