Tag Archives: tourism

Pencils-on-the-move Pencils on the move

Sadly, my sabbatical is drawing to a close and one of the things to think about now is souvenirs. My sabbatical involved visits to Germany, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. My daughter has cousins and friends in each of … Continue reading

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luxos_arab traveler Money talks

Those of us in the broad area of TESOL often labor under the assumption of the invincibility of English hegemony. Whether they deplore it or exult in it, many people assume that English is on a straight march to linguistic … Continue reading

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Shop signs of hostess bars on Thaniya Road, Sala Daeng, Bangkok The dark side of intercultural communication

At 11pm at a Japanese ramen restaurant in Thaniya, Bangkok, a group of five middle-aged Japanese men and five young Thai women were dining right next to my table. It’s the kind of sight that is very common, if not … Continue reading

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Isfahan University English in Iran

Even a casual observer of the linguistic landscape in Iran will have to conclude that Iranians have a collective fetish for English. Almost all public signage is bilingual in English and Persian, even in cases where it is hard to … Continue reading

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Space challenged Tokyo, Japan: www.languageonthemove.org Tokyo: Elegantly Multilingual

Tokyo is getting more and more linguistically diverse every time I go back there. During this trip, I was really amazed by how efficiently and elegantly Tokyo does multilingual signs, particularly on trains and at stations. And I wasn’t the … Continue reading

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