Communication today may be more borderless than in any other era of human history. Whether via apps such as Skype, WhatsApp, WeChat or LINE, whether via blogs and Instagram – the connections between people on a linguistic level are more diverse today than ever before, and this development has sped up since the pandemic started in 2020. On the one hand, this development has favoured a tendency towards English – not only as a worldwide lingua franca, but oftentimes as the only language in which people of different mother tongues communicate with each other. This development may be due to linguistic economy, which should not be underestimated and which is perfectly understandable. This development, however, is presently opposed by another tendency which consists in supporting and promoting languages other than English that are perceived as important – not instead of English, but rather in addition to it.
More infos on the 6. Saarbrücken Conference on Foreign Language Teaching can be found here.
