Tag Archives: Colonialism

john bagot glubb Intercultural communication and imperialism

Posted on July 16, 2011 by Ingrid Piller

Many people tend to think that multilingual and intercultural communication skills are not only useful skills to have but are also somehow morally superior. Multilingual people who are skilled intercultural communicators are often thought to be more open-minded, tolerant, peaceful … Continue reading →

Posted in Language & globalization | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Futenma Airbase, right in the middle of the city Language revitalization and liberation

Posted on June 2, 2011 by Ingrid Piller

I’ve recently come across the story of Chibana Shoichi, who burnt the Japanese flag in 1987 to commemorate the Okinawan victims of WWII Japanese militarism. The story is intriguing not because of the flag-burning incident but because Shoichi also keeps … Continue reading →

Posted in Language & globalization, Language, migration & social justice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Mother Language Day in East Timor Mother Language Day in East Timor

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Kerry Taylor-Leech

International Mother Language Day is celebrated annually to promote linguistic and cultural diversity. In East Timor, Mother Language Day 2011 provided the perfect opportunity to launch a new national education policy document promoting the use of children’s mother tongues in … Continue reading →

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

thai_alphabet When illiteracy is a privilege

Posted on February 11, 2011 by Sheila Pham

Learning Thai has its many challenges but one of the great joys for me has been encountering the Thai script. At the start I felt like a five-year-old-child, sounding out consonants and vowels, trying to transform them into words with … Continue reading →

Posted in Language learning, gender & identity, Language, migration & social justice | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

IE2500BP Barbarous multilingual devil worshippers

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Ingrid Piller

I’ve just run a search for the terms “multilingual” and “multilingualism” in the National Library of Australia’s archive of Historic Australian Newspapers, 1803-1954. In the process, I have learnt that the adjective “multilingual” was used for the first time in … Continue reading →

Posted in Language & globalization | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments