Paulin Djité is Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics, Translation and Interpreting and French Linguistics in the School of Humanities and Languages at the University of Western Sydney. He also acts as an adviser for many international organisations in education, translation and interpreting, and international sporting events. His previous books include The Sociolinguistics of Development in Africa (2008), From Language Policy to Language Planning: An Overview of Key Languages in Australia (1994), and Voir l'Amérique et mourir (1992).

Introduction

Chapter 1 Language and Development in the Greater Mekong Sub-region

Chapter 2 Language and Education in the Greater Mekong Sub-region

Chapter 3 Language and Health in the Greater Mekong Sub-region

Chapter 4 Language and the Economy in the Greater Mekong Sub-region

Chapter 5 Language and Governance in the Greater Mekong Sub-region

Chapter 6 The Language Difference

Language is a sensitive issue in the developing world, because language choice and behaviour are integral to the social, economic and political stability of multicultural societies. To what extent does this argument hold? Does language make a difference when it comes to development, and is there a perceptible difference in development between countries that is attributable to their choice of language? This book sets out to answer these questions by investigating how language has been and is being used in four countries of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (i.e. Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam), especially in the critical areas of education, health, the economy and governance.