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Manchester Urban Institute

Multilingual Manchester

Language and cultural diversity is a permanent feature of all major cities around the world, and Manchester is no exception.

Multicultural women eating a meal.

Over 150 languages are spoken in the Greater Manchester area. Almost half of school pupils in Manchester have a home language other than English. Communities cherish and cultivate their language heritage. Multilingualism is part of our urban landscape of public signs, posters, and banners. Many among Manchester’s work force have excellent foreign language skills, enabling them to communicate directly with business partners around the world.

The city’s commercial sector includes services that specialise in international customer services, translation and interpreting, and consultancy and advertising in other languages.

At Multilingual Manchester, we promote awareness of language diversity in the city-region and beyond. We study the practical challenges and the immense opportunities that language diversity brings. We explore how it shapes people’s language repertoires and practices.

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