commodification – Language on the Move

Linguistic landscapes

Tibetan in China’s rapid urbanization

Tibet is changing fast Image 1: Chinese and international brands in the most developed commercial area of Rongwo (Image credit: Giulia Cabras) One of the most striking aspects that catches…

Giulia CabrasOctober 25, 2024

Next Gen Literacies

Studying abroad is amazing, or is it?

Image from a university website “An amazing student experience awaits you!” - “a multicultural vibrant experience” in a “stunning landscape” covered by “year-round sunshine.” These phrases do not come from a…

Agnes BodisMay 27, 2023

Chats in Linguistic Diversity Linguistic landscapes

Language makes the place

Welcome back to another year of research blogging on and about language on the move! We kick off 2022 with a new episode in our Chats in Linguistic Diversity. In…

Ingrid PillerJanuary 17, 2022

Language and globalization

Do you ever wear language?

"This is English", a shop assistant told me. Language is literally “on the move” in the writing on clothing. We’ve all seen it but may not have taken much notice.…

Alexandra GreyApril 11, 2018

Language and globalization

Globalization between crime and piety

How is your Language-on-the-Move Reading Challenge coming along? One month has gone by and you should have ticked off at least one book from our list. I started with an…

Ingrid PillerMarch 1, 2018

Language and globalization

Banal cosmopolitanism

Multilingual "Welcome" sign in a shopping mall in Munich, Germany Have you recently seen a “welcome” sign? They constitute a strange genre: ever more ubiquitous on the one hand, yet…

Ingrid PillerOctober 31, 2017

Language and globalization

Dreams vs. realities in English

We all have childhood dreams. Mine was to become a writer, which, unfortunately, was not well received by my parents because it is a “hungry” job. Due to the absence…

Jinhyun ChoSeptember 1, 2017

Intercultural communication

Love on the Move: How Tinder is changing the way we date

Everyone wants to be a winner in the dating game; but it doesn't always work that way ... A 2015 article in the New York Post argued that mobile dating…

Livia GerberDecember 8, 2016

Language and globalization

Urban sociolinguistics in Dubai

A couple of years ago, I mused here on Language on the Move what linguistic theory would look like if its dominant cultural ideas had not been shaped in 1950s…

Ingrid PillerSeptember 29, 2016

Language and globalization

‘Detours’ taken by Mongols on WeChat

A monument near Baganuur (Outer Mongolia) with an inscription of poem "My Native Land" by Natsagdorj (Source: Wikipedia) In the middle school Mongolian textbooks there is a well-known text called…

Gegentuul BaioudNovember 18, 2015

English as a global language

Mongolian on the market

'Luxury permanent' Mongolian yurt for sale on Alibaba Last week when I saw in my friends’ Wechat group an advertisement for delicately made Mongolian yurts, I thought of an article…

Gegentuul BaioudJuly 1, 2015

English as a global language

Language work in the internet café

A locutorio shop front in Barcelona (Source: El Periodico) There is now a well-established body of work exploring the language work provided by service workers in call centres and tourist…

Ingrid PillerSeptember 22, 2014

Language and tourism

English in the Global Village

Yangshuo's West Street (Source: chinatravelca) Tourism has been found to be beneficial for minority language maintenance in a number of contexts from around the world. For instance, Anand Torrents Alcaraz…

Ingrid PillerJune 23, 2014

Language and tourism

Pallarès, Catalan, the Pyrenees and tourism in global times

Actress Noemí Busquets as the wise yet naughty Esperanceta Gassia at the Ecomuseu de les Valls d’Àneu during the theatrical night visit to the ethnographic museum of Esterri d’ Àneu…

Anand Torrents AlcarazMay 27, 2014

Business card promoting private English tuition

Language learning

Selling English tuition

Business card promoting private English tuition In Iran, as in many other countries around the globe, the craze for learning English has been on the rise. This tendency is attributed…

Vahid ParvareshAugust 22, 2013

Language learning

Who profits from an early start in English?

Who profits from an early start in English language learning? 不要讓你的孩子輸在起跑點上 (Don’t let your children lose out at the starting point.) is one of the most popular slogans whenever English…