Projects

Much Language Such Talk
A language podcast discussing questions about language, learning, and culture with expert guests.
TEAM - Teacher Education About Multilingualism
Educating pre-service and in-service teachers about various aspects of bilingualism that is often missing from their training.
Bilingualism Matters in the Waterloo Region and Canada
A three-year research project investigating the challenges of 21st century bilingualism at the local level in Canada.
ALIHAS - A Linguistic Investigation of Hate Speech
Investigating and discussing hate speech from a linguistic perspective - how to identify it and how to avoid it.
MultiMind
Training the new generation of researchers in multilingualism.
Arts in Tongues
Engaging families and young children through the arts, multiculturalism and multilingualism with community workshops and videos from bilingual Edinburgh-based artists.
Supporting children with language disorders in primary Gaelic-medium schools
Supporting and strengthening the potential of pupils of different abilities in Scottish Gaelic Medium Education.
Teaching Polish through Art in Multilingual Scotland
Exploring multilingual approaches to language teaching and providing teachers with knowledge, skills and example activities, using artworks and art-making in language classes with young learners.
Classroom resources on bilingualism
Find out about our new resources on bilingualism for teachers to use in English and Gaelic speaking classrooms.

Events

View all
The Language Learning Buzz

Join us for this free, online learning workshop designed to help teachers working in complementary and heritage language schools to develop successful strategies to engage and motivate learners both online and in the classroom

The Bigger Picture

Join Bilingualism Matters and SCILT online on 31 January 2024 for ‘The Bigger Picture’ - a free, online event designed to give teachers working in complementary and heritage language schools a deeper insight into the role that teachers can play in bilingual language development

Tense, Aspect and Modality in L2 (TAML2) Conference

Join an international group of researchers for a two-day conference on the acquisition, learning and teaching of Tense, Aspect and Modality (TAM) in second languages (L2)

Monolinguals vs. multilinguals: who wins?

Does comparing monolinguals and bilinguals really matter? Professor Antonella Sorace explores this and more in her upcoming talk for The Royal Society of Edinburgh's Curious Festival (04-17 September 2023)

Too many languages? Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023

Bilingual, trilingual, quadrilingual, pentalingual – does your brain change for the better the more languages you know? Join Antonella Sorace in this CODI Fringe show to find out.

Language and Lies for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023

Antonella Sorace debates if knowing only one language still possible in today’s world and Chris Cummins explores how linguistics can help us detect lies, in this new CODI show for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Bilingualism in the classroom and beyond

The last of three workshops in the Scotland’s Saturday Language Schools Series, organised by Bilingualism Matters and SCILT

Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh meeting

The next in-person meeting of the Bilingualism Matters Centre at the University of Edinburgh is on Wednesday 5 April 2023, 12.30-13.30 (UK time). This event is open to current and prospective members of Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh.

Gaelic language development and education: a state-of-the-art update

Join us online on Monday 20 February, 16.00-17.30, for a showcase of up-to-date work on children and adults learning Gaelic for World Gaelic Week | Seachdain na Gàidhlig.

How languages can save lives and help to build a better future.

Join us in our new online format. Live and online with Q&A, chat & Expo + 3 months to catch up on anything you miss.

Everyone speaks another language!

Does anyone really speak only one language? At what point do you know enough of another language to call yourself bilingual? Join Antonella Sorace in this CODI Fringe show to find out.

Brighter Brains and Languages

Antonella Sorace debates if single-language speakers really exist and Alan Gow explores how to keep sharp as we age, in this CODI show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Why is multilingualism good for you?

Online panel discussion event at Curious, the online summer events programme from The Royal Society Edinburgh.

Thistles & Sunflowers Festival Weekend

Festival in Edinburgh exploring Bulgarian language and highlighting bilingual stories and artists from the lands of thistles and sunflowers.

Polish Heritage Days May Family Picnic

Come and celebrate Polish Heritage Day with us!

Bilingualism Matters Launch Event

The official launch of our new Bilingualism Matters social enterprise on 30 March 2022.

News

View all
Help with research! Looking for bilingual and monolingual participants who speak Polish and English

We’re looking for people of all ages and backgrounds to participate in this University of Edinburgh study

The Languages Gateway: a new portal for languages in the UK

Explore the Languages Gateway: a new portal for languages that connects information, resources, and opportunities on languages across the UK.

