Language Is Not What We Might Think It Is—Facilitating Interculturality by Unthinking and Rethinking Our Relation to Language

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the importance of language in considering interculturality otherwise. It starts with a review of the etymology of the word language in different languages as a reminder of the importance of looking into differences and similarities between languages. The rest of the chapter is dedicated to two aspects: demystifying language and plurilingualism. Discourses of and about language are always influenced by history, education and politico-economic views on the world (amongst others). These lead to creating certain ideologies (which are referred to as ‘myths’ in the chapter), which can play against interculturality. As such we have been made to believe that some languages are better than others; some speakers of certain languages cleverer, etc. Building up an awareness of these myths (and many others) represents a first step in opening up to new ways of thinking about how we can relate to others. The complementary ideology of plurilingualism, which urges us to unthink and rethink the way we see language, concludes the chapter.