Preface

Multilingualism has exerted a huge impact on people's well-being and quality of life all over the world. Despite that many countries have developed language policies regarding multilingualism, we are largely unaware of what it is to be a multilingual speaker in a multilingual society dealing with a multilingual communicative setting. This book presents state-of-the-art developments in science and technology regarding what we have known and what we have yet to know about the nature, factors, and consequences of living a multilingual life.

Firstly, how do multilingual speakers differ from monolingual ones in general cognitive capacities (e.g., cognitive control, social intelligence, etc.) and in the ability to produce, comprehend, acquire, and use different language forms (e.g., spoken, sign, audiovisual, etc.) across contexts? Secondly, how do multilinguals communicate attitudes and emotions as well as perceive and connect with others of different cultural/social backgrounds? Thirdly, what are the processes, benefits, and costs of learning multiple languages, especially for people who speak underrepresented and marginalized languages and those who live in areas where English is not the dominant language? Fourthly, how does being a multilingual speaker benefit or alter the speaker's health, for example, in the elderly and in those who suffer from language and speech impairment? Fifthly, how have artificial intelligence (AI) techniques been deployed in intelligent systems to benefit multilinguals in social media connection, translation, speech recognition, and multimodal sensory integration across communicative contexts?

This volume is divided into three sections, each of which tap one fundamental issue tightly linked to the topic of multilingualism: Multilingualism: Culture and Identity (Section 1), Multilingualism: Learning and Communicative Competence (Section 2), and Multilingualism: Media, Health and Society (Section 3).

The first three chapters contribute to the association of culture and identity with multilingualism. Chapter 1 demonstrates that the instruction and learning of a new language enhance one's awareness and empathy of the cultural value and the mindset of that language speaker. Chapter 2 introduces multilingualism in Cameroon and shows how speakers from different linguistic groups construct and deconstruct the concept of a country given the feeling of belonging to one country. Chapter 3 analyzes decision-making in the choice of language in multilingual contexts, as well as the underlying factors and sociolinguistic implications of this choice.

The following three chapters showcase the impact of multilingualism on learning and communicative competences. Chapter 4 focuses on the anxiety in bilingual students when speaking English for academic purposes and associates academic oral communication anxiety with student motivation in language learning. Chapter 5 claims monolinguals are more capable of understanding and creating a positive effective relationships with others when they evaluate their success in both business and academic places. Chapter 6 reviews empirical studies and proposes the role of the acquisition of distinct script systems on face processing and highlights that becoming multilingual has fundamental impacts on human cognitive abilities beyond language.

The final two chapters demonstrate the mutual benefit of multilingualism and media, health, and society. Chapter 7 provides a case report on the multilingual broadcasting practice by rural radios. Chapter 8 gives examines how multilingual speakers benefit doctor-patient communication and their social and psychological well-being.

The book highlights the interdisciplinary endeavor across linguistics, psychology, cognitive neuroscience, communication sciences, sociology, education, AI, and health sciences, among others. It draws upon areas of expertise from a team of multilingual and multidisciplinary experts, including scientists, policymakers, educators, AI engineers, and others.

We believe this book is a novel and timely contribution to the broad field of multilingualism. We hope it will reach a large audience for a variety of purposes, including students and professors in academic institutions for teaching and research activities as well as educators, doctors, and practitioners for applying relevant knowledge to the development of educational tutorials, efficient communicative strategies, and policies in multilingual contexts.

We would like to thank Ms. Marica Novaković at IntechOpen for her assistance throughout the course of developing and publishing this book. We also acknowledge the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2021114003).

> **Xiaoming Jiang** Institute of Linguistics, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, P. R. China

Section 1
