Conversation on Value10/010

Questions of language are inevitably intertwined with questions of national/ethnic identity and class (the latter especially in places where there is a legacy of colonialism). The European Union has used multilingualism to promote integration and economic mobility while tempering the spread of English. Fluency, or even just proficiency, in English increasingly becomes a tool for economic mobility and access to global markets, audiences, and conversations. What are the consequences for other languages and identities around the globe, and the pitfalls of English’s dominance for native English speakers? In this episode of conversation on value, Valeria and Rosemary Salomone explore the cultural element of the spread of English – the soft power of English-language in music, movies, television, and social media.

Rosemary Salomone is the Kenneth Wang Professor of Law at St. John’s University School of Law (USA). Trained as a linguist and a lawyer, she is an internationally recognized expert and commentator on language rights, education law and policy, and comparative equality. An elected member of the American Law Institute and fellow of the American Bar Foundation, she is a former faculty member of the Graduate School of Education at Harvard University, lecturer in Harvard’s Institute for Educational Management, and trustee of the State University of New York. In addition to her recent book, The Rise of English: Global Politics and the Power of Language (Oxford University Press), she is the author of True American: Language, Identity and the Education of Immigrant Children(Harvard University Press); Same, Different, Equal: Rethinking Single-Sex Schooling (Yale University Press); Visions of Schooling: Conscience, Community and Common Education (Yale University Press); and Equal, Education Under Law (St. Martin’s Press).