Philosophy of Multilingualism and Technology: From Representation to Attunement

Many studies of multilingualism are concerned with the competence of speakers who have some mastery of three or more languages. They also draw attention to a multilingual condition which requires habits of attunement and skills of orientation from everyone, no matter how many or how few languages they speak. The multilingual condition presents a challenge also to the philosophy of language and mind, including theories of translation and conceptions of knowledge. Traditional philosophy is rooted in mono- and bi-lingualism. Against this tradition, it is worthwhile to explore the fruitful complementarity of a newly emerging philosophy of multilingualism and the still emerging philosophy of technology. From the point of view of homo faber in the multilingual condition, people co-ordinate with other people by way of language, and people co-ordinate with material things by way of technology—and so there is common ground since language is a kind of technology, and technology a kind of language.