This chapter unpicks some of the complexities of multilingualism by asking key questions:

• What is a language?

• Why, on a global level, do most people speak two or more languages? We explore the environmental, scientific, economic and political developments which give rise to multilingualism.

• When groups of people speaking different languages come into contact, how do they communicate? We look at the use of lingua francas, pidgins and creoles and the decisions which lead people to shift from one language to another.

• Why are some languages more powerful than others? We examine the role which language has played in nation-building.

• What are the advantages of multilingualism for the individual? We discuss the intellectual, social and economic benefits of speaking two or more languages.

• And, finally, what are the advantages of multilingualism for the wider society? We challenge the idea that multilingualism is socially divisive and economically unviable, using examples of the ways in which governments have responded to linguistic diversity.

Language and migration

Anyone who happens to live in a predominantly English-speaking country might be forgiven for assuming that monolingualism is the normal condition. They would be wrong. In most parts of the world and for most people, multilingualism is the everyday reality. Why, then, is multilingualism so common? The answer lies in the wide range of reasons that people move from one location to another.