Ideologies and practices of multilingualism in bureaucratic and legal advice encounters

Abstract

The increasing growth of foreign immigration to Spain has changed the communicative reality of various types of institutions. Civil servants, doctors, teachers, social workers and all sorts of service providers face new communicative challenges in their daily professional practice. The changing face and voice of their clientele calls into question habitualised forms of service delivery based on the homogeneity of practices and worldviews (Moyer and Martín Rojo 2007). In this paper, we undertake a comparative study of the multilingual practices observed in two service contexts dealing with transnational migrants in Barcelona: a state legalisation office and a free legal advice service offered by a non-profit organisation. We use various types of interactional, observational and textual data. Our theoretical standpoint is that of critical sociolinguistics (Blommaert 2003; Heller 2007). We problematise the role of language in social life and try to shed light on the ways in which linguistic practices are deeply implicated in processes of stratification and social exclusion. The analysis of our data shows that, in spite of their different social missions and grounding ideologies, the two institutions examined reproduce hegemonic stances towards service communication which problematise multilingualism and ignore the exclusionary effects that overlooking communication-related matters have for certain groups of migrants. Both organisations assume Spanish to be the normal, logical and natural language of communication and neglect the need for more fluid and unproblematising forms of multilingual practice.

Incorporating translation into sociolinguistic research: Translation policy in an international non‐governmental organisation

“…Firstly, in sociolinguistics and translation studies, the article offers an empirically‐grounded account of language and translation policies in a global organisation. It contributes to a growing body of research on language ideologies and multilingualism in NGOs and INGOs in the global political economy (Codó and Garrido ; Kahn and Heller ; Muehlmann and Duchêne ; Pujolar ) and on the sociolinguistics of globalisation (Blommaert ; Blommaert, Collins and Slembrouck ; Coupland ; Heller ; Maryns ). Secondly, in international relations, development studies and political science, the article contributes to ongoing debates on the legitimacy of INGOs, the paradox between INGOs’ ethos and their often corporate management style, and INGOs’ efforts to bridge the divide between the global North and South (Demars and Dijkzeul ; Lang ; Rubenstein ; Yanacopulos ).…”

Navigating Immigration Law in a “Hostile Environment”: Implications for Adult Migrant Language Education

“…Communication in contact zones involves mobilities of different kinds being brought together in new ways, ways that draw attention to both the conception of knowledge and the identity of knowers as being “emergent and contingent on their specific temporal‐spatial locations and practices,” as Blommaert and Horner (, p. 5) put it. Codó and Garrido () point to an increasingly dynamic and unpredictable interactional environment for legal advisors of late, as “the changing face and voice of their clientele calls into question habitualised forms of service delivery based on the homogeneity of practices and worldviews” (p. 298).…”

Polish Immigration in Barcelona: The Sagrada Familia Neighbourhood as an Arena for Interaction

“…This article is not however focused on linguistic conflicts – a topic that will be tackled elsewhere. For more contextual details on linguistic issues in Catalonia and Spain, see for instance: Burgueño, ; and Codó and Garrido, .…”