English in Iran

Ingrid Piller

English in Iran

Research output: Contribution to Newspaper/Magazine/Website › Website contribution

6 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Even a casual observer of the linguistic landscape in Iran will have to conclude that Iranians have a collective fetish for English. Almost all public signage is bilingual in English and Persian, even in cases where it is hard to imagine an English-speaking audience for a sign (e.g., ATMs that only accept Iranian cards; it’s impossible to use international bank and credit cards in Iran). Participants at the Language-on-the-Move workshop at the University of Tehran told me that English has two broad meanings in Iran: on the one hand, it is seen as a passport to higher education (passing an English test is a prerequisite to many university courses and English is part of the general education component of all university courses) and it is seen as a passport to the wider world outside Iran and strongly associated with going abroad.

Original language	English
Specialist publication	Language on the move
Publisher	Language on the move
Publication status	Published - 30 Dec 2010

Bibliographical note

© 2018 Language on the Move. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

200401 applied linguistics and educational linguistics
200405 language in culture and society (sociolinguistics)

Access to Document

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 161 KBLicence: CC BY

http://www.languageonthemove.com/english-in-iran/Licence: CC BY

Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'English in Iran'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this

@misc{d85c3101f14041c3a2383ab451ba8e93,

title = "English in Iran",

abstract = "Even a casual observer of the linguistic landscape in Iran will have to conclude that Iranians have a collective fetish for English. Almost all public signage is bilingual in English and Persian, even in cases where it is hard to imagine an English-speaking audience for a sign (e.g., ATMs that only accept Iranian cards; it’s impossible to use international bank and credit cards in Iran). Participants at the Language-on-the-Move workshop at the University of Tehran told me that English has two broad meanings in Iran: on the one hand, it is seen as a passport to higher education (passing an English test is a prerequisite to many university courses and English is part of the general education component of all university courses) and it is seen as a passport to the wider world outside Iran and strongly associated with going abroad.",

keywords = "200401 applied linguistics and educational linguistics, 200405 language in culture and society (sociolinguistics)",

author = "Ingrid Piller",

note = "{\circledC} 2018 Language on the Move. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.",

year = "2010",

month = "12",

day = "30",

language = "English",

journal = "Language on the move",

issn = "2203-5001",

publisher = "Language on the move",

}

TY - GEN

T1 - English in Iran

AU - Piller, Ingrid

N1 - © 2018 Language on the Move. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

PY - 2010/12/30

Y1 - 2010/12/30

N2 - Even a casual observer of the linguistic landscape in Iran will have to conclude that Iranians have a collective fetish for English. Almost all public signage is bilingual in English and Persian, even in cases where it is hard to imagine an English-speaking audience for a sign (e.g., ATMs that only accept Iranian cards; it’s impossible to use international bank and credit cards in Iran). Participants at the Language-on-the-Move workshop at the University of Tehran told me that English has two broad meanings in Iran: on the one hand, it is seen as a passport to higher education (passing an English test is a prerequisite to many university courses and English is part of the general education component of all university courses) and it is seen as a passport to the wider world outside Iran and strongly associated with going abroad.

AB - Even a casual observer of the linguistic landscape in Iran will have to conclude that Iranians have a collective fetish for English. Almost all public signage is bilingual in English and Persian, even in cases where it is hard to imagine an English-speaking audience for a sign (e.g., ATMs that only accept Iranian cards; it’s impossible to use international bank and credit cards in Iran). Participants at the Language-on-the-Move workshop at the University of Tehran told me that English has two broad meanings in Iran: on the one hand, it is seen as a passport to higher education (passing an English test is a prerequisite to many university courses and English is part of the general education component of all university courses) and it is seen as a passport to the wider world outside Iran and strongly associated with going abroad.

KW - 200401 applied linguistics and educational linguistics

KW - 200405 language in culture and society (sociolinguistics)

M3 - Website contribution

JO - Language on the move

JF - Language on the move

SN - 2203-5001

PB - Language on the move

ER -