Losing their heritage language decreases the earning potential of 2nd-generation migrants In most countries of immigration, linguistic diversity is by and large ignored by policy makers. If there are language-related…
Ingrid PillerDecember 4, 2013
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…
Ingrid PillerNovember 26, 2013
"Speak English or Die!" Vilification on a Melbourne bus caught on camera About a year ago, a video of a language-related altercation on a Melbourne bus was widely reported in…
Ingrid PillerNovember 19, 2013
Multilingual Hyderabad (Source: Wikimedia) It is by now widely known that bilingualism delays the onset of dementia. What is less widely known is the fact that this knowledge is almost…
Ingrid PillerNovember 11, 2013
“Have you heard that young Japanese have stopped having sex? Have you read the recent BBC article? Young men are having virtual girlfriends on smart phones. How weird! Not really…
Kimie Takahashi 高橋君江November 5, 2013
Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) Procrastination is a fact of academic life, particularly during the PhD period, as every academic supervisor knows. However, judging from ever-increasing institutional efforts to control procrastination…
Ingrid PillerOctober 30, 2013
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…
Lg_on_the_moveOctober 25, 2013
Burmese newspaper in a Bangkok restaurant “When Thai people ask me where I’m from, I tell them, “Oh I’m from the Philippines or Singapore. Then, I don’t get that look!”…
Kimie Takahashi 高橋君江October 23, 2013
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…
Kerry Taylor-LeechOctober 18, 2013
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…
Alexandra GreyOctober 17, 2013
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…
Kimie Takahashi 高橋君江October 11, 2013
Panel devoted to Jeju Global Education City (Source: Jeju Weekly) Now that Psy’s “Gangnam Style” has become a global hit, I wonder if you know what Gangnam is? The dictionary…
Jinhyun ChoSeptember 26, 2013
Carnatic singer Prema Anandakrishnan and her accompanists performing for the monthly Sydney Music Circle concert An important element of language relates to its aesthetic use, in other words, how we…
Mahesh RadhakrishnanSeptember 5, 2013
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
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,…
Dave SayersAugust 26, 2013
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