Everyday care in the context of multilingualism and dementia: Insights and perspectives

We live in an increasingly ageing world. Culturally and linguistically diverse. Thus, we can soon expect to have a higher number of multilingual people, with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, who will eventually need assistance. Some of them will potentially suffer from dementia, a disease that in its course impairs linguistic and communicative abilities. The persons concerned may be particularly dependent on their familiar language. At the same time, it is not guaranteed that the required language is spoken by caregivers. This talk will focus on the specific challenges arising from this communication barrier. This will be illustrated using examples from different nursing homes in Germany. In the first part of the talk, I will cover the aspect of theoretical background. I will begin with a discussion of language and multilingualism in the elderly affected by dementia. Next, there will be a discussion on methodological challenges associated with researching on this vulnerable group and context. In the second part, I will cover the different linguistic constellations in Germany’s nursing homes. I will do this presenting some specific examples. I will continue with a discussion on long-term studies with bilingual people affected by dementia. From this we can gain knowledge of the multilingual developments in people suffering from dementia. I will conclude explaining to what extent the communicative abilities in different languages can and should be seen as a resource and used in the context of everyday assistance. The talk will end with an outlook on the existing approaches to integrate multilingualism in the context of care and to promote even more in the future