Translingual phenomena are words and other aspects of language that are relevant in more than one language. Thus "translingual" may mean "existing in multiple languages" or "having the same meaning in many languages"; and sometimes "containing words of multiple languages" or "operating between different languages". Translingualism is the phenomenon of translingually relevant aspects of language; a translingualism is an instance thereof. The word comes from , meaning "across", and lingual, meaning "having to do with languages "; thus, it means "across tongues", that is, "across languages". Internationalisms provide many of the examples of translingual vocabulary. For example, international scientific vocabulary comprises thousands of translingual words and combining forms.
History
was among the first scholars to use the term translingualism in his 2000 book "The Translingual Imagination." This work presented that translingual writers are authors who write in more than one language or in a language other than their primary one in a way that emphasized freedom from cultural and monolingual restraint. The translingual writer is an author who has the ability to cross over into a new linguistic identity. While Kellman is simply among the first to use the term, the phenomena of translingualism may have emerged as a response to the Sapir-Whorf thesis of linguistic relativity. In the early 21st century, TESL began to use translingualism as a method of teaching a second language that focuses on unifying language use in defiance of monolingual approaches that treat languages as separate avenues of thought. Supporters of this use of translingualism focus on the liminiality of language systems over concepts like "Standard Written English" and unaccented speech. The past decade, in fact, has seen a gradual increase in the number of second language scholars theorizing about translingualism. This suggests that a paradigm shift may be occurring in the way we think about language study, language teaching, and language use. Canagarajah, with his 2012 book Translingual Practice: Global Englishes and Cosmopolitan Relations and other related works, has been pushing more directly for translingualism over monolingualism and for a merging of the mother language with the target language in TEFL studies. His argument is that the intimation behind speech and words is often more important that the words themselves and that tranlingualism's exploration of the liminal space between languages enables better comprehension and communication between parties.
Critical debates
The term translingualism presents the notion of fluidity between languages, rather than adhering to the static categorizations of bilingualism, multilingualism, ambilingualism, and plurilingualism. According to Tung-Chiou Huang, "Translingualism is a term from Steven G. Kellman and David Schwarzer et al., who see teaching an L2 as bridge building between languages that allow one to retain a unified mind and not be cloven into two for the sake of being multilingual." Supporters of this use of translingualism focus on the fluidity of language systems, thoroughly eschewing concepts such as "Standard Written English" and unaccented speech. The past decade, in fact, has seen a gradual increase in the number of second language scholars theorizing about translingualism toward a rhetoric of translingual writing. The paradigm of translingualism utilized in a classroom setting has not had much focus placed upon it, primarily due to its recent immergence into the SLA and ESL community. However, scholars such as Nathanael John Rudolph, are making the effort to research the adaptation of translingualism into pedagogical practices through the lens of ELT, particularly how translingual experiences can aid in the debates regarding native and non-native speaking roles and identities.
It is common for translinguals scholars to criticize a monolingual orientation to communication since it assumes that speakers should use a common language with shared norms in order to communicate effectively and successfully. These standards originate from the native speaker's utilization of the language. Proponents of monolingual orientation believe that interlocutors should avoid mixing their own languages with other languages. However, Canagarajah states, "talk doesn't have to be in a single language; the interlocutors can use the respective languages they are proficient in." Recently, researchers have also begun to explore the idea of translingualism as a communicative competence citing the fact that "In multilingual scenarios, mastering the language for the exchange is not as relevant as achieving effective communication by means of strategies that go beyond communicative competence in any given language." In today's global context, most scenarios involve speakers of various languages communicating primarily in English. These speakers will all have different cultural values which will affect their production and interpretation of speech and therefore the speakers will not adjust to any one language or culture but rather to the "common communicative arena". , for instance, identifies translinguals as speakers who demonstrate the ability to use their language successfully across diverse norms and codes in response to specific contexts purposes. The "translingual fluency" of a writer is determined by their literary works' ability to engage and stimulate a geographically and demographically varied audience. Readers, on the other hand, demonstrate their translingual fluency by being attuned and perceptive to a work's linguistic heterogeneity.
