Translingual Analysis Paper 2
Literacy and Mobility
How can transnationalism, English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), and translingualism help us understand the new cultural networks that are taking shape in the context of international migration? What are the possibilities for literacy and language to help forge new relationships across linguistic and cultural differences?
Take a look at the video “Similarities Between Spanish and Arabic,” produced by Annenberg Media, a student-run news organization at the University of Southern California:
What do you notice about how the two students react to each other as they discover the underlying similarities between Arabic and Spanish? What’s the role of English in this video? Would you say this video is for Arabic speakers, Spanish speakers, English speakers, or some combination of all three?
How can the similarities between these languages be explained by the historical migration or mobility of the Moors? What does this example suggest about how mobility and migration shape language, identity, and culture?
