The New Books Network has just published an interview with Ingrid Piller about her new book Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice. The host of the show, Chris Cummins, sums up the…
Lg_on_the_moveAugust 4, 2016
Asylum seekers in Australia face a few very public hurdles. Successive governments have used increasingly restrictive refugee policies to gain votes. Meanwhile, the media often focuses on the issue of…
Laura Smith-KhanMarch 15, 2016
Johann Gottfried Herder (1744-1803) Some contemporary sociolinguists love to hate an 18th century educator, philosopher, theologian, translator and general polymath by the name of Herder. Hardly a week goes by…
Ingrid PillerMarch 4, 2016
"Sauberkeit" ("cleanliness") - another of those key cultural concepts Everyone who has learned a second language will have noticed that certain words and expressions cannot be translated easily from one…
Rahel CramerFebruary 10, 2016
January 26, Australia Day: whether you are celebrating depends on your perspective (Source: news.com.au) Here in Australia we celebrated our national holiday yesterday. Australia Day marks the end of the…
Ingrid PillerJanuary 27, 2016
"You have the right to remain silent" (Source: Tumblr) “You have the right to remain silent” is an expression familiar to many English speakers. But what is involved in understanding…
Diana EadesDecember 2, 2015
Rashid al-Din Monument in Soltaniyeh, Iran (Source: Wikipedia) Recently, I signed a contract for a revised second edition of my 2011 book Intercultural Communication: A Critical Introduction to be published…
Ingrid PillerNovember 25, 2015
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
Do clouds over VW equal clouds over Germany? The Volkswagen (VW) emissions scandal has received significant media coverage in and outside of Germany. Besides accounts of the developments that led…
Rahel CramerOctober 28, 2015
High Court of Australia (Source: Wikipedia) When people arrive in countries like Australia, seeking to be recognised as refugees and offered protection, it is obviously important that they are able…
Laura Smith-KhanAugust 26, 2015
Trial by fire depicted in a medieval manuscript (Source: Wikipedia) In the Middle Ages those suspected of witchcraft were often subjected to a ‘trial by fire’ to prove their innocence…
Ingrid PillerJuly 15, 2015
"How bad is your cultural cringe?" (Source: Jenna Guillaume, BuzzFeed) Keith: I’m still really shit at pronouncing Lisa’s surname. With the umlaut o. Hanna: What is Lisa’s surname? (laughter) Keith:…
Hanna TorshJune 10, 2015
Preschool in Karlsruhe, Germany (Source: DW) Ever since my research for my 2002 book Bilingual Couples Talk I’ve regularly been told by people – or been asked to confirm their…
Ingrid PillerMay 20, 2015
"A translator's profession can never only entail rendering meaning from one language to another but always involves translating from one culture to another" (www.pictllp.eu/) The ever-more globalised world of today…
Daniel Tomozeiu, Kaisa Koskinen and Adele D'ArcangeloApril 29, 2015
Australia-China Youth Dialogue 2014 I recently returned from the Australia China Youth Dialogue in Beijing, my head buzzing with new ideas. The Dialogue promotes “more sophisticated cross-cultural understanding among Australian…
Alexandra GreyFebruary 18, 2015
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