Time flies and it’s time for another Reading Challenge. The annual Language on the Move Reading Challenge is designed to encourage broad reading at the intersection of linguistic diversity and social life.
Challenge yourself to read one book in each category! Our team have compiled an exciting list of suggestions.
January: Literature produced on the move
Ingrid Piller recommends the other side of hope.
The other side of hope is a UK-based literary magazine edited by refugees and immigrants. Publishing one print and one online issue per year, the magazine offers a smorgasbord of short stories, poems, novel extracts, non-fiction writing, and book reviews from a highly diverse group of writers. Many of the works deal with linguistic diversity and the challenges of language learning. The most recent issue contains two poems that will show you new dimensions of English as a lingua franca, and phonetics in a diverse world.
February: A book about open access
Emily Farrell recommends Open Access by Peter Suber.
How do we broaden the readership of our research, increase impact and trust in science? Open access and open research have become a vital part of the answer to this question. If you’re interested in getting a better understanding of the basics of open access, there’s no better place to start than Peter Suber’s succinct, but detailed, overview Open Access. Suber, Senior Advisor on Open Access (Harvard Library) and Director of the Harvard Open Access Project (the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society) is an authority on the topic. Although the book is over 10 years old, it remains relevant and Suber continues to update and supplement the book here.
March: A book about language on the move in cyberspace
Because Internet is out in paperback TOMORROW (for ordering-via-the-internet purposes, that's practically today)
Same bright yellow cover, now with 10x more nice quotes from people
Get it for anyone you communicate with online: https://t.co/YOl6jNrVZG pic.twitter.com/O7cL47cSxQ
— Gretchen McCulloch (@GretchenAMcC) July 20, 2020
Brynn Quick recommends Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch.
Have you ever wondered why Boomers’ well-meaning texts can be full of ellipses that make Millennials and Gen Z shudder? Or why language evolves quickly on Twitter but not on Facebook? What exactly is a “typographical tone of voice”, and why is it an essential part of our identities? Gretchen answers these questions and more in this fascinating and highly readable 2019 book. Whether you are a tech genius, a luddite, or something in between, Because Internet will take you on a journey into the world of language evolution via the internet of the past four decades.
April: A book about language on the move in a language other than English
Hanna Torsh recommends Warum Deutsch bellt und Französisch schnurrt [Why German barks and French purrs] by François Conrad.
This is a light-hearted and engaging exploration of the sounds of German in comparison to other languages of central Europe. The book describes the European travels of a young German student and his dog, Horst and Strumpf, as they meet up with multilingual friends in five countries and attempt to puzzle out the main phonological differences between their national languages. This he does at the behest of his friend Konrad, a linguist and researcher who knows the answers but wants his friend to work it out for himself.
May: A book about linguistic diversity in the workplace
Jean Cho and Madiha Neelam recommend Communication that Counts: Language Practice and Ideology in Globalized Accounting by Pia Tenedero.
Communication that counts demystifies a persistent stereotype that accountants are only good with numbers and bad with communication. With the accounting industry in the Philippines, a major exporter of human resources in Global South thanks to English language proficiency, as a key site of examination, this thought-provoking book challenges the conventional approaches to communication skills of accountants as lacking and deficient by exploring what counts as good communication and why. Written from a Global South Perspective, the book provides deep insights into the taken-for-granted communication “standards”, opening up a new perspective on the power of language ideologies in English-speaking workplaces and beyond. (Jean Cho)
The book examines the language and communication practices and ideologies in the field of accounting in the context of the Philippines. The author examines prevailing perspectives on “communication” and examines how these views are shaped in the accounting industry from the perspective of the Global South. The author also analyses the concept of “good communication” in the field of globalized accounting. The book is an excellent and practical example of how good communication is perceived globally and works in a real-world context, with the Philippines, which is a world leader in offshore accounting, rightly chosen as the research site. (Madiha Neelam)
For more information see “Language that counts.”
June: A book about linguistic diversity in the family
Ana Sofia Bruzon recommends Linguistic Intermarriage in Australia: Between Pride and Shame by Hanna Torsh.
This book investigates linguistically intermarried couples’ language attitudes and practices in a migration context, specifically in Sydney, Australia. The monograph sets out to explore how ideologies influence family language policy in linguistic intermarriage and the attitudes towards languages other than English (LOTEs) from the perspective of the English-speaking partner (ESP). The author exposes the gendered nature of language work as an intrinsic part of motherhood. She compellingly argues that the linguistically intermarried couple is a “site where celebratory discourses of multilingualism meet exclusionary approaches to linguistic diversity” (p.1), as she could identify both pride and shame regarding LOTEs.
