Europe – Language on the Move

The European Court of Justice Building in Luxembourg (Image Credit: CJUE)

Chats in Linguistic Diversity Language and law

How does multilingual law-making work?

In this podcast interview, Alexandra Grey explores multilingual law-making with Karen McAuliffe, a Professor of Law and Language at Birmingham Law School in the UK. The conversation is about the…

Alexandra GreyMarch 5, 2025

Language politics

Brexit and the politics of English

Editor's note: As the world anxiously anticipates the outcome of the US presidential election next week - and the consequences it will have for global politics - we've asked the…

Robert PhillipsonOctober 29, 2020

Language at work

Critical Skills for Life and Work

The project team at a partners meeting in Leeuwarden, Netherlands Europe recently experienced a dramatic influx of refugees. By the end of 2015, the European Union as a whole had…

Alina SchartnerAugust 21, 2019

Language and migration

Asylum interviews as linguistic conflict zones

Professor Katrijn Maryns explains the linguistic transformations that turn "undocumented migrants" into "genuine" or "bogus refugees" Language is the inescapable medium through which we live our lives. Access to social…

Ingrid PillerApril 8, 2019

Language and globalization

From Minority Languages to Minoritized Languages

The national language is the mother tongue of the vast majority of citizens in most European states (Source: Josu Amezaga, MQ Lecture, 22-11-2017) Last week, Professor Josu Amezaga from the…

Pia TenederoNovember 30, 2017

Language and globalization

Becoming Diasporically Moroccan

On the ferry from Spain to Morocco My recent book Becoming Diasporically Moroccan explores how next-generations after migration use communicative resources to feel ‘at home’ in their ancestral homeland. By…

Lauren WagnerOctober 26, 2017

Language and globalization

Have we just seen the beginning of the end of English?

One way of looking at the outcome of the British referendum is to understand it as an act of self-sabotage: "...and in the end, Britain, which had colonized the world,…

Ingrid PillerJune 25, 2016

Language and migration

Who is a real refugee?

Who is a real refugee? The refugee crisis in Europe has caught a lot of global media attention. Countries at the entry points and their official actions, as well civil…

Agnes BodisSeptember 23, 2015

Language and migration

Getting past the ‘indigenous’ vs. ‘immigrant’ language debate

"The English" migrated to their "ancestral homeland" in the first few centuries of the Common Era (Source: Wikipedia) “Indigenous languages” and “immigrant languages” are much discussed in language policy research,…

Dave SayersAugust 12, 2015

English as a global language

Multilingual provision is cheaper than English-Only

Hiroshi Mikitani, Englishnization in Marketplace 3.0 (Source: gettyimages.co.uk) The business and self-help section of my local Kinokuniya bookstore is currently featuring shelves and shelves of Marketplace 3.0: Rewriting the rules…

Ingrid PillerApril 4, 2013

Language learning

The power of Esperanto

Herzberg am Harz, the Esperanto City (Source: Der Spiegel) The rural Bavarian high school I attended in the late 70s and early 80s had two international exchanges going, one with…

Ingrid PillerJuly 26, 2012

Language learning

Multilingual Europe

Percentage of Europeans who speak three or more languages (2012 Eurobarometer 'Europeans and their Languages', p. 14) The 2012 Eurobarometer Report “Europeans and their languages” was published last month and…

Ingrid PillerJuly 18, 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

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

Linguistic landscapes

The f-word on the move

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

Linguistic landscapes

Multilingual prohibitions

Installment #3 in the mini-series on multilingual signage The lovers of English poetry among you will recall how the phrase “Betreten verboten” (“No trespassing”) encapsulates his alienation from Berlin and…

Ingrid PillerMay 3, 2010