Transcript

Researchers’ Night is a Europe-wide event organised with support from the European Union. The University of Reading was one of four institutions in the UK opening its doors and inviting everyone to find out about its research.

The centrepiece of a full day of workshops and talks was a debate discussing the question of how many languages should be spoken in today’s society. The speakers explored the merits, practicality and value of maintaining a multiplicity of languages.

The Podcast is edited and introduced for Pod Academy by Jo Barratt

We join Esther Mijers of the History department to introduce and chair the debate.

Professor Peter Kruschwitz is head of the Classics department at Reading and also heads up the research theme Language, Text and Power.

Dr. Daniela La Penna teaches in the in the Italian Department and specialises in modern Italian poetry.

Dr. William Crawley is senior is a senior fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. He was Senior Editor for the BBC’s World Service for many years and head of the BBC Eastern Service.

Professor Mark Pagel teaches in the School of Biological Sciences at Reading, he is particularly interested in liguistic evolution.

Tags: Daniela La Penna, Debate, Esther Mijers, Jo Barrett, language, Liguistics, Mark Pagel, Multiculturalism, Teaching, University of Reading, William Crawley