A dad joke I could make only because my kids speak French and English: “I don’t understand why French people say ‘garlic’ when they hurt themselves.” Kid 1: “That joke is so bad it’s good.” Kid 2 whacks me repeatedly, and I say: “Garlic. Garlic.” #multilingualism#French#English
Whoa! There is a new #LanguageIdentification model #GlotLID especially geared for low-resource languages, capable of identifying 1665 languages, outperforming many contemporaries.
This is highly connected to my work on #SocialMedia and #urban#multilingualism. Less labelling of minority languages into "unknown" category! Improved understanding of linguistic #diversity! It also makes the case for improving information on languages in national registries!
noticed this week that my Dutch accent was playing up stronger than usually, and some interference with Dutch words in my English - then remembered I have recently read 800 pages of c1900 Dutch author Louis Couperus.
“Two years ago, a linguistic and political Pandora’s box was opened in China. Under new rules, tutors were no longer allowed to hold private classes in person or online for students based in China. Though this was not exclusive to English-language courses, it largely affected tutors and education companies that specialized in teaching English as a second language (ESL).”
The slides for my invited lecture on “Whose Language Counts?” at the University of Groningen next Monday (27 Nov, 15:00-17:00) are ready (yes, always enough in advance to not be stressed ☺️)!
Join us onsite or online (meet.google.com/jfb-xucu-yvc) 🤩
Changing teachers' attitudes towards linguistic diversity: effects of an anti-bias programme
"an intervention programme for kindergarten and school teachers' continuing education in Germany that targets biases against language outside a perceived monolingual ‘standard’ and its speakers"
Does anyone know of any research on bilingualism/multilingualism which discusses language acquisition that didn't happen simultaneously or sequentially, but involved switching back and forth between the languages? Also studies on people who experienced both L1 and L2 attrition?
The preprint of my paper on the language ideologies on gender-inclusive language of L2 speakers of German is available here: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-04245878
It's still work in progress, and I'm looking forward to your comments!
Update. I missed this from 2020: "Among the researchers [from seven European countries] who published at least three [#SSH] journal articles [in 2013-15] over one-third…had written their work in at least two languages…Research is international, but multilingual publishing keeps locally relevant research alive with the added potential for creating impact." https://asistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.24336
Update. I missed this from last year: "We broadly review the advantages and limitations of…machine #translation…and propose that translation can serve as both a short- and a long-term solution for making science more…accessible, globally representative, and impactful beyond the academy. We outline actions that individuals and institutions can take to support multilingual science." https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/72/10/988/6653151
"The real benefit of machine translation lies elsewhere, said [Vincent] Larivière. 'In an ideal world, the #metadata, #abstracts and titles of scientific articles would be available in [many] languages, increasing their #discoverability…Readers could then choose to translate the text into any language they want. We wouldn’t always have to use English.' "
Update. "Non-native English speakers face additional barriers to scientific publishing, from journal guidelines accessible only in English to higher rates of language-related manuscript rejection. Journals, congresses, and others are beginning to offer support ranging from English language mentoring programmes, training, and buddy systems to free AI proofreading tools." https://thepublicationplan.com/2023/11/07/language-barriers-in-scientific-publishing-how-many-hurdles-are-there/
Update. "GPT detectors frequently misclassify non-native English writing as #AI generated, raising concerns about fairness and robustness…GPT detectors could spuriously flag non-native authors’ content as AI #plagiarism, paving the way for undue harassment." https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666389923001307
"Linguistically inclusive policies come in many forms, and can be implemented at each stage of the editorial process. They might aim to make publishing more #multilingual. Alternatively – if sticking with English – they may aim to reduce the burden on non-native English speakers."
Update. New study: "Academics who perceive high #pressure to publish tend to employ instrumental publication strategies rather than normative ones…Publishing results in open-access outlets or in native languages other than English is less important for those under pressure." https://academic.oup.com/rev/advance-article/doi/10.1093/reseval/rvae011/7634754
Update. "Too often, scientific research in any language other than English is automatically seen as second tier, with little consideration for the quality of the work itself. This harmful prejudice ignores the work of those involved, especially in the humanities and social sciences. It also profoundly undermines the global academic community’s ability to share knowledge with society." https://theconversation.com/english-dominates-scientific-research-heres-how-we-can-fix-it-and-why-it-matters-226198