The more languages, the more english?

Dr Andreas Hettiger will deliver this lecture on the contribution of languages to the internationalisation of universities.

“The more languages, the more English” – is  Abram de Swaan’s famous quote a realistic statement or is it over-simplified and exaggerated?

This lecture, to be presented by Dr Andreas Hettiger, Director of the Language Centre of the Technical University of Braunschweig gives an overview of the most relevant literature on the topic of “languages and the internationalisation of universities”, ranging from classics such as “Language Planning” (1997) by Robert B. Kaplan and Richard B. Baldauf to more recent publications such as “Scientific Babel” (2015) by Michael D. Gordin.

The topic is controversial and easy answers are not to be found. This is all the more true when it comes to a comparison between universities and their language planning in the European Union and in South Africa. Although comparing these two different academic regions has its limitations, this is exactly what this presentation aims to do.

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