26.03.26
Marking the International Day of Multilingualism with a call for action: The Initiative for Multilingual Practice (IMP)
The International Day of Multilingualism, established by Thomas Bak and a group of linguists including Dina Mehmedbegovic-Smith, was launched on 27 March 2019 – a date chosen to mark the inscription on the Rosetta Stone. It promotes a simple yet transformative idea: multilingualism is not exceptional – it is normal. Rooted in this vision, Healthy Linguistic Diet (HLD) framework positions languages as fundamental to cognitive development, wellbeing and social inclusion, encouraging individuals and institutions to draw on the full richness of their linguistic repertoires.
In this spirit, marking the International Day of Multilingualism needs to go beyond symbolic recognition. It calls for deliberate, visible and sustained action. Rather than continuing to critique monolingual norms, we invite colleagues to take concrete steps towards changing practice – however small, but purposeful and cumulative.
The Initiative for Multilingual Practice (IMP) is conceived as a collective commitment to act: to challenge monolingual cultures in academia and to create spaces where linguistic diversity is not only acknowledged, but actively enacted, embedded and normalised in our everyday work.
We propose to establish a Community of Practice, in which we can exchange (to start with, on line and in English, but then gradually extending it to other languages) our ideas and experiences of embracing different languages in our work, be it research, be it teaching and supervision.
At our first meeting (5 May 2026), we can decide how often and in which format we would like to meet.
- 8.00 – 9.00 – Edmonton, Denver, Ciudad de México
- 9.00 – 10.00 – New Orleans, Bogotá, Lima
- 10.00 – 11.00 – Toronto, New York, Habana, La Paz
- 11.00 – 12.00 – Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile
- 15.00 – 16.00 – BST: London, Edinburgh, Lisbon, Dakar
- 16.00 – 17.00 – CET: Madrid, Paris, Abuja, Cape Town
- 17.00 – 18.00 – Helsinki, Kyiv, Cairo, Addis Abeba
- 19.30 – 20.30 – Delhi, Kolkata
- 22.00-23.00 – Beijing, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Denpasar
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87545962982?pwd=dBa63ZpkAbI5VJ4Rj1akZ7gx86eOyG.1
ID: 875 4596 2982
Password: 742447
Inmediatamente después de esta reunión, tendremos la primera reunión en la lengua española:
- 8.00 – 9.00 – Ciudad de México
- 9.00 – 10.00 – Bogotá, Lima
- 10.00 – 11.00 – Habana, La Paz
- 11.00 – 12.00 – Buenos Aires, Santiago de Chile
- 15.00 – 16.00 – Londres, Edimburgo
- 16.00 – 17.00 – Madrid, Barcelona
Enlace: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87545962982?pwd=dBa63ZpkAbI5VJ4Rj1akZ7gx86eOyG.1
ID: 875 4596 2982
Password: 742447
Wishing you productive and multilingual 27.3.2026
Thomas Bak
Dina Mehmedbegovic-Smith
Carlos Soler Montes
IMP Organising Committee
