Why Study Languages? - Softcover

Gabrielle Hogan-Brun

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1913019187 ISBN 13: 9781913019181

Publisher: London Publishing Partnership, 2021

Synopsis

Considering studying languages at university? Wondering whether a language degree will get you a good job, and what you might earn? Want to know what it's actually like to study A language at degree level? This book tells you what you need to know.

Studying any subject at degree level is an investment in the future that involves significant cost. Now more than ever, students and their parents need to weigh up the potential benefits of university courses. That's where the Why Study series comes in. This series of books, aimed at students, parents and teachers, explains in practical terms the range and scope of an academic subject at university level and where it can lead in terms of careers or further study. Each book sets out to enthuse the reader about its subject and answer the crucial questions that a college prospectus does not.

This book explains what languages are about: their excitements, their challenges, the skills they provide and what you can do with them. You’ll hear from students, from professionals and from famous names who learned languages at school, at university and beyond. Their personal anecdotes bear testimony to the real difference that studying languages has made to their lives.

The core message of Why Study Languages? is that learning a language is beneficial for anyone, at any age. Languages are all around us and are used in all walks of life. Language diversity is a fact of everyday experience, whether offline or online. If you speak only one language, you risk being left out of the conversation.

Preface: why this book?

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 – Why study languages?

Chapter 2 – Just how multilingual are we?

Chapter 3 – Are languages for me?

Chapter 4 – What can languages do for us?

Chapter 5 – What can I do with languages?

Chapter 6 – How do you study languages?

Chapter 7 – Where can I study languages?

Postscript – A personal language journey

Appendix – Finding out more

Key concepts

Endnotes

About this title

About the Author

Gabrielle Hogan-Brun is a currently a visiting professor and senior researcher at Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, having previously taught at the Universities of Bristol and Basel. She lectures widely on language attitudes, policies and practices, and on economic aspects of multilingualism. She serves on several international journal editorial boards and has worked with various European organizations on matters of language diversity. A Salzburg Global Fellow, she is a co-author of the Salzburg Statement for a Multilingual World. She is the founding book series editor of Palgrave Studies in Minority Languages and Communities, and co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities (2019), which won the BAAL book prize (in 2020). Among her other recent publications is 'Linguanomics: What Is the Market Potential of Multilingualism?' (Bloomsbury Academic, 2017).

Edition details

• Publisher: London Publishing Partnership
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1913019187
• ISBN 13: 9781913019181
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 208