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Life in a New Language examines the language learning and settlement experiences of 130 migrants to Australia from 34 different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America over a period of 20 years. Reusing data shared from six separate sociolinguistic ethnographies, the book illuminates participants' lived experience of learning and communicating in a new language, finding work, and doing family. Additionally, participants' experiences with racism and identity making in a new context are explored. The research uncovers significant hardship but also migrants' courage and resilience. The book has implications for language service provision, migration policy, open science, and social justice movements.
List of contents
- Acknowledgments. Or: The story of this book
- Note on pseudonyms, transcription, and translation
- List of participants
- List of abbreviations
- Chapter 1: "Swimming poor in a raging river." Doing things with words in a new language
- Chapter 2: "English opens all the doors in the world." Arriving in a new language
- Chapter 3: "In my world, no one's got a job with an Australian company." Looking for work in a new language
- Chapter 4: "Our life is becoming colorful again." Finding a voice in a new language
- Chapter 5: "This is all for our children, for their future." Doing family in a new language
- Chapter 6: "Sometimes the White people get angry." Facing discrimination in a new language
- Chapter 7: "I have many faces." Self-making in a new language
- Chapter 8: Rethinking language and migration
- How to use this book in teaching
- References
About the author
Ingrid Piller is Distinguished Professor of Applied Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney, and founding editor of Language on the Move.
Donna Butorac is a Senior Lecturer and Course Coordinator of Anthropology and Sociology at Curtin University, Perth.
Emily Farrell is the Global Commercial Director for Open Research at Taylor & Francis.
Loy Lising is a Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney.
Shiva Motaghi-Tabari is an Honorary Research Fellow in Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney.
Vera Williams Tetteh is an Honorary Research Fellow in Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney.
Summary
International migration and the social diversity it creates constitute one of the key global challenges of the early 21st century. Language and communication barriers can compromise equitable access in diverse societies, and where socioeconomic disadvantage becomes entrenched, it poses risks to security, productivity and quality of life. Clearly this is an important issue, and migrants and their language choices are heavily politicized; though political and media debates often rely on anecdotal conjecture or are ill-informed.
Life in a New Language examines the language learning and settlement experiences of 130 migrants to Australia from 34 different countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America over a period of 20 years. Reusing data shared from six separate sociolinguistic ethnographies, the book illuminates participants' lived experience of learning and communicating in a new language, finding work, and doing family. Additionally, participants' experiences with racism and identity making in a new context are explored. The research uncovers significant hardship but also migrants' courage and resilience. The book has implications for language service provision, migration policy, open science, and social justice movements.
Additional text
This is a moving book that represents the voices of migrants on their challenges and successes across different kinds of boundaries. It embodies impersonal structural and geopolitical pressures as negotiated in the dreams and aspirations of migrants. The authors share findings from decades-long separate research projects to develop richer insights, as a model for data sharing and ethical research."
Suresh Canagarajah, Pennsylvania State University