Help with research! Looking for bilingual participants aged 5-7 who speak French and English

Children aged 5-7 who speak French and English are invited to participate in this University of Edinburgh study

Help with research! Looking for autistic and non-autistic children who are monolingual or bilingual

Children aged between 3-11 years old are invited to participate in this University of Edinburgh study on the bilingual development of autistic and non-autistic children

Antonella Sorace and Thomas Bak talk about what bilingualism does to the brain in new BBC film

Watch researchers from the Bilingualism Matters Centre at the University of Edinburgh discuss some of the surprising upsides of being bilingual

Learning languages in the UK through inter-comprehension

By Lourdes Barquín Sanmartín, Teaching Fellow at the Spanish School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, University College Dublin

BM Director Professor Antonella Sorace wins 2023 Ondras Award

Professor Antonella Sorace has received the 2023 Ondras Award in recognition for her research investigating bilingual development and for her tireless work to publicly educate on the benefits of bilingualism in any languages.

TEAM is looking for feedback on their new videos for teachers!

Teacher Education About Multilingualism (TEAM) project is releasing free educational resources, aimed to help educators understand and navigate the intricacies of working with multilingual pupils and in multilingual classrooms. Help us evaluate our open education resource TEAM .

Bilingualism Matters: Language Learning Across the Lifespan

Take a fascinating journey into the bilingual brain with Maria Garraffa, Antonella Sorace, and Maria Vender in this newly adapted version of Il Cervello Bilingue (2020) translated by John W. Schwieter

Are some languages more difficult than others?

Prof Antonella Sorace answers Maria Júlia, aged 14, from São Lourenço, Brazil on whether some languages can be harder to learn than others in this article for The Conversation.

Help with research! Looking for children who speak Gaelic, English & at least one other language at home

Children at Scottish Gaelic Medium Education schools between Primary 2 and Primary 5 who speak Gaelic, English and at least one other language at home, are invited to participate in this University of Edinburgh study researching how multilingual children learn Gaelic and English.

GME Resources

A collection of online resources from Bilingualism Matters at the University of Edinburgh for parents, carers and children involved in or considering Gaelic Medium Education in Scotland.

Multimind Project - Final Conference & Resources

Find out about the MultiMind Project Final Conference and how to access free resources on multilingualism, including a fun quiz, flyers and videos on multilingualism and developmental language disorders, and policy reports for professionals.

Help with research! Looking for Scottish secondary school language teachers for anti-racism study

University of Edinburgh PhD candidate Mariel Deluna is investigating teacher perspectives on the relationship between “race”, language, ethnicity, and nationality.

Launching a new Bilingualism Matters

Find out about our new Bilingualism Matters social enterprise and how to get involved.

Help with research - Italian & English bilinguals

We are looking for research participants for a study on bilingualism - can you help? English-Italian bilinguals living in the UK or Italy.

Polish through Art - online exhibition now open

Find out more about the exhibition of creative art works by primary school pupils during the Polish through Art project.

Resources on bilingualism for English and Gaelic speaking classrooms

Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh has teamed up with educational platform Twinkl and SCILT to create a range of free resources on bilingualism for teachers to use in English and Gaelic speaking classrooms.

Arts In Tongues Wins Award

A BM Edinburgh project aiming to inspire local Edinburgh communities to connect with languages has won the Collaboration Award at the recent Creative Edinburgh Awards.

Looking for Italians living in the UK

The 'Bilingualism and Hate Speech Experiences' study needs participants to help with research.

Help with research!

Help with research and be compensated for your time! PhD student looking for native Spanish speakers from Spain, living in the UK or Spain.

BM Edinburgh Newsletter May 2021

The latest news and updates from Bilingualism Matters at the University of Edinburgh, including upcoming events and research.

UNESCO Futures of Education

Bilingualism Matters is working in partnership with UNESCO on the Futures of Education initiative. Find out about about latest developments and reports.

Teaching Spanish as a third language in the British academic setting

By Lourdes Barquín Sanmartín, PhD in Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh

Do you trust this accent?

BM Edinburgh volunteer Dr Maria Dokovova interviews Dr Lauren Hall-Lew from the University of Edinburgh about accents and trust.

Contribute to UNESCO’s Future of Education report

The UNESCO International Commission on the Futures of Education is looking for feedback on its Progress Update report by 30th April 2021.

