Perspective matters

Abstract

Reflecting on my own multilingual upbringing speaking Korean, Chinese, Japanese and English, the single most transformative understanding has been the realisation of my own fixed and static views on multilingual language usage. I used to think the languages and cultures I was brought up in largely determine the way I think and behave. Putting my own multilingual experiences under a microscope looking through the lens of new concepts I was learning from sociolinguistics, I came to see the enormous complexities of how multilinguals use languages in their daily practices and how my misunderstandings limit the possibilities for new ways of being, becoming and belonging in the world. As a languag..