Nagoya City poster titled “Pleasant Communication with Simple Japanese”. Note the play on words for “Nagoya” and “pleasant” (nagoyaka) “Cheers, mate.” It’s a cold January night in Hokkaido, Japan, the…
“The Tosa dialect is fun!!” Notebook with characters representing the grammar of Tosaben, the dialect of the Kōchi prefecture in Shikoku. The cover also features popular landmarks of the prefecture.…
The link between language and identity is a subject written about most profusely by linguists, and it never seems to fall into obsolescence. Yet, novelists manipulate the association between language…
English is the mother tongue of the Internet, or so it seems. English is omnipresent in the architecture of this breakthrough technology. You see it in the QWERTY keyboard, domain…
4月9日刊行予定『異文化コミュニケーションを問いなおす』イングリッド・ピラー カバー・帯写真:渡邊リカルドWe are thrilled to announce that the Japanese translation of Ingrid Piller’s bestselling book Intercultural Communication: A Critical Introduction will be published by Sogensha (創元社) on the 9th of April,…
Many people would agree that English is the language of globalization. English is almost always adopted as the official language of international events, including the Olympic Games. It does not…
Japan Store near the University of Yangon “Welcome to the Golden Guest Inn, Ms Takahashi! We've been expecting you!” A Chinese-Burmese man warmly welcomed me on my arrival at his…
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…
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…
Migrant children studying in a Brazilian school in Japan (Source: Japan Times) A recent study of the educational pathways of the children of Brazilian migrants in Japan offers a most…
The front cover of the tourist map of multilingual Macau Last week I had the privilege of visiting the University of Macau and in Macau I discovered yet another unique…
Hiroshi Mikitani, Englishnization in Marketplace 3.0 (Source: gettyimages.co.uk) The business and self-help section of my local Kinokuniya bookstore is currently featuring shelves and shelves of Marketplace 3.0: Rewriting the rules…
Different languages for different jobs in this Los Angeles restaurant Are there language requirements for working in restaurants in Los Angeles? These two employment signs that I saw in the…
If you google images for "study abroad," you get many pictures of inclusive-looking racially-diverse groups of people such as this one. A persistent theme in research with international students in…
Kimie Takahashi (2013) Language learning, gender and desire: Japanese women on the move. Multilingual Matters. It’s Valentine’s Day today. Valentine’s Day is a truly global event inextricably linking the emotional…
Montessori preschoolers in Tokyo preparing a feast Anyone who has young children attending pre-school or participating in other similar programs will be acquainted with birthday rituals in group settings such…