Acknowledgements

The seed for this book was planted when I did my internship at the Council of Europe’s European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in Strasbourg in 2008. There was an abundance of knowledge on the role of minority languages in public and educational spheres but only little was known about their status and practice in economic life. The intrigue with the complex administrative and bureaucratic policy processes and the lack of knowledge I had over what was going on in terms of bilingualism ‘on the ground’ (Hornberger and Hult, 2008) in this field stimulated my decision to start a research project on language policy in businesses in bilingual Wales. I did my PhD in Vienna, so most of my research took place from outside of Wales, with extended field trips for data collection. This book is not without its limitations, written through a Western European lens and a non-Welsh speaking positionality (as I discuss more fully in Chapter 1). My hope is that it will be stimulating and insightful nonetheless and inspire scholars to challenge and expand what I discuss here. I wholeheartedly thank my research participants for sharing their time and stories with me and for making this book what it is: a book about people’s discourses, ideologies and practices of language policy in society. Diolch!

Turning parts of this PhD-based research into a book has been a bumpy ride. I started the book in the UK, finished the first draft during an international move and finalised it in Germany during a global pandemic (COVID-19), amidst limited childcare. I would like to thank the series editors (Jo Angouri in particular) of Discourse Approaches to Politics, Society and Culture for their interest and continuous support in this book project, the anonymous peer reviewers for their important critiques and Isja Conen from John Benjamins for her spot-on and kind communication. My warm thanks go out to my academic peers and friends Charlotte Selleck, Ben Hawkins, Ian Cushing, Michael Hornsby, and Bernhard Forchtner for reading and discussing aspects of this book; special thanks go to my loyal, witty and patient writing buddy Maria Rosa Garrido Sardà, who pushed the limits of this book and my thinking with her critical questions. I also thank my global academic network of scholars and the ‘language and work’ network I have had the privilege of knowing and learning from on numerous occasions. The most flying hearts go out to my family who have been long-suffering with this project and constantly encouraged me to push it through.