SOAS University of London

SpeakSOAS

SpeakSOAS is an exclusive app for SOAS students to find language exchange buddies within the university. Unlike other platforms where English and French seem to get all the attention, on SpeakSOAS you'll be able to find and offer exchanges in any of the languages taught at SOAS. So no matter whether you want to chat in Yorùbá, polish up your Korean for a job interview, or become proficient in London slang, this app will help you with that!

Please consult our  SpeakSOAS Data Policy (2018) (pdf; 94kb)  

UPDATE 27-09-2018: Due to an unexpected change in Google Play's data policy, the SpeakSOAS app has been temporarily taken down. We are working to update the app and to make sure that your personal information is protected.

Local language use and aid: An unchartered territory

Our research combines linguistic and development expertise in the health sector, examining how research is conducted in the social sciences around health communication which is then the basis for interventions and policies. We are aiming to gain a broader understanding of the role of local languages in assessment and evaluation for interventions. The research aims at supporting the implementation of rigorous and ethically sound research practices to ensure that interventions are based on reliable assessments. Understanding the local language ecology and working within those parameters also ensure that the local knowledge and language is not devalorised. This also means that this sensitivity to local language ecologies, the domains of language use will be better maintained and broadened, resulting in real progress against language shift at the local level. In this way, linguists and development actors working today can help local communities thrive culturally, linguistically, and socio-economically.

This research project is being carried out in collaboration with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Health and it is supported by the London International Development Centre.

SOAS We Talk

Listen to SOAS' voices in 100 languages! SOAS We Talk is a student-run project celebrating 100 years of diversity at SOAS. Visit the SOAS We Talk website and navigate the map to hear the languages of our students, staff and alumni.

Multilingualism and language learning: Linguistic practices and attitudes of university students learning languages in Europe and beyond

The focus of this research project is on the intersection between multilingualism, language learning and higher education. As universities play a key role in the preparation of the next generation of global citizens, it is important to examine students’ linguistic profiles, language attitudes and language learning experiences as well as to gauge their language learning needs to operate successfully in the linguistically diverse and complex environments created by globalisation.

The main sources of data collection include an online survey covering those questions followed by interviews/focus groups with a small sample of students across the various regions.

This research project forms part of a large–scale research initiative ‘Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community’, an AHRC-Funded OWRI Programme, based at the University of Manchester.

The Endangered Poetry Project

SOAS World Languages Institute is collaborating with Southbank Centre’s National Poetry Library to collect and preserve verbal art and poetry in endangered languages. Via an international call-out, members of the public are invited to submit a their artwork in a language that is endangered or under threat.

Read our multilingual call for poems and spread the word across London and worldwide. Visit the Endangered Poetry Project's website to submit a poem and read more about this collaboration.

Upcoming trainings

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic no trainings are currently planned.

Past projects and events

• Screening of the film Wild Honey: A Documentary on Music and Language in Russia, 22 February 2020.
• Virtual Language Fest, SOAS World Languages Institute hosts virtual celebration of International Mother Language Day, 27 February 2020
• International conference on Language Diversity and Preservation of Cultural Heritage – Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia (RILCA), Mahidol University, Thailand, 17-18 December 2019.
• Languages in an Open World (LOW 2019) conference – Graz, Austria, 20-22 November 2019.
• ELDP grantee training in language documentation in London, August 28 - September 4 2019.
• LAPI 2019 - Endangered Languages and Language Varities in the Iberian Peninsula. Organised by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social and Language Documentation (CIDLeS) with SWLI and the project FRONTESPO, 4-5 July 2019.
• Workshop at Columbia University with Gayatri Spivak to discuss NGO work and language skills, 4 April 2019.
• Mandana Seyfeddinipur presented a lecture at NYU on gesture and multimodality, 5 April 2019.
• "International Workshop on the Documentation of Endangered Languages and Cultures" at Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee University campus, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.
• Workshop on Iranian languages in New York with Don Stilo organised with the Endangered Languages Alliance
• Language Fest - SOAS World Languages Institute celebrated International Mother Language Day and the International Year of Indigenous Languages on 21 February 2019.
• The big, bright future of Linguistics - Russell Gray at SOAS.
• Communities in Control 2017 - In collaboration with Mercator, CiDLes and FEL.
• MEaCoM Workshop 1 - Organised by University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and hosted in collaboration with CiDLes.
• Pre-WOCAL9 Training in Language Documentation (Rabat)
• Fall School on Documentary Linguistics in the MENA region (Berlin)