It is probably the least intuitive way of describing accountants, but these number-crunchers are, in fact, also language workers. This part of their professional identity is largely hidden for at…
Pia TenederoNovember 17, 2022
The project team at a partners meeting in Leeuwarden, Netherlands Europe recently experienced a dramatic influx of refugees. By the end of 2015, the European Union as a whole had…
Alina SchartnerAugust 21, 2019
Images of glamorous interpreters in the recent Chinese movie “Les Interprètes” (Source: dramafever.com) I recently volunteered to give a presentation on the profession of translation and interpreting as a parent…
Jinhyun ChoJuly 17, 2016
Success levels of different candidate groups in job interviews for low-skilled jobs (Source: Roberts 2013, p. 89) A common explanation for the un- and underemployment of migrants is that their…
Ingrid PillerMarch 31, 2014
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
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…
Calvin N. HoMarch 25, 2013
Africa Town, Guangzhou (Source: ChinaSmack) What does an urban middle-class male university graduate from Conakry, the capital of Guinea, have in common with a peasant woman with little education from…
Ingrid PillerFebruary 19, 2013
Have you recently had a manicure or a pedicure? I haven’t. In fact, I’ve never been to a nail salon in my life. Until about a decade ago that would…
Ingrid PillerFebruary 27, 2012
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…
Ingrid PillerJanuary 17, 2012
USD 254,000: that is the cost of raising two children bilingually in English and German in Denver, Colorado. That’s a lot of money, and inspired me to do some number-crunching…
Ingrid PillerNovember 25, 2011
Japanese stop sign The current global orthodoxy holds that learning English is good: individuals who know English are supposed to have an advantage in the job market and countries with…
Ingrid PillerJune 27, 2011
Language in the catfish war I’ve just read False Economy and in addition to learning many new intriguing things about economic history, I’ve also learnt that the catfish war, was,…
Ingrid PillerNovember 13, 2010
I can only speak Pashto ABC News yesterday broke a whistleblower report that US army interpreters deployed in Afghanistan often don’t speak the local languages. ABC News reports that up…
Ingrid PillerSeptember 10, 2010
In Japan, “English as official language policy” (英語公用語化) is currently trending on social networking sites. Two large Japanese corporations, Rakuten and Uniqlo, recently announced the adoption of English as their…
Kimie Takahashi 高橋君江July 22, 2010
English-Only at Bon Secours From what I read, there is a nursing shortage in the Global North. From North America to Japan and from Europe to the Gulf countries, rich…
Ingrid PillerJuly 19, 2010
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