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Translanguaging Spaces

In the context of translanguaging, when thinking about space, it is not necessarily considered a physical space, but more of a space in the multilingual individual’s mind. Through the processes of translanguaging, individuals create their own translanguaging space. Having said that, there can be many different translanguaging spaces that then get incorporated into a larger social space. For example, university environment seem to provide a better translanguaging space due to the larger diversity that there is among college students than in a typical high school – and this is referring to the individuals life outside the classroom. Moreover, multilinguals can generate this social space where they are free to bring together whichever tools they have gathered, ranging from personal history, experience and environment, attitude, belief and ideology, cognitive and physical capacity, and combine all this knowledge to form a coordinated and meaningful performance. Within the translanguaging space that has been formed, the isolation of each individual language is not present. Instead, it provides an environment where all languages merge together and results in completely new ideas and practices.

Multilinguals, in their translanguaging space, are continually coming up with new ways (strategies) in which they can take advantage of their language knowledge to attain a specific communication effect in their day to day lives and experiences. When they become comfortable with the use of each language, creativity begins to flow and the languages become intertwined in ways that can only be understood in the that specific translanguaging space. For example, when considering the mix of Spanish and English i.e. Spanglish, Miami, Florida itself has several different translanguaging spaces. The variety between these spaces depends on the Latin country the speakers come from due to the difference in dialects that exist. It is very common to hear Spanglish being spoken in Miami but if someone speaks both Spanish and English, it does not necessarily mean the usage of certain expression and words/sentence will be understood.