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…
Excerpt from "The Haunted Lotus" by Australian-Hazara artist Khadim Ali (Source: Milani Gallery) An objection that is commonly raised against Esperanto and other auxiliary languages is that they are “invented.”…
Are university rankings like an iron cage that leaves no option but to submit to its logic? “Using English is the sign of a great mind. Discuss.” Sounds like an…
When are immigrant linguistic and cultural rights tolerable? (Source: demotix.com) Applied Linguistics at Macquarie University presents Questioning Tolerance: When Are Immigrant Linguistic and Cultural Rights Tolerable? When: Friday, November 08, 12:00-1:00pm…
An East Timorese girl speaking Bunak, Tetum, Fataluku and Portuguese (Source: Wikipedia) A response to Alexandra Grey, "We do aid, not English" In my experience English is often promoted by…
Should ‘helping with English’ be part of the brief of humanitarian aid workers? (Source: helpage.org) Over a few years of involvement in the aid sector in Asia, I became aware…
Bilingual Swedish-Finnish monument in Helsinki commenmorating globally beloved children's author Tove Jansson, a Swedish-speaking Finn (Source: vanderkrogt.net) 50,000 people have signed a petition against mandatory Swedish classes in Finnish schools,…
Readers who missed the H.I.S. Research and Industry Forum on Linguistic Diversity and Tourism in Amazing Thailand on July 02, 2013 at Assumption University of Thailand in Bangkok can view the…
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…
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…
Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development presents global research seminar about language-in-education policy in Pakistan The Aga Khan University Institute for Educational Development presents a global research seminar: Topic:…
In today’s immigration countries, adherents of the “one nation, one language” idea face a unique ideological problem: to claim that the national language is a sign of national loyalty and…
Speak English, people! says British politician Ed Miliband (Source: msn.com) Every ten years the UK government conducts a census, which every British resident is obliged by law to take part…
The house of the English high school teacher in the village in Sulawesi where Pasassung conducted his fieldwork In a recent post, I reviewed language policy research that shows how…
Multiculturalism in Australia: Should it be seen but not heard? (Source: det.wa.edu.au) Australia has embraced multiculturalism as official national policy since the 1970s. Interestingly, the most recent incarnation of the…
Ad for a private English language school in Taiwan: the normalization of American English is obvious in the name and imagery There is no denying the fact that English has…