Gegen den Strom: individuelle Mehrsprachigkeit trotz Einsprachigkeitspolitik

This study's objective was to answer the question as to which motives provide the impulse for language learning decisions beyond mainstream choices. Particularly, there has been strong interest in personality attributes that may be most characteristic of European higher education students in multilingualism. In fact, as is pointed out in this paper, most of the interviewees of the project show characteristics slightly similar to Erasmus intellectuals (Dahrendorf), i.e. they share attitudes somewhat resembling those described by Dahrendorf (2006) as for instance the courage to stand up for one’s cause in solitude, the ability to live withcontradictions and a certain tendency to be an engaged observer.