The monolingual myth This critique has been an important one but it runs into a problem when we consider the idea of monolingualism itself. At the same time that this…
Alastair PennycookAugust 10, 2010
This weekend, if you were out shopping, you couldn't escape the electioneering for the 2010 Australian federal election. I do my grocery shopping in Eastwood, one of Sydney’s most multicultural…
Kimie Takahashi 高橋君江July 26, 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
Multilingual sign in Namtso (Image Credit: Wikipedia) Persian version of my recent blog post about Chinglish Translated by Tahmineh Tayebi (تهمینه طیبی) & Vahid Parvaresh (وحید پرورش) تصور کنید که…
Ingrid PillerJune 21, 2010
As someone who is concerned about Australia’s monolingual mindset and the damage it does to individuals and our society as a whole, I probably should have been pleased to discover…
Ingrid PillerJune 17, 2010
In his recent post “Accent and History,” Khan asked whether it’s possible to escape the prison of our accent and our language. Looking at the civil war and humanitarian disaster…
Ingrid PillerJune 15, 2010
This is the story of a young Pakistani man, let’s call him Reza. Reza spent his early years in what was then East-Pakistan and what is today a different country,…
Muhammad Ali KhanJune 10, 2010
If you are a student or a guest researcher (like me) in Berlin and you need to get or renew a visa or need to change your visa status, you…
Emily FarrellJune 4, 2010
Multilingual sign in Namtso (Image Credit: Wikipedia) Malay version of my recent blog post about Chinglish Translated by Ridwan Wahid Bayangkan sekiranya akhbar New York Times meminta pembacanya menghantar ‘blonde jokes’…
Ingrid PillerJune 2, 2010
Multilingual sign in Namtso (Image Credit: Wikipedia) Japanese version of my recent blog post about Chinglish Translated by Kimie Takahashi （高橋 君江） このシナリオを想像してみてください。もしNew Yorkタイムズがブロンド女性を馬鹿にするジョークや黄色人種の面白エピソードを募集したとしたらどうでしょうか？さらにその応募キャンペーンが盛り上がり、ブログや Facebookやツイッターでそれが出回り、さらには、ジェンダー、エスニックの学者達がそれを取り上げ、「なぜブロンド女性や黄色人種はこんな馬鹿な ことをするのか」などと分析しだしたりしたらどうなるでしょうか？ (more…)
Ingrid PillerMay 30, 2010
Multilingual sign in Namtso (Image Credit: Wikipedia) Chinese version of my recent blog post about Chinglish Translated by Zhang Jie (张洁); 译文：张洁 设想某日《纽约时报》向读者征集最喜爱的金发女郎笑话或者有色人种所做的最滑稽的事。再设想该活动开展后迅速充斥了整个网络空间，任何对性别或种族问题有所兴趣的人都在博客、facebook和微博上热烈讨论着，甚至连从事性别和种族研究的学者们也开始群情激昂地对金发女郎或有色人种的荒谬行径提供种种分析。 (more…)
Ingrid PillerMay 30, 2010
Multilingual sign in Namtso (Image Credit: Wikipedia) Imagine the New York Times asked readers to send in their favorite blonde jokes or to report the funniest thing they’ve ever seen…
Ingrid PillerMay 26, 2010
Installment #7 in the mini-series on multilingual signage When I lived in Basel in Switzerland, my then-preschool child was just learning to make sense of the alphabet and to sound…
Ingrid PillerMay 22, 2010
Installment #6 in the mini-series on multilingual signage Multilingualism sells! Some forms of multilingualism that is. In the world of marketing, languages operate like brands: they are a signifier for…
Ingrid PillerMay 19, 2010
Installment #4 in the mini-series on multilingual signage Toilets as an object of sociolinguistic research?! Not likely?! Think again! Today, I am going to discuss toilet signage as an indicator…
Ingrid PillerMay 7, 2010
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