Last week, the Australian Government dissolved its Ministry of Multicultural Affairs leaving us wondering who will provide leadership that encourages Australia to embrace its linguistics and cultural diversity. Funnily enough, it’s coming from an unlikely collaboration between one of our biggest religious organisations – the AFL – and one of our biggest financial institutions, the NAB. Greg Dickson has more on Footify, a commercial campaign doing more to promote multiculturalism than our government seems to want to.
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Candidates get their language on
One day out from the election and Greg Dickson has noticed a few more languages other than English being used in various campaigns. Is this a last-ditch effort to reach every constituent, a deliberate recognition of our linguistic diversity, or just because we can?
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The Great Language Game. What’s your score?
When you hear a foreign language, can you tell what it is? A Melbourne-based engineer and fellow language geek has developed the Great Language Game. It’s quick and fun but rather hard! Have a go and let us know how clever you are.
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Raiders of the Lost Archives
Last week, Indigenous languages got some media attention when it was revealed that documents discovered in the archives of the NSW State Library are shedding new light on some little-known languages. Claire Bowern has more on the story and describes how interesting, challenging and worthwhile archival materials can be for efforts to strengthen Aboriginal languages.
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Jessica Mitford and a star-spangled language
In 1939, writer and activist Jessica Mitford learned that in America, “if someone pays you a compliment—you’re looking well, what a pretty dress, and so forth—you are supposed to say ‘Thank you,’ instead of just mumbling inaudibly.” Piers Kelly observes that in 70 years, certain differences between U.S. and British styles of communication have stood the test of time.
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LOTEs in the Election: your guide to linguistically-talented candidates
With the election campaign in full-swing, you could be forgiven for thinking all the candidates are monolingual English speakers. Not true. Here’s a starter’s guide to people on your ballot paper who speak Languages Other Than English (LOTEs). But why didn’t you know all this before? Greg Dickson argues it’s part of politics race to the bottom to appeal to a dumbed-down notion of middle Australia.
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When grammar gets mean: Prescriptivism in the 21st century
The generally accepted wisdom is that “kids these days” don’t know how to use English properly. So why are there some young people who still reach for the red pen? Allie Severin looks at the rise of the young prescriptivist.
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Did a key witness in Trayvon Martin’s case talk funny, or could we all use some education?
The George Zimmerman trial in the United States of America has shown a country in deep divide. John Olstad looks at how reactions to the testimony of Rachel Jeantel, friend of Trayvon Martin, demonstrates the cultural attitudes of a nation, and how we all need to learn a little respect.
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Deceit for a cause: the ALNF and its misguided marketing
The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF) is a charity with impressive marketing and fundraises thousands of dollars for programs to improve literacy among Aboriginal children. So why does it matter that their marketing strategy misleads the public and reflects badly on the same children that they are trying to support? Greg Dickson explains.
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The bouncer at the national door: the Australian citizenship test
The Australian citizenship test has been with us since 2007, but is it doing more than just quizzing future Aussies on their knowledge of our form of government, our sporting legends and our public holidays? Linguistics student Ben Purser asks some questions of his own.
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