Ramadan Lights on Coventry Street Ramadan in London is exceptional in many ways. As the centre of a former Empire which still exerts a global pull on its former subjects…
Map of Transoxania (Source: Wikipedia) Editor’s note: Arabic language learning is experiencing a revival in many parts of the world, such as China, where it may be a source of…
Image 1 Like many parents of teenagers, I delightedly welcome any occasion to connect with a generation I don’t always understand and that doesn’t always understand me. As a Muslim…
Multilingual responses are common during the special liturgies of Lent Many people celebrated Easter with chocolate bunny treats and by enjoying the long weekend. But not as many know the…
The South Asian presence in colonised Australia is on the rise. I say colonised Australia because, in discussing linguistic diversity in this country, I acknowledge the diverse Aboriginal and Torres…
Chinese signage on churches is increasingly prominent in Sydney’s linguistic landscape. These signs are surprising because they are bilingual in a predominantly English monolingual linguistic landscape. They are also surprising…
Akhlaq Ahmad at work on the mural in Shahdara for the ‘Delhi, I Love You’ project. (Image Credit: Delhi, I Love You) On July 8, 2020, The Wire published an…
Uluru (Image Credit: Ondrej Machart via Unsplash) Call for papers: Exploring multilingualism, religion and spirituality in Australian life Editors: Dr Robyn Moloney, Macquarie University; and Very Rev Fr Dr Shenouda…
Muslim women praying in a Minquan mosque While everyone knows that China is now the second largest economy in the world, few people realize that there are still over five…
How is your Language-on-the-Move Reading Challenge coming along? One month has gone by and you should have ticked off at least one book from our list. I started with an…
U.S. Vice President Pence ignores NASA "DO NOT TOUCH" sign. Would anyone else get away with such illiterate behavior? “Literacy” is one of those words that everyone uses as a…
Murugan Temple, Colombo (Source: Andy Nobes) Do you know which non-Christian religion has grown the fastest in Australia since the new millennium? You might be surprised to hear that it’s…
Trial by fire depicted in a medieval manuscript (Source: Wikipedia) In the Middle Ages those suspected of witchcraft were often subjected to a ‘trial by fire’ to prove their innocence…
Churchill Square Shopping Mall, Brighton, UK (Source: Wikipedia) In a shopping mall in the city of Brighton, UK, a tourist was arrested on terrorism charges last week for taking a…
Barely legible today but evidence of 'super-diversity' in the 9th century: Runic graffiti in Hagia Sophia On a parapet in Hagia Sophia’s gallery there is an obscure little graffiti written…