https://languageonthemove.com/sharing-knowledge-in-the-spirit-of-humboldt/ Multilingualism, Intercultural communication, Consumerism, Globalization, Gender & Identity, Migration & Social Justice, Language & Tourism Fri, 17 Jan 2020 08:30:42 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9 https://languageonthemove.com/sharing-knowledge-in-the-spirit-of-humboldt/#comment-71562 Fri, 17 Jan 2020 08:30:42 +0000 https://www.languageonthemove.com/?p=21970#comment-71562 “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity.” These were how Charles Dickens’ comments about his era. These are also what I learnt from the symposium in the spirit of von Humboldt. We are living in the age where we have everything before us, and we have nothing before us.
Here are four questions I asked myself, which were also the questions proposed by some of the amazing speakers: What should young people learn in media age? How do we deal with the fragmented society? Why it is important to rebuild the trustworthiness of expertise? Finally, how and why should linguists take responsibility for changes, either for better or for worse? I could not yet give specific answers to these questions, but the symposium encouraged me to continue exploring a path to address them and breaking the silos to share knowledge and experience with both the academia and my communities.

]]> https://languageonthemove.com/sharing-knowledge-in-the-spirit-of-humboldt/#comment-71552 Wed, 15 Jan 2020 06:59:06 +0000 https://www.languageonthemove.com/?p=21970#comment-71552 Among the talks covering diverse topics from various disciplines, two talks that in my opinion were most representative of ‘sharing knowledge in the spirit of Humboldt’ were Siouxsie Wiles’ talk on antibiotic resistance and Nathan Kilah’s sharing of his chemistry outreach program. Siouxsie’s talk exemplified the way research can be communicated with non-specialist academic audience and how basic scientific research can attract support from the general public (who are not necessarily aware of the direct or indirect benefit they receive from research). Nathan’s talk showed the importance of finding experiences the general public can relate to (fireworks, in his case) to effectively communicate specialised knowledge. As someone who is not trained in antibiotics or chemical reactions, I understood the message the presenters aimed to convey and was touched by the passion they have in their work.

]]> https://languageonthemove.com/sharing-knowledge-in-the-spirit-of-humboldt/#comment-71364 Mon, 16 Dec 2019 22:14:48 +0000 https://www.languageonthemove.com/?p=21970#comment-71364 What an amazing conference! It was a privilege to attend and learn about Humboldt and his legacy.

]]> https://languageonthemove.com/sharing-knowledge-in-the-spirit-of-humboldt/#comment-71262 Mon, 02 Dec 2019 23:04:11 +0000 https://www.languageonthemove.com/?p=21970#comment-71262 What a wonderful conference it must have been! Just love Language on the Move.

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