Queen Mary launches project promoting multilingual families

Immigrant families are being offered support keeping up their mother tongues through a new university initiative.

More than 1.7million people in London use a main language other than English – the equivalent of 20 per cent of the capital’s households.

Now, Queen Mary University has set up a programme called “Multilingual Capital: A Resource for London Communities” in a bid to help people pass their languages on to future generations.

Linguistics specialist at the university Dr Esther de Leeuw said: “We want to engage with all groups impacted by multilingualism including parents, children, support services and schools.

“One of our main aims is to make this issue in East London and the wider city more visible and to identify challenges and solutions across these communities.”

The university now wants people from across east London to engage in the project. Those interested in getting involved can contact Esher de Leeew at e.deleeuw@qmul.ac.uk.