Are you interested in New Zealand and Pacific Studies? Like Vienna and Hundertwasser? Want to go on a boat trip on the Danube? