The guidance below was established by ENROPE participants at the beginning of the first Intensive Study Week in Berlin (21-27 June 2019). After establishing that the participants between them could use 39 languages and varieties, they discussed and developed ideas how they would like to use languages during the week.

1. 1
ENROPE ISW 1 – Linguistic housekeeping
The guidance below was established by ENROPE
participants at the beginning of the first Intensive Study
Week in Berlin (21-27 June 2019). After establishing that
the participants between them could use 39 languages
and varieties, they discussed and developed ideas how
they would like to use languages during the week. The
ideas were then thematically ordered and compiled under
two themes, and one caution regarding critical
understandings:
1) Communicative strategies
2) Attitudes towards languages and people
3) Caution
1) Communicative strategies
Sub-theme Examples generated by ISW1 participants
Finding a shared
language for
communication
 Start with English
 Find a language you both feel comfortable
speaking.
 Create badges with languages each person speaks
in order to recognize common languages in each
personal meeting.
Make use of
intercomprehension/
translanguaging
 Make an effort to understand each other (When
people speak Finnish, Estonian speakers can
understand them).
 In a group you can ask for clarifications in other
languages
Offer support to one
another
 Be supportive when someone can’t find a word
 Organize groups which contain speakers of mixed
language with some in common, e.g. 2 Spanish
speakers, 2 Chinese speakers, 2 German speakers
} English as lingua franca if necessary.
 Right to ask clearance (clarification?) and duty to
offer it.
Promote the use of
diverse languages
and varieties
 Support the use of other languages than English
 Be flexible, be accepting of i.e. language varieties
 Whenever possible, make use of language
varieties that are less represented (in academia,
international media, etc.). In doing so, we can
provide new ideas, as well as legitimacy and
diversity in language use.
 Take some risks to practice your other languages.

2. 2
2) Attitudes towards languages and people
Sub-theme Examples generated by ISW1 participants
Be inclusive +
respect each other
 Don’t exclude people who don’t speak your mother
tongue.
Be open towards
languages and be
sensitive to what
they mean to
people (language
awareness)
 Explain languages to each other (if it is not possible
to actually use them for communication)
 Have some time to teach each other some basic
greetings and key language structures.
 Don’t force people to speak about their cultural
background or heritage language(s).
 Ask to learn something new in a language you don’t
know.
 Be open for new languages  Be ready to learn new
words.
 Don’t take media information about language
(groups) at face value.(summary full quote see*)
Avoid stereotypes
and show an open
attitude.
 Don’t judge people on their language proficiency
 Consider all languages as equal and abandon
utilitarianism.
 Recognize the communicative value of all languages
spoken. The purpose is to create connections.
 Enjoy the opportunity to learn cultures from the
countries, even if you cannot speak their language.
 People from different places can use the same
language differently (e.g. politeness, proficiency)
and can feel differently about using the language
(e.g. linguistic anxiety). So it is important to be
aware of this and not impose our way or presume
that the person will have our ways.
3) Caution:
“Our knowledge about minoritized languages”. As researchers working on
multilingualism we have to be aware that information about language
communities, especially those underrepresented or discriminated often, can
be misleading sometimes in sources, such as newspapers, media or even
academic circles, mostly because there is limited information. Therefore, we
should not take the information as it is or for granted. In other words, we
have to be extra-critical about the information conveyed in diverse sources.
GM June 2019