word on the street 9 streets of Govanhill, which is really special, certainly in such a small neighbourhood. So much is done to force people to learn English, but it’s also about recognising and celebrating the diversity that exists within the community. That helps to normalise differences. Even the people who don’t necessarily speak the languages respond really well to seeing other languages side by side. And it’s not only about representing community languages, it’s about integration. We have little language quizzes, or sometimes translation guides for a few of the key words. It’s a way to help members of this community learn a few words of a different language. In fact, the theme of the next issue is ‘integration’, and we’re going to have a pull-out guide with multilingual ‘small talk’ phrases so people can talk to their neighbours. Being able to greet each other in the right language is a really powerful thing. Harnessing networks We have some big plans for our future. Firstly, we are about to take on our own premises. It’s going to be on the high street, and again, we want it to be an accessible community space that people will pop into, and come for training and workshops. I’m also developing ideas around collaborating with other publications in Scotland, and trying to find ways to support and collaborate, to share resources, time and skills. I get so much out of connecting with other publishers, that I’d like to harness that. We’re also looking at how we can replicate our current model and learn lessons from launching this first publication to see if we can do even better next time. I’d love to uplift the sector as a whole. Our last issue was produced entirely by young people from underrepresented backgrounds: young women, Pakistani Scottish people, people with disabilities, people from the LGBT community, people from the Roma community. They wrote all the features for the magazine – and now they all want to work in journalism. Some of them are even doing training and taking qualifications. It’s so rewarding to see it bloom. Slowly, let’s make a difference.
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