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…
Losing their heritage language decreases the earning potential of 2nd-generation migrants In most countries of immigration, linguistic diversity is by and large ignored by policy makers. If there are language-related…
Are university rankings like an iron cage that leaves no option but to submit to its logic? “Using English is the sign of a great mind. Discuss.” Sounds like an…
"Speak English or Die!" Vilification on a Melbourne bus caught on camera About a year ago, a video of a language-related altercation on a Melbourne bus was widely reported in…
Multilingual Hyderabad (Source: Wikimedia) It is by now widely known that bilingualism delays the onset of dementia. What is less widely known is the fact that this knowledge is almost…
An East Timorese girl speaking Bunak, Tetum, Fataluku and Portuguese (Source: Wikipedia) A response to Alexandra Grey, "We do aid, not English" In my experience English is often promoted by…
Yasemin Yildiz (2012) Beyond the Mother Tongue: The Postmonolingual Condition. Fordham University Press. This book review was originally published in Language in Society 42 (4), 463-466. Access pdf version of…
English-Only Australia? (Source: blogs.crikey.com.au) In recent Australian political conversation, there is an increasingly bipartisan recognition of the value of cultural and linguistic diversity. So it’s fair to ask, what is…
Barely legible today but evidence of 'super-diversity' in the 9th century: Runic graffiti in Hagia Sophia On a parapet in Hagia Sophia’s gallery there is an obscure little graffiti written…
Polish refugee section of the Catholic cemetery in Tehran When Kimie Takahashi and myself interviewed participants for Japanese on the Move, our video exhibition of transnational life-stories, one of our…
Is this Arabic or English? Or is that asking the wrong question? (Transliteration: sbaisi tinisi tshikn and shrmb*) I’ve often wondered what linguistic theory would look like if its foundations…
Multiculturalism in Australia: Should it be seen but not heard? (Source: det.wa.edu.au) Australia has embraced multiculturalism as official national policy since the 1970s. Interestingly, the most recent incarnation of the…
Jogiyuhak (early study abroad) is very popular in South Korea (Source: chosun.com) Readers of Language on the Move will be familiar with South Korea’s English fever, the sweeping zeal for…
Losing your voice or learning academic writing? (Source: business2community.com) “A latent function of the educational system is to instil linguistic insecurity, to discriminate linguistically, to channel children in ways that…
Last weekend the Australian government released its white paper Australia in the Asian Century. One of its recommendations is that "All Australian students will have the opportunity, and be encouraged, to undertake…
Bilingual education and language learning is close to the heart of all our readers here on Language on the Move and it's great to see increasing recognition of the importance…