Australia – Page 10 – Language on the Move

Intercultural communication over coffee

Receptionist: Help yourself to a cap! Shiva: Pardon me? Receptionist: Help yourself to a cap! Shiva: This was a conversation I had in the reception area of a storage company on…

Shiva Motaghi TabariJune 7, 2012

English as a global language

Eurovision

Eurovision Baku 2012 (Source: i3.mirror.co.uk) This year’s Eurovision Song Contest has come and gone with Sweden crowned the winner for 2012, also taking the title of Australia’s unofficial winner (over…

Kerry Taylor-LeechJune 1, 2012

What would you do?

Caroline Tennant Kelly with two of her photos from the Cherbourg Aboriginal Settlement (Source: Sydney Morning Herald at http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/the-bohemian-and-her-mission-20100416-skgk.html)In 1924 the first university Department of Anthropology in Australia was founded…

Ingrid PillerMay 22, 2012

Language learning

Is bilingualism impolite?

I’m chatting in English to a medical student from Germany who is visiting Sydney, Australia, and we’ve already talked about how I lived in Germany for a while and speak…

Hanna TorshMay 15, 2012

Multilingual histories

Yiman does not have a word for ‘massacre’

Memorial to Yiman leader Bilba at Wallumbilla (Source: Goodbye Bussamarai) On October 27, 1857, a group of Aboriginal Australians, members of a group known as Yiman carried out a massacre:…

Ingrid PillerApril 27, 2012

English as a global language

Globalisation and nationalism

Many things have changed in Australia since I first came here in the mid-1990s. One of these is a noticeable increase in displays of national ardour: for instance, there is…

Ingrid PillerApril 20, 2012

Language testing for citizenship

Inside Story has a must-read article about language testing for citizenship in Australia today Citizenship for beginners The Howard government made it harder for some nationalities to become citizens, and…

Ingrid PillerApril 16, 2012

Erosion caused by rabbits in a gully in South Australia

Language in Australia

Southern Alienation

Erosion caused by rabbits in a gully in South Australia I’ve spent this morning decorating Easter eggs and making origami Easter bunnies with my child. Tomorrow I’m going to host an Easter egg hunt and in…

Ingrid PillerApril 7, 2012

Language in Australia

Beyond Harmony Day

Cabramatta, Australia Last week an email was sent around my office about our upcoming Harmony Day celebration on 21 March. The email suggested that to mark the occasion, interested staff could…

Sheila PhamMarch 21, 2012

Language at work

The sociolinguistics of nail care

Have you recently had a manicure or a pedicure? I haven’t. In fact, I’ve never been to a nail salon in my life. Until about a decade ago that would…

Ingrid PillerFebruary 27, 2012

English as a global language

Intercultural grocery shopping

It is now widely agreed that human beings have moved into a phase of modernity in which they have to tackle the extreme dynamism in modern institutions and provide an…

Vahid ParvareshFebruary 11, 2012

Language at work

Language costs

USD 254,000: that is the cost of raising two children bilingually in English and German in Denver, Colorado. That’s a lot of money, and inspired me to do some number-crunching…

Ingrid PillerNovember 25, 2011

Language politics

The politics of subtitling

Recently, I watched a TV documentary about the proliferation of Nomura jellyfish in Japanese coastal waters. It was a shocking tale of the devastating environmental, economic, social and human impact…

Ingrid PillerOctober 19, 2011

Language learning

Reading ‘Culture Shock’ in Isfahan

In the past three decades attention has shifted from communicative competence to discourse as a frame for understanding the challenges faced by language learners. Yet, the question of how stereotyping…

Vahid ParvareshOctober 12, 2011

Language in education

Let’s reclaim our language!

Corporate double-speak is plummeting to ever lower depths and is insinuating itself into every aspect of our lives. Many see through this sustained assault on our collective intelligence, no doubt.…

Ingrid PillerAugust 21, 2011

Language learning

What is “Competent English”?

“PR” is probably one of the abbreviations I have heard most since coming to Australia. Despite the fact that PR – “permanent residence” for the non-initiated - is the much-coveted…