Internationale Kulturwissenschaften International Cultural Studies Etudes culturelles internationales
Sektion X:		Mehrsprachigkeit: Regionen, "Nationen", Multikulturalität, Interkulturalität, Transkulturalität
Section X:		Multilingualism: Regions, "Nations", Multiculturalism, Interculturalism and Transculturalism
Section X:		Plurilinguisme: régions, "nations", multiculturalité, interculturalité, transculturalité

Gertrude Durusoy (Izmir) [BIO]

German

French

Multilinguism and Cultural Borders

History shows, that the european continent has always been a plurillingual one - although languages like Latin had been hegemonious for centuries - but also that the cultures have developed separately even in regions speaking the same language (for example in France, in the Wallonie / Belgium and in the Romandie/ Switzerland or also the different cultural approaches in Austria, Germany and the alemanic part of Switzerland), although these cultures have more or less been shaped by common factors like the antique ones or the christian ones.

In this respect and context the role played by cultural studies in the solution of conflicts from linguistic or cultural origin will be an important one because in our time the consciousness of alterity is mostly taking the place of the idea of nationalism like spread in the 19th century. The consciousness of identity is more and more related to belonging to a culture and less to the fact of speaking the same language and almost no more to the fact of living in the same nation.

In the new millenium, Europe seems willing to keep the variety of languages spoken on the continent; from its creation on, the European Union has integrated the language of each member state as a working language. So in the first years of the EEC, Dutch, German, French and Italian have been the languages used quite a long time before English. This plurality in the field of languages is a sign of the plurality of the cultures which have to live and act together on economical and partly on political level too.

In the last years, the European Union and the Council of Europe are both stressing more and more the learning of foreign languages; by now three languages during the school years are welcome, not compulsory. The growing mobility within european countries needs also a more comprehension; that means that languages by themselves are no more sufficient, they should be taught with the cultural background of that foreign people. Some misunderstandings can prepare conflicts. These misunderstandings are even possible within one language (see the case of German language, where the same words have a totally different meaning, if they have been used in Western or Eastern Germany).Understanding of metaphors is not always easy but how much more difficult if translated from and into another language . The danger for the forthcoming european society consists in the fact that there could exist a multicultural side by side without intracultural contact between the people living together. This is particularly a danger for the countries receiving many migrants from various cultural origins. The dominating culture is not seeking automatically for cultural exchange; its monoculturality as a behaviour lets the foreigner feel frustration and if he does not feel accepted in that society because of his alterity, he will take his distances and isolate himself. This is the reason, why in so many big cities of countries like Great Britain, France or Germany there are so many suburbs or parts of the town where the residents do no more belong to the nationality of that country. This situation of the foreigners, who are isolated from the everyday life in their vicinity, can have as consequences the potentiality of social conflicts. In my opinion, the cultural contact in everyday life is not yet at the level it should be.

To know several languages means to be rich, mentally and culturally. This means also that a cultural exchange at the level of individuals will be possible and the knowledge of the cultural differences will prepare the basis of a peaceful life within Europe. At the same time, this means that teaching languages should no more be done in a traditional way, that new manuals and books should be published, that the scientist work more and more in an interdisciplinary way and that intercultural communication will be used much more than before. Although computer sciences do not have a magic recipe for that, they do contribute a lot in this field of communication.

Even if each language seems to be strong sructurated through rules, it has a flexible nature and is a living process; some expressions have disappeared, others are integrated, semantic changes occur, foreign words try to find their way etc. For the teacher, it is a challenge because he has still to know the newest change in the language and for the learner it means, that he or she has to find out the right way to use the new language in a way so colse as possible to the level of "native speakers". Student exchanges at schloar and post-scholar level are an excellent occasion to make not only the experience of a new language but the experience of a whole culture animating that language in a specific region. In this respect, the exchange programs of the EU and the projects sponsored by the Council of Europe are an initiative with future.

Global behaviour does not mean uniformisation. That is why the projects supporting diversity in languages and diversity in cultures are the most useful ones in future because they are the basis for a peaceful life together. After Worls War II, people were first thinking to restaure a certain level of income; but now there is more and nore time left for leisure and there culture has a wonderful opportunity to play a role, even in the form of pop culture.

There is another situation, where the identity of a region can get a worldwide effect through the use of its local language. The best example was given in Barcelona where Català has been used during the Olympic Games with other very widely spreaf languages. The catalan culture has shown its ambiente and his identity. Theatre performances in català are given in Istanbul and books which were always translated from Spanish are now more and more translated from this language .

Let’s come to another case where the mother tongue is no more existing because of assimilation but cultural traditions are still alive. This is in North of France the situation of so many Polish families who still have Polish names but are since generations French citizens and usually know only French and the languages taught at school. They came in the time between the two World Wars in order to find a job in the mines. As a research field for cultural studies that sitation is highly interesting because there is no more support of the Polish language which has not been replaced through another slavonic language but through a roman language. Interdisciplinary research in fields like behaviour psychology, sociology, linguistics etc. could help identifying the real feeling of this group.It is also interesting to know if Polish has disappeared because it has not been taught at school or because the families did not want their children to be different from the French ones. A similar study for the same period of time could be conducted for the case of Slowenian in Austria or Italy.

Within cultural studies there is another field where a useful research can be done, it is imagology. The foreigner, the other person has to be understood well , in order not to be frustrated. The wrong images and stereotypes of another culture do not lead to peace.Even within Europe, it is necessary to avoid some stereotypes as condition sine qua non for a deeper and stronger Union. Wenn Martin Luther writes in the 16th century that the Turks have been sent by God because the christians have not been as good as they should have been, so you can still find imagologically mainly in protestant countries the negative influence on the opinion about a cultural different group. François Ier who was the first christian king to make an alliance with the Turks has been astonished when seeing the strong army of Sultan Soliman the Magnificent and he wanted to be as "strong as a Turk", in the same century as Martin Luther. The connotations have been different and the images spread around remained in the minds.

As it can be understood, multiliguism should bring a larger flexibility in thought and action and should help avoiding xenophobia. The cultural borders can better be crossed if in your luggage you have several languages, each of them meaning the understanding of a different culture. Even in Roman times there has been interest for foreign countries (De Germania ) and later on the numerous travellers have written culturally so rich reports on what they have experienced that these writings could constitute also a field for cultural studies. This field can be a useful bridge from the past to the future of human understanding.

		Internationale Kulturwissenschaften International Cultural Studies Etudes culturelles internationales
Sektion X:		Mehrsprachigkeit: Regionen, "Nationen", Multikulturalität, Interkulturalität, Transkulturalität
Section X:		Multilingualism: Regions, "Nations", Multiculturalism, Interculturalism and Transculturalism
Section X:		Plurilinguisme: régions, "nations", multiculturalité, interculturalité, transculturalité