Comments on: More on banal cosmopolitanism

By: Language makes the place – Language on the Move

Language makes the place – Language on the Move — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 21:42:05 +0000

[…] Piller, I. (2012). Money Talks. Piller, I. (2013). Polish cemetery in Tehran. Piller, I. (2017). More on banal cosmpolitanism. Tenedero, P. P. P. (2021). COVID-safe travel between care and compliance. Valdez, P. N. (2021). […]

By: VinN

VinN — Wed, 06 Dec 2017 12:06:00 +0000

Thank you for sharing these findings around us! The problems in children’s literature may be common. From my perspective, their author may want to simplifiy the image of world so that it is more understandable to children. That is why they use flags, language and culture relics to symbolize countries. However, simplified language doesn’t have to be “casual”. The misleading children’s literature sometimes shows an dominant “mainstream” view upon countries rather than a objective reflection of culture diversity.

By: MonyCRole

MonyCRole — Sun, 12 Nov 2017 20:28:00 +0000

That’s also the point I was trying to make! Stereotype impressions about a certain group of people sometimes bring emotional insult to that group unintentionally. And good luck on this issue containing so many analytical areas like psychology, cognitive practices, culture and so on. It must be fun and offer a lot to learn!

By: MeganLouise

MeganLouise — Fri, 10 Nov 2017 06:27:00 +0000

I find that this type of misrepresentation of countries in children’s literature (also sometimes adult literature and even other forms of text like movies and tv shows) happens far too often. As some other people have already listed examples of these I won’t go into major detail but i definitely think that it sets children up to believe the world is a way that it often is not. It is important that children are exposed to the cultures of other countries around the world but it is also just as important to ensure that they are given an accurate account of what they are like.

By: David Marjanović

David Marjanović — Wed, 08 Nov 2017 10:40:00 +0000

I'm surprised you translate komisch as "interesting". It means "strange"; it's sometimes neutral but never positive. As you can sort of see from his proportions, Felix is not a rabbit (Kaninchen), but a hare (Hase) – but "rabbit" is fine as a cultural translation, because hares rather than rabbits are the default lagomorphs in German...

By: Hayu Austina

Hayu Austina — Tue, 07 Nov 2017 08:27:00 +0000

The example about Felix world tour’s story reminds me to my trip to Cabramatta as one of the cultural trip held by Global Leadership Program from Macquarie University. At the Freedom Plaza in Cabramatta, there is an ornamental gateway built as a symbol of harmony and multiculturalism. This gateway is called the “Pai Lau” gate which is the most mainstream landmark spot for having touristy group or selfie picture. One thing that is interesting about this gate is that there are five different languages scripted on the gate (English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Khmer (Cambodian), and Lao). I put the picture of Pai Lau gate so that everyone can see the message written there. The gate is also a perfect spot to gather visitors like us to listen to the story behind the message. Back then in around 70s and 80s, many refugees from those South-East Asian countries came to Australia to escape from oppression in search of freedom. Therefore, Pai Lau gate is known as a monument to celebrate freedom and democracy.

By: Kris Nguyen

Kris Nguyen — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 07:36:00 +0000

I don’t know if I am right but I feel a little sad for the people in Kenya, or even Egypt. In facts, to a Vietnamese like me, African people are the least mentioned people, and I don’t even know why, every time the media mentions them, it has to be something to do with poverty. I know it’s a fact but if you were an African, you would not want the world to know your country only about that. The culture of such countries is the part that the rest of the world should know. I do think that every countries, every communities have their own culture and worth to know about.

By: Hoor Raj

Hoor Raj — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 03:45:00 +0000

It’s a very sensitive and core issue to familiarize the young generation with other languages, or at least to develop an understanding in them that every language is equally important as theirs.
It’s really admirable that how beautifully and in a very interesting manner you have made us realize that learning other languages could also a pleasurable task.
Hats off!