THE FUTURE OF MULTILINGUALISM, CULTURE, AND ETHICS

As our world becomes more globalized, communication across languages is increasing within political, social, educational, and economic contexts. This chapter provides a broad overview of multilingualism as it is addressed in technical communication. This includes areas such as intercultural communication, translation, and localization. The role of culture is also discussed. Dialogic ethics, as perceived by Buber, is used as the ethical lens in this discussion. Different than virtue ethics, deontological ethics, or utilitarian ethics, dialogic ethics, in its ideal form, asks interlocutors to put aside self-interest to co-create meaning using respect and listening creating a true dialogue. The author’s empirical research is introduced to illustrate the complexities of communicating across languages and culture.