Over the past decade, Manchester has risen to prominence as ‘Britain’s City of Languages’, where over 200 languages are spoken. The city has been celebrating its language diversity, bringing together communities and cultural institutions to flag language skills as an important cultural and economic asset. It has also adopted UNESCO International Mother (and Father) Language Day as an official annual celebration.

On the occasion of Language Day 2022, we invite you to join academic experts, policy makers and representatives of cultural institutions for a conversation on the role of cities in harnessing and fostering multilingualism. As more cities in the UK and worldwide recognise the value of multilingualism for protecting tolerance and countering discourses of suspicion and hostility, we will explore how Manchester’s experience can be replicated more widely, and how we might work toward promoting a global network of ‘cities of languages’.

The event is co-hosted by Manchester’s UNESCO City of Literature and the Manchester City of Languages initiative. The event will also be livestreamed.