“Die Sprach-Checker” (Eng. “Language Checkers”) - these are young citizen scientists from Mannheim’s highly diverse district Neckarstadt-West. Together with linguists, they are investigating a tremendous treasure: their own multilingualism. They are exploring and (re)discovering their own languages and the other languages used in their environment while documenting and reflecting on their daily experiences in and with different linguistic practices. Our aim is to raise awareness for their strengths and promote appreciation for their language biographies, thus fostering a sense of identification with one’s own linguistic surroundings. Such a joint research endeavour offers empirical opportunities to address (linguistic) issues of societal relevance by collecting authentic data from the multicultural district and involving its residents and local stakeholders.
In this paper, we will provide insights regarding the project’s background, conception, and outcomes. We address everyone who is planning or conducting a citizen science project with young people, especially children and adolescents, or who works at the interface between science and society.