Tag Archives: Australia

Language costs Language costs

Posted on November 25, 2011 by Ingrid Piller

USD 254,000: that is the cost of raising two children bilingually in English and German in Denver, Colorado. That’s a lot of money, and inspired me to do some number-crunching of my own. To begin with, it’s a reminder that … Continue reading →

Posted in Language & consumerism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

090729-02-jellyfish-harvest-break-nets_big_2 The politics of subtitling

Posted on October 19, 2011 by Ingrid Piller

Recently, I watched a TV documentary about the proliferation of Nomura jellyfish in Japanese coastal waters. It was a shocking tale of the devastating environmental, economic, social and human impact of overfishing, global warming and marine pollution. The reason I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, migration & social justice | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

Culture-shock Reading ‘Culture Shock’ in Isfahan

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Vahid Parvaresh

In the past three decades attention has shifted from communicative competence to discourse as a frame for understanding the challenges faced by language learners. Yet, the question of how stereotyping in language teaching can be avoided seems as unresolved as … Continue reading →

Posted in Language learning, gender & identity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

school vouchers Let’s reclaim our language!

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Ingrid Piller

Corporate double-speak is plummeting to ever lower depths and is insinuating itself into every aspect of our lives. Many see through this sustained assault on our collective intelligence, no doubt. Mike Carlton, for instance, nicely picked apart a corporate message … Continue reading →

Posted in Language & consumerism | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

samplevisa What is “Competent English”?

Posted on August 5, 2011 by Grace Chu-Lin Chang

“PR” is probably one of the abbreviations I have heard most since coming to Australia. Despite the fact that PR – “permanent residence” for the non-initiated – is the much-coveted subject of many conversations, I found out that it is … Continue reading →

Posted in Language learning, gender & identity | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments