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Erasing diversity
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 in Viking...
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Beyond the mother tongue
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. [Copyright:...
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On learning languages and the gaining of wisdom
The National Institute of the English Language in Tehran has used the slogan “A new language is a new life” for more than 50 years I’m preparing my lecture on “Internationalization and Multilingualism”...
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Multilingual mismatch
Auburn parking ticket (left: quadrilingual on back; right: city logo on front) In Australia with its persistent monolingual mindset coming across any kind of official institutional multilingual...
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Are the children of intermarried couples smarter?
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 belief – that a...
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Halloween Mystery
This chocolate wrapper turned up in my child’s trick-or-treat bag and now we don’t know which language Prestÿ is! Anyone out there who can help? One dad in our trick-or-treating party figured Prestÿ...
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On the fine line between humour and racism
The supermarkets of Germany are the site of a more sinister example of multilingual diversity marketing. The pictured chip packet leaps off the shelf with its mix of German, English and a caricature...
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Visiting the Ausländerbehörde
If you are a student or a guest researcher (like me) in Berlin and you need to get or renew a visa or need to change your visa status, you need to wait. The Ausländerbehörde (Immigration Office),...
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Multilingualism 2.0
The social networking market research site Inside Facebook has some intriguing language stats. In July, the fastest-growing languages on Facebook were Portuguese, Arabic, Spanish and French. The...
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Multiculturalism alive and well in Austria
[tab:English]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 like an...
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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...
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Internationalization of Higher Education, 1933
Ernst Reuter, West Berlin’s post-war Mayor, was Professor of Urban Studies in Ankara from 1938 to 1946 (Source: turkishpress.de) While the internationalization of higher education is a hot topic at the...
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Cultural brokering
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...
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Stereotyped ethnic names as a barrier to workplace entry
Who of the three women in this image do you think German employers are most likely to consider as a potential employee and call for a job interview? Obviously, the woman in the three pictures is always...
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