Germany – Page 2 – Language on the Move

#yallaCSU

This tweet says: "CSU issues correction: its proposal was translated into German incorrectly" Germany is currently witnessing a delightful language ideological farce. It all started when the conservative Christian Social…

Ingrid PillerDecember 9, 2014

Language learning

Bilingual students at the crossroads

Livia and her classmates at a crossroads the year before entering (or not) Gymnasium (Switzerland, 2004) Secondary education as a monolingual fork in the road Let me bust a prevalent…

Livia GerberNovember 16, 2014

Next Gen Literacies

Beyond the mother tongue

Yasemin Yildiz (2012) Beyond the Mother Tongue: The Postmonolingual Condition. Fordham University Press. This book review was originally published in Language in Society 42 (4), 463-466. Access pdf version of…

Ingrid PillerAugust 30, 2013

Multilingual histories

Internationalization of Higher Education, 1933

Ernst Reuter, West Berlin's post-war Mayor, was Professor of Urban Studies in Ankara from 1938 to 1946 (Source: turkishpress.de) While the internationalization of higher education is a hot topic at…

Ingrid PillerMay 14, 2013

Multilingual families

Victory in battle to stream German content to USA

Maxdome This is a follow-up entry to a previous entry in which I wrote about the relationship between family language learning and Easy Hide IP, a proxy server software that…

Christof Demont-HeinrichJanuary 25, 2013

Multilingual families

Hiding my IP to learn German

The "Sorry" message of a German live-streaming site inaccessible to US-based viewers You’ve probably never heard of Easy Hide IP, an admittedly obscure software that allows you to surf the…

Christof Demont-HeinrichNovember 30, 2012

Growing up between cultures

"Wir neuen Deutschen" and "Growing up Lebanese Muslim in Australia" A little while ago, my daughter, who attends Year 5 in an Australian public school, received a “Resilience Award” for…

Ingrid PillerSeptember 17, 2012

English as a global language

Is English a local language in Berlin?

Carla Hackett, Neukölln Hipster (Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cood/6065684573) Recently, I asked my German-speaking, Berlin-based daughter Nanna whether she was able to understand our English-speaking neighbour when he talks with his daughter, Nanna’s…

Britta SchneiderSeptember 7, 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

English as a global language

Language shift and phone sex

Ever since I left my native village in the Bavarian Forest more than 25 years ago, I have been returning for regular, even if infrequent, visits. Over the years, there…

Ingrid PillerFebruary 15, 2012

Linguistic landscapes

Toiletological English

Toiletological English Can you guess what kind of product the following text is promoting? Your well-being is close to our heart rail&fresh areas are bright and friendly and leave nothing…

Ingrid PillerOctober 6, 2011

Language in education

Turkish alphabetisation for German integration

KOALA Buchstabenhaus (Adapted from: Urbanek, R. et al. (2006): Tinto grün. Arbeitsheft 1. Schreiben. Berlin: Cornelsen) Contemporary Germany is the 3rd largest immigrant-receiving country internationally. In 2008, 15.6mio inhabitants (19%…

Victoria BenzSeptember 13, 2011

Many tongues instead of one!

I was so grateful to read Ingrid Piller’s in-depth critical post on German language politics, where she offered a profound analysis of the assumptions underlying the campaign “Ich spreche Deutsch”.…

Bettina KleinerAugust 31, 2011

The cult of personal responsibility

Ads for a campaign to speak German are currently all over Germany. The campaign is called “Ich spreche Deutsch” (I speak German) and aims to convince migrant youths to learn…

Ingrid PillerJuly 20, 2011

Multilingual histories

Providing bilingual education since 1689

Commemorative stamp, German Federal Post, 1989: 300 years French School Berlin I’ve been teaching about bilingualism for more than a decade and when I speak about bilingual education and dual-immersion…

Ingrid PillerOctober 26, 2010

Intercultural communication

What did Angela Merkel really say?

If you read English-language news, you could be forgiven for thinking that Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel recently came out strongly against multiculturalism and immigration. You could be forgiven, but you'd…

Ingrid PillerOctober 20, 2010