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Conceptualizing national emergency language competence

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Published/Copyright: August 3, 2020
Multilingua
From the journal Multilingua Volume 39 Issue 5

Abstract

National emergency language competence (NELC) can be understood as the capacity to use language to cope with domestic and international public emergencies. NELC constitutes the foundation of and guidance for the provision of emergency language services. Based on a review of emergency language services and language competence development, this paper proposes a theoretical model for constructing NELC along the following four dimensions: emergency stage, language tasks, non-linguistic resources, and types of emergency languages. The paper concludes with suggestions on the planning and development of NELC.

Keywords: national emergency language competence; language services; multilingualism in China
Corresponding author: Jie Zhang, School of Foreign Languages, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, 182# Nanhu Avenue, East Lake High-tech Development Zone, Wuhan, 430073, PR China, E-mail:

This paper is a translated and shortened version of Li and Rao (2020), translated by Dr Jie Zhang, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law and Dr Jia Li, Yunnan University. In the original paper, Li and Rao situate their conceptualization of national emergency language competence in the Chinese policy context. The translated version has been adapted to make it internationally relevant.

Funding source: National Social Science Foundation of China

Award Identifier / Grant number: 19AYY010

Funding source: Beijing Language and Culture University

Award Identifier / Grant number: 19YJ130001

  1. Funding: The work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China under [grant number 19AYY010] and by Beijing Language and Culture University under [grant number 19YJ130001].

References

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Published Online: 2020-08-03
Published in Print: 2020-09-25

© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  13. 10.1515/multi-2020-0111
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https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2020-0111
Keywords for this article
national emergency language competence; language services; multilingualism in China

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Articles
  3. 10.1515/multi-2020-0136
  4. 10.1515/multi-2020-0110
  5. Multilingual communication experiences of international students during the COVID-19 Pandemic
  6. Staying connected during COVID-19: The social and communicative role of an ethnic online community of Chinese international students in South Korea
  7. Diaspora micro-influencers and COVID-19 communication on social media: The case of Chinese-speaking YouTube vloggers
  8. Fighting COVID-19 in East Asia: The role of classical Chinese poetry
  9. Fighting COVID-19 with Mongolian fiddle stories
  10. Mobilizing foreign language students for multilingual crisis translation in Shanghai
  11. Public health messages about COVID-19 prevention in multilingual Taiwan
  12. Countering COVID-19-related anti-Chinese racism with translanguaged swearing on social media
  13. 10.1515/multi-2020-0111
  14. Commentary: Directions in language planning from the COVID-19 pandemic
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