Human rights – Language on the Move

Language and law News

Rights of People with Limited English Language Proficiency

NSW Coat of Arms (Image credit: Floodstreet, via Wikipedia) Update 13/10/2026: Our submission has now been published on the website of the Parliament of New South Wales (Submission #120) Recommended…

Laura Smith-KhanJune 22, 2026

Intercultural communication Next Gen Literacies

Global Coalition for Language Rights

This post has been authored by Gerald Roche and Claire French *** Adéṣínà Ayẹni to Gerald Roche (2 Feb 2022): I will surely love to be a part of the…

Gerald RocheApril 29, 2022

Are debates over linguistic rights erasing diversity?

A restaurant sign featuring both Tibetan and Chinese, in a village where the Tibetan residents speak Ngandehua, one of Tibet's minority languages (Image: Gerald Roche) As elsewhere in High Asia,…

Gerald RocheNovember 19, 2018

Language and law

Forgotten and invisible? The legal protection of refugees with disabilities

Before starting my PhD in sociolinguistics at Macquarie University, I had the great privilege of being involved in a research project that was run out of Sydney Law School at…

Laura Smith-KhanSeptember 11, 2017

Intercultural communication

Emergency service provision in linguistically diverse societies

The challenges of providing equitable services in linguistically diverse societies A few years ago, emergency service provision to speakers of languages other than English in Australia came under scrutiny when…

Ingrid PillerFebruary 6, 2014

News

Applied Linguistics@MQ: Questioning Tolerance

When are immigrant linguistic and cultural rights tolerable? (Source: demotix.com) Applied Linguistics at Macquarie University presents Questioning Tolerance: When Are Immigrant Linguistic and Cultural Rights Tolerable? When: Friday, November 08, 12:00-1:00pm…

Lg_on_the_moveOctober 25, 2013

Muslims, Catholics, foreign language speakers and other traitors

The 2011 Report Freedom of Religion and Belief in 21st Century Australia released this week by the Australian Human Rights Commission notes “high levels of unprompted expressions of concern about…

Ingrid PillerMarch 22, 2011

Language politics

Shibboleth: Kyrgyz or Uzbek?

In his recent post “Accent and History,” Khan asked whether it’s possible to escape the prison of our accent and our language. Looking at the civil war and humanitarian disaster…

Ingrid PillerJune 15, 2010

Multilingual histories

Accent and history

This is the story of a young Pakistani man, let’s call him Reza. Reza spent his early years in what was then East-Pakistan and what is today a different country,…

Muhammad Ali KhanJune 10, 2010

Language and migration

Domestic violence in a multilingual world

Non-English speakers’ access to emergency services in Australia is in the news again as a Melbourne man has been convicted of the murder of his wife. What makes the case…

Ingrid PillerApril 12, 2010

News

Monolinguals on the move – multilinguals stuck in detention

Must-read post by Dennis Baron over at the Web of Language! A US university student who majors in Middle Eastern Studies was detained at Philadelphia Airport for carrying Arabic language…

Ingrid PillerFebruary 13, 2010

Language at work

Linguistic discrimination at work

Deborah Cameron noted in 1995 that “linguistic bigotry is among the last publicly expressible prejudices left to members of the Western intelligentsia.” In the same vein, one could point out…

Ingrid PillerJanuary 22, 2010

Multilingual histories

The burning children of globalization

I’ve been wondering what would be an appropriate Christmas post for the Language on the Move blog. Seeing that I’m deeply skeptical about all those claims about the wonderful advantages…

Ingrid PillerDecember 25, 2009

Language politics

When your English is too good

Some people just can’t win it seems. Second language speakers are in that category. I can’t even begin to count how many people who have read a fraction of the…

Ingrid PillerNovember 19, 2009