You wonder who they mean, but then you see. Their poison hemlock? That is you. Their brown tree snake. Their killer bee. -Amit Majmudar, 'Invasive Species' #everynightapoem We flower where we flower.

🤖 "You don't want a #translation that makes a good guess - which is really all you get from AI - when your money or your life is on the line. You want a #translation that understands the nuances that vary between the languages" feat. @andybenzo.bsky.social cnet.com/tech/service... via @cnet.com

ultimouomo.com/come-il-neol... "Va detto che il calcio è uno strumento molto utile per insegnare la politica o capire il mondo, visto che permette di raggiungere persone che normalmente non raggiungeresti con scritti più apertamente politici, e offre esempi comprensibili a tutti."

Given the immense scarcity of qualified reviewers, this is harming all real scholars. All journals should update their 'author instructions' to state that if it can be shown that a submission is generated with AI, the author will be blacklisted for future submissions to that journal.

In the latest edition of the Language-on-the-Move Podcast @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social, Loy Lising chats with Ingrid Piller about the 3rd edition of her popular textbook "Intercultural Communication: A Critical Introduction" @edinburghup.bsky.social www.languageonthemove.com/intercultura...

The technology in itself is impressive, though obviously not the miracle cure that some people say. But: overhype, poor implementation, good old human greed and lack of understanding of the social context are turning this into a nightmare.

A useful (and a bit daunting) thread for people like me who are updating their syllabi right now 🤦🏻‍♂️

A terrible decision that will affect access for students in full time work, carers and mature students. Signed as a writer and Bristol alum.

Last chance to register for YAI Membership Application Webinar 2025. Join us to learn more about YAI and how to apply for membership in 2025. Registration closes on Monday 18 Aug at 10 am. Link to register: www.tickettailor.com/events/royal... #YoungAcademyIreland #YAI #EarlyCareerResearchers

those damned outdoor pigs can't keep getting away with this

If you know, you know.

Without a humanities degree other subjects don't really make much sense. You can gain technical skill but a humanities degree teaches you the complexities of applying that knowledge. I say that as a lawyer & sociologist. You see things differently—you see them better—in fact, you see them full stop.

We are looking for a new colleague to join our #Translation and Transcultural Studies team! Open to someone with expertise in translation #technologies, #AudiovisualTranslation, or #GameLocalisation, and any of our degree languages. Please help us spread the word 😊 Deadline: 17 August 2025

We’ve opened the call for @britishacademy.bsky.social postdoctoral fellowships. We provide three years of funding for early career researchers in the humanities and social sciences to complete a significant piece of publishable research www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/post...

Applications to the @yai.ie open soon. I would recommend eligible Irish-based scholars to apply, this is not only a formative experience (and you get to meet nice people!) but we are also trying to use our voices to advocate for better research practices and career development in Ireland.

PSA.

‘Useful phrases for the murder mystery writer abroad’ (my cartoon for this week’s Guardian Books)

It's been great to present our work on community interpreting in rural Ireland (created in collaboration with Iryna Andrusiak, and earlier research developed with @pilarluzrodrigues.bsky.social ) at @estleeds25.bsky.social .

Registration OPEN! Programme draft available on the registration page. @irishhumanities.bsky.social 2025 Conference “Feeding the Soul: Transnational Narratives of Food and Belonging” (UCD Humanities Institute, 4-5 September 2025) @ucdhumanities.bsky.social

Our JEM special issue on Multilingualism, Indigenous Knowledges, and Sustainability is live and fully open access! Proud of this collection and the inspiring contributions on linguistic and epistemic justice, Indigenous knowledges, and sustainability. ➡️ jempub.com/volume-2-iss...

17 years after my Erasmus, it feels great (but also strange) to visit @universityofleeds.bsky.social , this time @lcsleeds.bsky.social for the 11th EST Congress. I started my BA project (which became my first ever published paper) in this library. Maybe it will help me finish this year's paper too 😁

Great meeting amazing students and colleagues like @ebuonoco.bsky.social and Sabrina Francesconi at the Trento SLICE summer school 🙏🏼

My colleagues @philosophygalway.bsky.social have just advertised for a permanent position in Philosophy of Technology. There are some very exciting things happening in that subject in our School and University at the moment - a very good time to be coming to Galway! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNQ811/l...

Once more for the back seats: LLMs like #chatgpt do not "understand" a word of the answers they give you. They are literally trained to recognise patterns in the data they were given, and come up with realistic-sounding patterns of their own.

It is always more complicated to present yourself effectively as a researcher. Narrative CVs are an improvement from cold hard metrics, but they can be difficult to navigate. Very useful initiative and toolkit from my fellow @yai.ie members. Well done👏🏻 #research

The conversation about precariousness is incredibly important within academia, and at the same time almost invisible outside of it - sometimes unknown to our students themselves. Thanks @deirdreflynn.bsky.social 🙏🏼 With @yai.ie we can continue the conversation, but action must come from all parts.

Cardiff University has announced it will axe its teaching of modern languages and merge four of its schools, cutting staff numbers by 50%. Please sign and share this petition in support of the wonderful School of Modern Languages at Cardiff! www.change.org/p/save-mlang...

Please consider signing this petition against the deeply short-sighted, ill-advised decision to close yet another Languages department. Less language teachers means a sadder, smaller world🌍🌎🌏 www.change.org/p/save-mlang...

Please spread the word as we have opened the call for @britishacademy.bsky.social International Fellowships which enable researchers to work for two years at a UK institution. If you fancy being away from your country right now this could be an option! www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/inte...

Ursula K. LeGuin on technology

I guess it's more normal for STEM researchers, but it's still weird to see your research (with @pilarluzrodrigues.bsky.social ) come up in magazines simply as "Research from the University of..." Still, I guess that counts as impact, right?

If you are doing #QualiResearch, and you are lost in the 'quality debate' (i.e., how to assess quality in the sense of applying a set of formalised criteria), I strongly recommend reading doi.org/10.1002/9781...

I am often struck that optimism, pessimism, cynicism and despair are postures assuming they know the future. We don't. We are making the future in the present, and history demonstrates that surprises punctuate any sense of predictability.

William Labov, one of the scholars who taught humankind about language discrimination, has died. His legacy is enormous and much needed in today's world. Everyone who thinks that this or that group is speaking "wrong" should go and read Labov's work on African American Vernacular English.

In Bordeaux for the #IALIC 2024 conference, looking forward to conversations with intercultural communication scholars from all over the world.

Languages don't go extinct because they are not rich enough to convey the full range of the thoughts of their speakers. They do go extinct because their speakers are not rich enough to stand up to external pressures, whether outright oppression or the kids looking for jobs in a dominant tongue.

Hostile reminder that Chat GPT (and others) is still completely fabricating source citations. Tech bros keep saying this is fixed, but friend of mine just had a book made up and attributed to her yesterday.

Jonathan Rosa and I had the amazing opportunity to work with an undergraduate student and a high school student to "translate" our "Undoing Appropriateness" article for high school students. The final product is available for free here: demystifyinglanguage.fordham.edu/articles/lan...

Delighted to host Prof Lynne Bowker @bowkerl.bsky.social at the University of Galway’s Anderson Centre for Translation Research and Practice with a talk on multilingual scholarly communication! translation.universityofgalway.ie/lynne_bowker/ Tuesday, Nov 26, from 4 PM in AMB-G067.

Still a few days left to send your abstract to the annual Translation Studies Network of Ireland - this year coming to the West in Galway/Gaillimh. pietra.universityofgalway.ie/tsni4-galway...

Truth.

If you want a vision of the future,

We have up to £120k available to appoint a researcher as an Innovation Fellow. You’d be attached to the Local Policy & Innovation Partnership within City-REDI at the University of Birmingham to contribute expertise on matters of policy, place & governance www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/inno...

Started actually writing a new book that I care a lot about - so far I "only" had the proposal down, the chapters outline etc. 277 words are nothing but today they feel like a great accomplishment. 😁

That would be foolish, wouldn't it?

Language tests and exams are tools of gatekeeping. To us as educators, it does not necessarily mean doing away with tests altogether - but their political dimension needs to be part of the conversation. #sociolinguistics

Ads available in English now: Two full predoc/postdoc positions in English Sociolinguistics at Heidelberg University; preferred starting date April 2024. Please share widely or consider applying! 1) adb.zuv.uni-heidelberg.de/info/INFO_FD... 2) adb.zuv.uni-heidelberg.de/info/INFO_FD...

Did you know that I created a database of marginalized scholars in language? Check it out here: docs.google.com/spreadsheets... #linguistics #language