Growing up a bilingual imposter

Blog post by Maggie Mroczkowski, BM Edinburgh Volunteer and PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh

Iberodocs Documentary Film Festival

Bilingualism Matters is a collaborator in this year's festival, which has a great programme of Portuguese and Spanish documentary films, available across the UK and Ireland.

Publication of BM reports for UNESCO's Futures of Education

Bilingualism Matters has contributed two full reports and a summary consultation report to the UNESCO Futures of Education initiative, highlighting the crucial role of languages in education.

Looking for Gaelic-speaking children to take part in research

A research team from the University of Edinburgh is looking at how bilingual children learn Gaelic and English and which areas of the languages are hard for them.

The Joy of Languaging: In Celebration of Human Rights Day

Blog post by Mariel Deluna, PhD Education Student at University of Edinburgh & BM Edinburgh Volunteer

Galician: A minority language in Spain

Post by María García Basanta, BM Edinburgh Volunteer, on her native language, Galician.

Accent Postivity

Post by Dr Maria Dokovova, BM Edinburgh Volunteer

Happy Autism Awareness Week!

Article by Bérengère Digard, with the support of Sonny and Fergus from AMASE

The Edinburgh Multilingual Stories Festival

Find out about the Edinburgh Multilingual Stories Festival, a celebration of languages that ran in 2018 and 2019, and we plan to host again in the future.

Multilingual Encounters: Sign Language Researcher Helen Koulidobrova
Is bilingual education harmful?
Prof Antonella Sorace – online & in the news

A selection of online videos from events and talks given by Prof Antonella Sorace, and links to articles in the media.

People

Prof Antonella Sorace
Professor of Developmental Linguistics, University of Edinburgh / Founding Director of Bilingualism Matters More
Dr Katarzyna Przybycien
CEO of Bilingualism Matters
Dr Vicky Chondrogianni
Senior Lecturer in Bilingualism; BM Edinburgh Programme Director (Bilingual development and developmental language disorders) More
Dr Thomas Bak
Reader in Human Cognitive Neuroscience & BM Edinburgh Programme Director (Bilingualism in later life, healthy ageing & dementia) More
Dr Ania Byerly
Senior Teaching Fellow in Language Education, Moray House School of Education and Sport; BM Edinburgh Programme Director (Teacher Education) More
Thomas Chaurin
Head of Languages for All; BM Edinburgh Programme Director (Language Teaching and Learning) More
Prof Rob Dunbar
Chair of Celtic Languages, Literature, History and Antiquities; BM Edinburgh Programme Director (Gaelic) More
Dr Guy Puzey
Lecturer in Scandinavian Studies; BM Edinburgh Programme Director (Language Visibility and Nordic Languages) More
Dr Carlos Soler Montes
Lecturer in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies; BM Edinburgh Programme Director (Spanish & Portuguese) More
Eva-Maria Schnelten
PhD Student in Linguistics and English Language, University of Edinburgh More
Carine Abraham
PhD candidate in Linguistics and English Language, University of Edinburgh More
Brittany Blankinship
PhD Student in Psychology, Human Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Edinburgh More
Dr Maria Dokovova
PhD Phonetics and MSc Speech and Language Therapy, Queen Margaret University More
Dr Bérengère Digard
Engagement Officer, Patrick Wild Centre, University of Edinburgh More
Mattia Zingaretti
PhD Student in Linguistics & English Language, University of Edinburgh More
Roberta Spelorzi
PhD Student in Linguistics & English Language, University of Edinburgh More
María García Basanta
MSc Developmental Linguistics Student, University of Edinburgh More
Dobrochna Futro
PhD candidate in Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Glasgow More
Candice Mathers
PhD candidate in Linguistics & English Language, University of Edinburgh
Jessica Schulz
PhD student in Psychology, University of Edinburgh More
Mariel Deluna
PhD Student in Education, University of Edinburgh
Maggie Mroczkowski
PhD Candidate in Education, University of Edinburgh More
Dr Maria Garraffa
Bilingualism Matters Honorary Member; Associate Professor University of East Anglia/ Research Professor MultiLing-Univerisity of Oslo/ British Council UK-Malaysia Board Member www.langlife.co.uk

Keep in touch

Bilingualism Matters Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh, Dugald Stewart Building, 3 Charles Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AD