language learning – Page 11 – Language on the Move

Asia’s Chronic English Disease

Asia’s Chronic English Disease The promotion of English in Asia is a frequent topic here on Language on the Move. Striving for global competitiveness and internationalization, states across Asia strongly…

Grace Chu-Lin ChangMay 29, 2012

Language learning

Is bilingualism impolite?

I’m chatting in English to a medical student from Germany who is visiting Sydney, Australia, and we’ve already talked about how I lived in Germany for a while and speak…

Hanna TorshMay 15, 2012

Language in Australia

Beyond Harmony Day

Cabramatta, Australia Last week an email was sent around my office about our upcoming Harmony Day celebration on 21 March. The email suggested that to mark the occasion, interested staff could…

Sheila PhamMarch 21, 2012

Language learning

Bilingualism: Bane or Boon?

Hungarians in RomaniaUp until a few decades ago, the academic consensus – along with public opinion – was that bilingualism is detrimental to the individual and society. Nowadays, that has…

Ingrid PillerFebruary 20, 2012

Language learning Multilingual families

Linguistic extremism

I know some people think what I am doing with my daughters – speaking German to them one-hundred percent of the time even though German is a second language for…

Christof Demont-HeinrichJanuary 30, 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

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

Intercultural communication

مردها، زبان انگلیسی و رومانسِ بین المللی

Persian version of Lachlan Jackson's award-winning blog post about interlingual relationships. Translated by مطهره سامری (Motahare Sameri) "وقتی پای عشق به میان می آید ژاپنی ها محبوب ترین موجودات روی کره ی…

Vahid ParvareshNovember 15, 2011

Language and migration

Learn English, Make Friends!

How to make English-speaking friends is one of the perennial hot topics for new overseas students and new migrants. Advice on how to make “native” friends circulates like an underground…

Ingrid PillerNovember 4, 2011

Language learning

Reading ‘Culture Shock’ in Isfahan

In the past three decades attention has shifted from communicative competence to discourse as a frame for understanding the challenges faced by language learners. Yet, the question of how stereotyping…

Vahid ParvareshOctober 12, 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

English as a global language

Free language choice?

Pretty much everyone I know wants to learn English or improve their English – with the exception of those who consider themselves native speakers, obviously. What is more, everyone I…

Ingrid PillerAugust 16, 2011

Language learning

iBoyfriend

Having lived and taught English in Japan for more than fifteen years, until last night I’d thought I’d seen it all. That was until I stumbled across the もし彼氏が外国人だったら英会話 (What…

Lachlan JacksonAugust 11, 2011

Language learning

What is “Competent English”?

“PR” is probably one of the abbreviations I have heard most since coming to Australia. Despite the fact that PR – “permanent residence” for the non-initiated - is the much-coveted…

Grace Chu-Lin ChangAugust 5, 2011

Language learning

The magic of English

I recently returned to China from graduate study in Australia and soon reestablished my old habit of reading the newspaper over breakfast. One Sunday morning, this color flier was enclosed…

Zhang Jie 张洁July 22, 2011