July: Take a break and read something completely different
Ingrid Piller recommends Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber.
Year after year I have watched the administrative dimensions of my job increase. Teaching used to be about knowing your content, deliver it in an engaging way, and examining students for graduation. Now, teaching also involves strategy development, performance targets, quality audits, program reviews, student evaluations, performance appraisals, and what not. Graeber explains this state of affairs as the “bullshitization” of work and explores its harm to individuals and societies.
August: A book about linguistic diversity in history
Vera Williams Tetteh recommends Sheroes of the Haitian Revolution, written by Bayyinah Bello with illustrations by Kervin Andre.
This book portrays ‘our story’ – stories of ten women of African descent who played key roles in the Haitian Revolution against European colonisers but who are often rendered invisible in ‘his story’ directed accounts. The book inserts these sheroes’ stories to boldly rectify some of the injustice served when women and their feats get systematically erased from ‘his story’ books. The book also profiles a collection of the women’s words while offering glimpses into ‘our story’ inscribed feminine brilliance, bravery, tenacity and the courage of the women which centuries on, live after them. For instance, it tells the fascinating story of Empress Felicite, including her active role in the writing of child protection clauses into the Imperial Constitution of 1805, as well as her Soup Joumou, a Haitian Independence Soup tradition she initiated which is observed yearly from 1st to 7th January. A great read!
September: An ethnography of linguistic diversity
Gegentuul Baioud recommends Mongolian Sound Worlds edited by Jennifer C. Post, Sunmin Yoon, and Charlotte D’Evelyn.
Scholars from different fields have written about the lifeways, diverse identities, histories, political economy, languages, and cultures of Mongols in the last few decades. But there is one lens through which we can gain a glimpse of how all these dimensions work together. That is Mongolian music-making. Mongolian Sound Worlds, edited by Jennifer C. Post, Sunmin Yoon, and Charlotte D’Evelyn vividly weaves all these threads together into a multicolored tapestry. The first part “Landscapes and soundscapes” focuses on how music-making constitutes place-making and memory-making and how musical practices shape and are shaped by changing lifeways. The second part, “Ethnicity and diversity”, explores how music-making practices constitutes a site to negotiate sub-ethnic group identities, gender, and cultural hierarchies. The third part, “Material and social history” introduces musical instruments from the perspectives of their makers and performers. The fourth part, “Heritage and globalization” deals with the key question of how Mongolian music-making has evolved in response to nationalization and globalization processes. The book Mongolian Sound Worlds is a compelling contribution to the fields of ethnomusicology, sociolinguistics, Inner Asia studies, heritage studies, and folklore studies.
October: A book about gendered multilingualism
Jean Cho recommends Muslim Women as Speakers of English by Madiha Neelam.
This book makes the voices of perhaps one of the most under-represented groups heard – Muslim immigrant women who speak English as their second language. The book demystifies the negative images of Muslim women, particularly those associated with English language proficiency, by exploring the intersections between language ideologies, gender and race. It innovatively exposes the covert operation of language ideologies as a tool to oppress minority groups through which to maintain the interest of the dominant. This important book opens up a critical perspective on the power of language ideologies in English-speaking countries and beyond.
November: A book about language workers
Pia Tenedero recommends Intercultural communication in interpreting: power and choices by Jean Cho.
This book opens with an unsettling vignette that gives a glimpse of the hidden linguistic-cum-moral dilemmas that professional interpreters navigate. Real-life narratives of these under-recognized intercultural communicators form the core of this book, viewed through cultural lenses that highlight tensions in their language work across differential linguistic and cultural contexts. In these highly complex communication scenarios, a big question is how to balance the norms of professional interpretation and the interpreter’s agency in order to communicate not just accurate messages but, perhaps more importantly, compassion. The stories of Jean’s fellow interpreters in Australia, Korea, and Japan provide readers a critical point of reflection—What would you do if you were the interpreter?
December: A book about language and globalization
Ingrid Piller recommends Crazy Like Us: The Globalization of the American Psyche by Ethan Watters.
I’m old enough to remember a time when the concept of “mental health” was not widely known outside psychiatric circles. Now, of course, we live in a mental health epidemic. Watters traces how Americans brought anorexia to Hong Kong, PTSD to Sri Lanka, schizophrenia to Zanzibar, and depression to Japan. None of these are strictly contagious diseases yet rampant individualism, commercialization, and the Western superiority complex have spread them like wildfire – all the while ignoring local idioms of distress and indigenous ways of coping with life’s traumas.
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