Three definitions are given of the (debated) nature of ‘Applied Linguistics’ (AL):

1. (1) foreign language (L2) teaching/learning;

2. (2) use of linguistic knowledge to solve problems where language is a central issue;

3. (3) anything related to language except theoretical linguistics.

Rejecting (3), the authors develop specific aspects of definitions (1) and (2).

Definition (1):

• - Relation between language theory and AL: main approaches to L2 teaching (e.g., Reform Movement, structuralist and behaviorist trends, contrastive analysis, audiolingual methods, L2 development (error analysis and interlanguage — supported by generative theory);

• - Interdisciplinarity: research in L2 (cognitive) psycholinguistics: experimental investigations on language processing, e.g., language activation by bilinguals;

• - Interdisciplinarity: growing interest in the social contexts of L2 acquisition: development of ‘communicative language teaching,’ of usage-based teaching (with corpora), attention paid to learners’ age/gender/social class and the sociocultural context of development.

Definition (2):

• - Focus on multilingualism: cognitive advantage/disadvantage of bi/multilingualism;

• - Language policy and planning in AL;

• - International, national, local policies (CEFR, ACTFL);

• - The spread of English, local standards of English;

• - Bilingual education (immersion, CLIL).

• - Language testing: psychometric-structuralist, integrative-sociolinguistic approaches, moral/ethical dilemmas in testing;

• - Neurolinguistic issues related to bilingual aphasia (e.g., affected areas of the brain and location of language in the brain; use of modern tools (ERP, fMRI) for research).

This chapter analyses the South African language policies in relation to the use of African languages in South African banks. The study argues that the legislative efforts to achieve multilingualism within the banking sector fall very short of their goal. While the language policies are good on paper, the practicality of attaining their goal is far from being achieved. South Africa is a multilingual country with eleven official languages, including the sign language. However, the current language practices in the South African banks do not resonate with the multilingualism envisaged in the Constitution of 1996 and national language policies. This is evident in banks where only English is used as the sole language of communication and record, a predicament that elevates it to being the ‘language of business’. The irony, however, is that the majority of customers in banks are speakers of indigenous African languages.