For all standing committees, each department/unit should agree on and write down clear procedures for language choice at meetings and in meeting material (to be updated when the composition of members changes). The individual committee chair is responsible for this.
3. Involvement and meetings
The UCPH language policy consists of 10 sections divided into principles on "Language and employees" and "Language and students". Below you can find our take on the principle 3.2 regarding Involvement and meetings.
Principle 3.2
At meetings held in standing committees (including LSU and the study board), research groups, and other relevant fora, principles for language choice, meeting materials, and minutes (if relevant) must be discussed and agreed explicitly amongst the participants.
The chair/convener is responsible for making sure that the discussion and agreement take place.
It is perfectly possible to agree to use more than one language, and in many cases, it may be beneficial to use languages in addition to, or instead of, Danish or English. See principle 3.1 for inspiration.
More than anything, the successful implementation of Principle 3.2 depends on management’s ability to create a reflective culture amongst all members of staff (including management itself) where both language use and language choice are openly discussed.
A meeting cannot be held without someone making a decision about language choice. Often, such decisions are implicit, based on habit. Although this makes the decisions tacit, they are always there. This means that language choice in a multilingual environment invariably involves the risk of excluding or marginalising some speakers (and not others). It is important to have an ongoing conversation about ‘what we’re doing’, ‘why we’re doing it’, and ‘how we might do it differently.’
This is especially important in an organisation like a university where social configurations often tend to be transient. People come and go, and it is therefore necessary to assess the language situation of the group continuously in order to best accommodate and take advantage of the linguistic resources in the group. This can be done through conversation or simple surveys.
CIP can facilitate workshops for departments or other units at UCPH that would like inspiration for implementing the language policy locally. We have developed various workshop formats that are useful for facilitating what can be quite difficult conversations about language.
CIP also offers tailor-made language courses in Danish or English – for individuals or groups – focused on language needs associated with specific activities at the university, e.g. study board meetings.
If you’re interested in knowing more about what we offer at CIP, please contact us at cip@hum.ku.dk or +45 35 32 86 39.