Community languages at home
Many children bring to school skills and ability in languages they have acquired from living in a home where more than one language is spoken. The recognition of community languages helps to create a society of mutual respect, and can contribute to good citizenship. Examples of community languages are:
British Sign Language
Hindi
Swahili
Turkish
Urdu
Welsh
CILT
CILT’s website has a section with information on community languages as well as support for parents.
Case studies
Languages Work has collected case studies of people who use community languages in their work, or who have found their home language has helped their career in some way.
Kaneez
Works in the translation and interpreting unit of Leicester City Council. A Bengali speaker.
Harpreet
Brought up speaking Panjabi at home, now works in IT services.
Farhan
Is teaching both Bengali – his mother tongue – and French in London.
Eyasu
Works at a voluntary centre and regularly uses his Oromo and Amharic languages.
Rani
Works in customer support for the Newham Borough Council, and speaks Tamil.