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From https://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-77.html

 

The Study Group on Language and the United Nations invites you to contribute to a symposium, "The United Nations at 75: Listening, Talking and Taking Action in a Multilingual World. It will take place May 9-10, 2019, in New York City.

 

This symposium will give particular attention to the question of language. Although the UN has always promoted dialogue, in recent years it has grown more sensitive to the need for equality in dialogue. In other words, it has become increasingly aware of the need to listen to its constituents rather than simply talking to them, and to understand as well as to be understood. Such concepts are inherent in the Sustainable Development Goals accepted in 2015 and setting the agenda for the UN as it grows closer to its first hundred years. In a world in which thousands of languages are spoken, is the UN ready for equal dialogue, now and in the future? If not, what is to be done to create linguistic readiness – both in the internal workings of the organization and in its relations with the larger world? These questions have particular relevance in 2019, the UN’s International Year of Indigenous Languages.

 

Call for Papers: 

 

The organizers of the Symposium welcome proposals from scholars and practitioners for brief 20-minute papers, both applied and theoretical, on such topics as: 

 

• Dialogue in development 

• Language policy in the UN and other international governmental and nongovernmental organizations 

• Translation and interpretation (e.g., translator and interpreter training, working with translators and interpreters, ongoing professional development for language proficiency maintenance) 

• Multilingualism at the UN and in international co-operation 

• The role of language in public diplomacy, outreach, and other fieldwork 

• Professional development needs for multilingual operations, including development, peacekeeping, and diplomacy 

• Language and the three pillars of the UN: human rights, peace and security, and development 

• Professional development for language proficiency: Building organizational language capacity as a human resource 

• The role of language in negotiation 

• Monolingualism and the illusion of consensus 

• Language problems and miscommunication 

• Language awareness among UN agencies and staff 

• Language education: Preparing the next generation for international relations 

• Indigenous languages and the work of the United Nations 

 

The deadline for submissions is February 15.

 

View the full call for proposals at https://linguistlist.org/issues/30/30-77.html