Abstract:

More than ever, contemporary education requires a perpetual adaptation to the new demands, which involves not only the curricular contents, but also the multicultural or intercultural contents. Multicultural communities have a certain peculiarity, the degree of tolerance towards the other being much higher or, on the contrary, the sensitivities and needs of all are so different that they attract a greater concern for identity and individual specificity, as well as for the integration of all community members and their involvement in joint actions. School, through its efforts, is the one which, regardless of the level of study, creates bonds of tolerance, of inclusion, of interaction with the Other, an Other both different and similar, in equal measure, through their experiences, needs and expectations.The present study aims to capture some of the specific elements of multicultural communities, both from the perspective of multilingualism and that of multiple cultures which in some places preserve their identity or merge with the other cultural environments with which they interact. This research target group includes the master students from Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in Communication Program. These students will fill in a survey which is meant to highlight a few relevant aspects related to the quality of the life they lead in a multicultural environment as well as their need of attending a postgraduate degree in order to gain a deeper insight into the intercultural phenomenon. The survey focuses on the daily linguistic interactions from the perspective of mother tongue use, one of the parents’language as well as the ways in which the dwellers from UTA, Găgăuzia, Moldavia express themselves when they use the official language. In addition to it, the questions included in the survey shed light not only on the family traditions, but also on the local and national ones. Such traditions show how these multicultural citizens relate to their own identity and how they interact with the otherness. Thus, the research points out the obvious manner in which every individual belonging to these multiethnic communities attempts not only at defining their cultural and linguistic identity, but also at becoming aware of the great importance of interacting with the Other that eventually outlines their cultural and linguistic profile.

Keywords:

Adaptation, communities, integration, multilingualism, specificity.