Multilingualism in International Organizations and International Co-operation will take place on Thursday and Friday, May 10 and 11, at the Church Center, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, beginning at 9:00 a.m. on May 10th.

The annual symposium is organized by The Study Group on Language and the United Nations, founded in part on the initiative of the Universal Esperanto Association, with support from the Esperantic Studies Foundation (ESF).

Multilingualism in international co-operation entails both costs and benefits: costs because it requires mechanisms such as the selection of multilingual staff and the mediation of language professionals; benefits because, if properly managed, it includes all parties to decision-making, promotes consensus, supports program delivery, and aids dissemination of results. Thus it favors social justice and inclusion. Increasingly, multilingualism is seen as a positive force, though it is not always recognized as such by all stakeholders.

This symposium seeks to focus on, and generate interest in, these issues. Contributions will address the challenges of supporting multilingualism in organizations or in sites of international co-operation across different sectors (e.g. business, diplomacy, economics) or communities. Theoretical and methodological studies will be included, as well as those addressing specific practical challenges — especially papers that focus directly on the work of the UN system or other international bodies, or research having obvious implications for their work. Keynote speaker will be Michele Gazzola (Humboldt University, Berlin), well known as a specialist on the economics of language policies.

To find out more about the symposium, or to register, please visit the website of Language and the UN.