The book quickly makes it clear that there is no such thing as European politeness.
In fact, although the book is organized by regions (Western Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe), the editors themselves point out that this grouping was chosen more for convenience than for identification, and that a number of other classifications might have been possible. Indeed, it is impossible to generalize about Scandinavian politeness or Western
European politeness or Southern European politeness. A Dane, it turns out, will prefer to get to the point, whereas a Finn will favor evasion at all costs. As far as politeness is concerned, an Estonian has more in common with a Finn than with a Pole, despite having a closer physical proximity.

 

This book focuses on the increase of urban multilingualism in Europe as a consequence of processes of migration and minorisation. It offers multidisciplinary, crossnational and crosslinguistic perspectives on immigrant minority languages at home and in school in six major multicultural cities across Europe. From North to South these cities are Gцteborg (Sweden), Hamburg (Germany), The Hague (The Netherlands), Brussels (Belgium), Lyon (France) and Madrid (Spain). In each of these cities, with the exception of bilingual Brussels, either a Germanic or a Romance state language has a dominant status in public life. This book is the outcome of the Multilingual Cities Project, a study based on large-scale empirical findings and carried out under the auspices of the European Cultural Foundation.

 

Despite the spread of multilingualism, the number of research studies in multilingual contexts is scarce. This book deals with this question by examining would-be teachers' language use and attitudes, as their influence on future generations can be enormous. The use of the same questionnaire and the same methodology allows the reader to compare the results obtained in different European bilingual contexts, where the presence of diverse foreign languages leads to a situation in which several languages are in contact.

 

The necessity to learn multiple languages to function in one's society is, in fact, nearly universal, and Edwards presents the polemic that ensues. The book is written in a very accessible tone and assumes little formal knowledge of linguistics.

Edwards begins by explaining the gradual change of a single language into a whole family of multually unintelligible tongues, the process that gives us multiple languages. He then explains how bilingualism works, how one learns a second language whether as a child or as an adult learner. Code-switching, borrowing, and interference are some important themes here.

The meat of the book is how multiple languages interact not just in the brain of the individual, but among the greater society. Language spread and, closely related, language decline is depressingly reported, while the difficulties of language revival are presented. For Edwards, multilingualism is not just the co-existence of multiple languages within a given society, but even the presence of multiple forms of speech. Very fascinating is his description of prescriptivism, which in seeking to uphold "pure" language asserts that other variants are necessarily impure. And even within a single-language group, men may speak strikingly different than women, as among the Gros Ventre of Montana where men say "jatsa" for bread while women say "kjatsa".

 

Multilingualism in the English-Speaking World is the winner of the BAAL Book Prize 2005.
Multilingualism in the English-Speaking World: Pedigree of Nations explores the consequences of English as a global language and multilingualism as a social phenomenon. Written accessibly, it explores the extent of diversity in 'inner circle' English speaking countries (the UK, the USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand) and examines language in the home, school, and the wider community.

-Considers the perspectives of English as a global language as well as multilingualism as a social phenomenon.
-Written in an accessible style that draws on contemporary real life examples.
-Examines the everyday realities of people living in 'inner circle' English-speaking countries, such as the UK, USA, Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
-Discusses the theoretical issues that underpin current debates, drawing on research literature on societal multilingualism, language maintenance and shift, language policy, language and power, and language and identity.