German – Page 4 – Language on the Move

German-English vs. Spanish-English

I have frequently wondered how my experiences speaking German in public with my two daughters, 7, and 5, whom my wife and I are raising as English-German bilinguals in the…

Christof Demont-HeinrichJanuary 21, 2012

Language at work

Money talks

Those of us in the broad area of TESOL often labor under the assumption of the invincibility of English hegemony. Whether they deplore it or exult in it, many people…

Ingrid PillerJanuary 17, 2012

Multilingual families

Cost of monolingualism: $254,000

American society places little value on meaningful multilingualism for young people, or for adults for that matter. Nowhere is this lack of valuation more apparent than in the U.S. public…

Christof Demont-HeinrichNovember 23, 2011

Multilingual families

Hanging on to German in the USA

I wasn’t sure of the best way to enter the Language-on-the-Move community. I’ve decided simply to start by telling you a little bit about me and my ongoing quest to…

Christof Demont-HeinrichNovember 16, 2011

Linguistic landscapes

Toiletological English

Toiletological English Can you guess what kind of product the following text is promoting? Your well-being is close to our heart rail&fresh areas are bright and friendly and leave nothing…

Ingrid PillerOctober 6, 2011

Language in education

Turkish alphabetisation for German integration

KOALA Buchstabenhaus (Adapted from: Urbanek, R. et al. (2006): Tinto grün. Arbeitsheft 1. Schreiben. Berlin: Cornelsen) Contemporary Germany is the 3rd largest immigrant-receiving country internationally. In 2008, 15.6mio inhabitants (19%…

Victoria BenzSeptember 13, 2011

Many tongues instead of one!

I was so grateful to read Ingrid Piller’s in-depth critical post on German language politics, where she offered a profound analysis of the assumptions underlying the campaign “Ich spreche Deutsch”.…

Bettina KleinerAugust 31, 2011

The cult of personal responsibility

Ads for a campaign to speak German are currently all over Germany. The campaign is called “Ich spreche Deutsch” (I speak German) and aims to convince migrant youths to learn…

Ingrid PillerJuly 20, 2011

Multilingual histories

Pronunciation: A Matter of Life and Death

Translation of Christoph Gutknecht, “Codewort Schibboleth”, originally published in Jüdische Allgemeine, July 07, 2011 Each time I visit France and have breakfast there, I am reminded of Goethe. In his…

Ingrid PillerJuly 14, 2011

English as a global language

Glocalization à la Suisse

When I lived in Basel, a city in the German-speaking part of Switzerland, I often found myself performing an involuntary field experiment in language attitudes. As likely to speak English…

Ingrid PillerMay 20, 2011

Language learning

Bilingual math

Over the past year or so I’ve started to make my daughter do daily arithmetic practice in German. My reason for doing so stems from my dissatisfaction with the ways…

Ingrid PillerMay 9, 2011

Language and tourism

Do you speak Swiss?

A most amazing book has just landed on my desk: Do you speak Swiss, edited by Walter Haas, is the final report on a Swiss National Research Project devoted to…

Ingrid PillerFebruary 14, 2011

Language and tourism

English in Iran

Even a casual observer of the linguistic landscape in Iran will have to conclude that Iranians have a collective fetish for English. Almost all public signage is bilingual in English…

Ingrid PillerDecember 30, 2010

Intercultural communication

Condoms in translation

Condoms in translation It’s been impossible to escape this week’s media coverage of the pope’s comments about condoms and male prostitutes. There has been a lot of debate about what…

Ingrid PillerNovember 28, 2010

Next Gen Literacies

Multiculturalism alive and well in Austria

I love public libraries. Here in Sydney, our family regularly spends time in our local public library and in the Persian library in Parramatta. We treat public libraries a bit…

Ingrid PillerNovember 24, 2010

Language learning

German is so funny. Not.

Earlier this term I intercepted a note my 7-year-old had written to her teacher: “Ger Ger Ger; Don’t be so rude.” She was objecting to a reading comprehension exercise about…

Ingrid PillerNovember 6, 2010