ABSTRACT
The introduction frames social work in the context of multilingual societies. With global migration and mobility, states face the challenge of relating to citizens who do not understand and speak the language of public service provision. This is not a new phenomenon, with indigenous people, national minorities, and deaf people having made most countries linguistically diverse since the time of state formation. However, as migration and mobility have increased over the past decades, language barriers in encounters between public service providers and individuals are becoming a more common occurrence. People who are not proficient in the language(s) of wider communication in a society are faced with substantial barriers to participation. Social workers are among those working most closely with particularly vulnerable populations, including linguistic minorities. As such, language discordant communication represents an essential competency in professional social work practice. The chapter presents previous research and gaps in our knowledge on these topics, followed by the specific research questions, research methods, and data on which this book is based.
