John Edwards lives in Nova Scotia, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is the author of many books, and the editor of the Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development.

• Prologue; 1. The Diversity of Languages; 2. Interpreting Language Diversity; 3. Multilingual Abilities; 4. The Emergence and Measurement of Multilingualism; 5. The Consequences of Babel: Lingua Francas; 6. The Consequences of Babel: Translation; 7. Keeping Languages Pure; 8. Languages and Identities in Transition; 9. Endangered Languages and the Will to Survive; 10. Linguistic Intervention and the "New" Ecology of Language; Epilogue; Bibliography; Index.

John Edwards has written a book about everything that happens when languages meet, a book about ‘the social life of language'. With his encyclopaedic knowledge he composed a small but complete encyclopedia of multilingualism that has an intriguing fact or an original insight on every page. Before readers realize that the subject-matter is complicated, they have already understood it, since Edwards wears his knowledge lightly and writes with apparent ease. A book for everyone who has to cope with diverse languages, that is, according to this book, nearly everyone.