Editor's note: Language learning and teaching is rarely about language alone. Sometimes, it is about making a political statement and taking a soft power approach, as Jeffrey Gil and Minglei…
Prepositions are the unnoticed and underappreciated workhorses of language. They are "grammar words" that indicate relationships. Essentially, their job is to connect other words with bigger and more important meanings.…
"Jin, Jiyan, Azadi" banner displayed by Bayern Munich soccer fans (Image credit: Archie Rhind-Tutt) Some recent images from around the globe: protest rally in Rome with a banner featuring the…
On this year’s International Mother Language Day, the UN is encouraging us to reflect on the role of technology in multilingual learning. Here, we are looking at the role of…
Victorian Multicultural Commission, Melbourne (Image credit: Pramuk Perera, via Unsplash) In August, Australia’s Acting Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alan Tudge, announced the extension of the…
Editor's note: As the world anxiously anticipates the outcome of the US presidential election next week - and the consequences it will have for global politics - we've asked the…
Martha Sif Karrebæk and Solvej Helleshøj Sørensen, University of Copenhagen *** Editor’s note: Covid-19 has exposed fractures in the social and linguistic fabric in many contexts internationally, as we have…
Akhlaq Ahmad at work on the mural in Shahdara for the ‘Delhi, I Love You’ project. (Image Credit: Delhi, I Love You) On July 8, 2020, The Wire published an…
Editor’s note: The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a major shift in global linguistic and cultural flows. In this latest contribution to our series of language aspects of the COVID-19 crisis, Jeffrey…
In his 2005 article ‘Will Indigenous Languages Survive?’ Michael Walsh described language revitalization as ‘profoundly political’. And Jacqueline Urla, in discussing the Basque language movement, has said that language revitalization…
Manus Hospital often treats refugees (Image credit: ABC News, Natalie Whiting) A growing body of literature across multiple disciplines attests to the importance of credibility in the bureaucratic processes for…
Students of Beijing Normal University who were part of the May Fourth Movement (Image credit: Wikipedia) This month marks the 100th anniversary of China’s May 4 Movement. This intellectual and…
“Fremdschämen” is a German word that means being embarrassed on behalf of someone else. In Australia, this feeling is frequently induced by the behavior of our politicians. Yesterday, public embarrassment…
Map of European languages (Source: SB Language Maps) Invitation to public seminar about "Minority Languages" at Macquarie University What: Minority languages: what are we talking about? And why are we…
This latest exploration in language shaming examines a language shame campaign on the internet and shows how it is used as a tool to suppress political debate and women’s public…
One of the consequences of the recent upsurge in nationalist politics around the world has been a rise in attacks on the idea of linguistic diversity. As national language ideologies…