Language on the Move

May 20 2024 6
Language on the Move Podcast artwork

Language on the Move is a podcast devoted to multilingualism, language learning, and intercultural communication in the contexts of globalization and migration. Language on the Move aims to disseminate sociolinguistic research to a broad global audience. Language on the Move was co-founded by Ingrid Piller and Kimie Takahashi, and is currently edited by Ingrid Piller. Our team consists of a research group based at Macquarie University and is complemented by contributors from around the world. A full list of our authors is available here. The web developer and designer behind Language on the Move is Marcin Debski.

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The Rise of English

May 20 2024 46 mins  
The Rise of English: Global Politics and the Power of Language, which has just been reissued in paperback by Oxford University Press, with a new preface. The Rise of English charts the spread of English as the dominant lingua franca worldwide. The book explores the wide-ranging economic and political effects of English. It examines both the good and harm that English can cause as i

Community and Heritage Languages Schools Transforming Education

May 06 2024 49 mins  
Today we talked to Joseph Lo Bianco about the edited volume Community and Heritage Languages Schools Transforming Education (Routledge, 2023). The conversation addresses community and heritage language schooling research and practice, and our guest’s long history of important language policy research and activism, as well as the interconnections between the two. For additional re

The Shanghai Alliance of Multilingual Researchers

May 01 2024 21 mins  
Yixi (Isabella) Qiu speaks with Professor Yongyan Zheng about The Shanghai Alliance of Multilingual Researchers. The interview explores the Alliance’s origins, research themes, and future directions. The episode not only highlights the significant contributions of this dynamic research group but also provides a glimpse into the personal and professional journeys that have shaped

Multilingual Commanding Urgency from Garbage to COVID-19

Apr 27 2024 50 mins  
Brynn Quick speaks with Dr. Michael Chesnut, Professor in the Department of English for International Conferences and Communication at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, Korea. Brynn and Michael chat about an area of study in linguistics known as "the linguistic landscape," and in particular about a 2022 paper that Michael co-authored with Nate Ming Curran and Sungwoo K

Elizabeth Peterson, "Making Sense of 'Bad English': An Introduction to Language Attitudes and Ideologies" (Routledge, 2019)

Apr 12 2024 53 mins  
Brynn Quick speaks with Dr Elizabeth Peterson about language ideologies and what we think when we hear different varieties of English. The conversation centers around Dr Peterson’s 2020 book Making Sense of 'Bad English': An Introduction to Language Attitudes and Ideologies (Routledge, 2019). The book discusses how the notions of “good” versus “bad” English came about, an

James McElvenny, "A History of Modern Linguistics: From the Beginnings to World War II" (Edinburgh UP, 2024)

Apr 09 2024 37 mins  
Ingrid Piller speaks with James McElvenny about his new book A History of Modern Linguistics: From the Beginnings to World War II (Edinburgh UP, 2024). This book offers a concise history of modern linguistics from its emergence in the early nineteenth century up to the end of World War II. Written as a collective biography of the field, it concentrates on the interaction between th

40 years of Croatian Studies at Macquarie University

Apr 07 2024 54 mins  
Ingrid Piller speaks with Jasna Novak Milić, the director of the Croatian Studies Center at Macquarie University. The Croatian Studies Center at Macquarie University hosts one of a very small number of Croatian Studies programs at university level outside Croatia. We talk about Croatian Studies in the diaspora, small languages in higher education, and why the availability of langu

Reducing Barriers to Language Assistance in Hospital

Mar 25 2024 23 mins  
Brynn Quick speaks with Erin Mulpur about how hospitals can better support patients from linguistic minority backgrounds. The conversation addresses the barriers to both communication and healthcare faced by linguistic minority patients. Drawing on Erin’s 2021 paper “Reducing Barriers to Language Assistance During a Pandemic," the focus is on Houston Methodist Hospital’s inno

Interpreting Service Provision is Good Value for Money

Mar 18 2024 42 mins  
Ingrid Piller speaks with Jim Hlavac about interpreting to bridge language barriers. About 5% of the Australian population do not speak English or do not speak it well. In this conversation, Dr Jim Hlavac, an experienced interpreter and interpreting trainer, explains how professional interpreters, language mediators, and language brokers help to support fair and equitable access to

What Does It Mean to Govern a Multilingual Society Well?

Feb 22 2024 30 mins  
Hanna Torsh speaks with Alexandra Grey about good governance in linguistically diverse cities. Linguistic diversity is often seen through a deficit lens. Another way of saying this is that it's perceived as a problem, particularly by institutions and governments. However, it doesn’t have to be that way and shouldn’t be that way in a participatory democracy. This conversation ad