French – Language on the Move

Intercultural communication Next Gen Literacies

“Baraye” – preposition of the year

Prepositions are the unnoticed and underappreciated workhorses of language. They are "grammar words" that indicate relationships. Essentially, their job is to connect other words with bigger and more important meanings.…

Ingrid PillerDecember 12, 2022

Language politics

Brexit and the politics of English

Editor's note: As the world anxiously anticipates the outcome of the US presidential election next week - and the consequences it will have for global politics - we've asked the…

Robert PhillipsonOctober 29, 2020

Multilingual histories

Is English spelling an insult to human intelligence?

One of countless internet memes about crazy English spelling (Source: angmohdan.com) During a dreary German winter in the 1980s, I would get up early each Friday morning, wrap myself up…

Ingrid PillerAugust 10, 2020

Language in education

What do migrant parents expect from schools?

Dr Fadila Boutouchent during her guest lecture at Macquarie University When she was in kindergarten, my oldest daughter came home one day talking about "our soldiers" who "went to war for…

Hanna TorshAugust 29, 2018

Multilingual histories

In search of myself

This week is Library and Information week (#LIW2018). Library and Information Week aims to raise the profile of libraries and information service professionals in Australia. What better way to celebrate…

Ingrid PillerMay 21, 2018

Language and globalization

From Minority Languages to Minoritized Languages

The national language is the mother tongue of the vast majority of citizens in most European states (Source: Josu Amezaga, MQ Lecture, 22-11-2017) Last week, Professor Josu Amezaga from the…

Pia TenederoNovember 30, 2017

Language and migration

Getting past the ‘indigenous’ vs. ‘immigrant’ language debate

"The English" migrated to their "ancestral homeland" in the first few centuries of the Common Era (Source: Wikipedia) “Indigenous languages” and “immigrant languages” are much discussed in language policy research,…

Dave SayersAugust 12, 2015

Linguistic landscapes

Multilingual mismatch

Auburn parking ticket (left: quadrilingual on back; right: city logo on front) In Australia with its persistent monolingual mindset coming across any kind of official institutional multilingual communication always feels…

Ingrid PillerJuly 7, 2014

“Speak English or Die!”

"Speak English or Die!" Vilification on a Melbourne bus caught on camera About a year ago, a video of a language-related altercation on a Melbourne bus was widely reported in…

Ingrid PillerNovember 19, 2013

MARIKO WATANABE AND INGRID PILLER CELEBRATE THEIR REUNION AT YACCOMARICARD IN CHIT LOM

Intercultural communication

Communicating passion for fashion

Mariko Watanabe and Ingrid Piller celebrate their reunion at Yaccomaricard in Chit Lom This post is also available in pdf-format. Click here. In early July, YM Fashion’s CEO Mariko Watanabe…

Kimie Takahashi 高橋君江October 11, 2013

Intercultural communication

Polish cemetery in Tehran

Polish refugee section of the Catholic cemetery in Tehran When Kimie Takahashi and myself interviewed participants for Japanese on the Move, our video exhibition of transnational life-stories, one of our…

Ingrid PillerJune 3, 2013

English as a global language

آموزش سوپرمارکتی زبان های خارجی

Constructing language learning as global choice on melale.ir Persian version of Vahid Parvaresh, "Supermarket Language Learning"; translated by Behnam Keimasi (بهنام کیماسی) در ایران، همانند بسیار دیگری از کشورها، دولت به…

Vahid ParvareshJanuary 16, 2013

English as a global language

Supermarket language learning

Constructing language learning as global choice on melale.ir In Iran, as in many other countries, the state has traditionally been a very powerful actor in the field of second language…

Vahid ParvareshDecember 10, 2012

Language learning

The power of Esperanto

Herzberg am Harz, the Esperanto City (Source: Der Spiegel) The rural Bavarian high school I attended in the late 70s and early 80s had two international exchanges going, one with…

Ingrid PillerJuly 26, 2012

Language learning

Schools transforming multilinguals into illiterates?

Mehrsprachige Buecher - multilingual books - ketabhaye chand zabane The release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2011 Census of Population data is an invitation to reflect on the composition…

Susana EisenchlasJuly 13, 2012

Intercultural communication

No translation

Eatery on Kat Hing St, Wuhan, site of Chi Li's Life Show (Source: city.ifeng.com) I am very much looking forward to attending the Intercultural Literacy, Communication, and Competence in the…

Ingrid PillerJuly 10, 2012