Bilingualism
Basic Principles
The „Bilingual Experience“ is a cornerstone of our educational concept. This obliges us to carefully cultivate the use of bilingualism in all communication.
The following basic principles apply:
Separation of Languages
Both languages are used separately from one another in a clear way.
| Dos | Don'ts |
Compose one page or one contribution consequently in one language.
If the same text is printed in both languages, it must be printed in two separate text blocks of the same design. | Do not combine both languages within the same text, tables, or graphs, whenever possible.
Two text blocks are not to be characterised by different design elements (e.g. one language printed in italics or another colour).
Avoid foreign terms whenever possible, i.e. do not use English terms in German/Portuguese/Italian texts or vice versa. |
Equal Weight
Both languages are to be given equal weight.
| Dos | Don'ts |
Write and produce all advertising material in both languages (country websites, info brochures, location flyers).
Give both school languages equal weight in periodically appearing publications (SIS World, emphaSIS, SIS Staff Info, newsletters of schools).
When presenting to an audience, use all slides in one language and hold the speech in the other.
Alternate between both languages in the news boxes in the "Good to Know" section of the website.
When writing the editorial of a publication in one language, make sure to alternate in the next issue. Is the editorial held in the local language, add a short summary in English so that understanding is facilitated for everyone. | Never translate all contributions in a school newsletter, especially reports on events or learning of students.
This contradicts the idea of immersive bilingualism.
Exception The main language used in all publications on group level is English. |
Important Messages
Important messages in SIS countries and locations are to be communicated in both languages.
Communicate official messages (e.g. important changes in staff, new price lists, reminder of notice period for termination of school contract) unequivocally in both languages.
Correctness
Our publications and messages are written in a correct and stylistically elaborate language. All SIS publications and messages are of a high mother tongue level and orthographically and grammatically impeccable.
Communicate official messages (e.g. important changes in staff, new price lists, reminder of notice period for termination of school contract) unequivocally in both languages.
Proofread all texts.
Proofread students’ texts and correct spelling or grammatical errors. In terms of content and style, however, these texts should be age-appropriate.
The respective works of reference are:
- English: Oxford Dictionary
- German: Duden
- Portuguese: Aurelio (dicionário da lingua portuguesa)
- Italian: Treccani
and our Style Sheets.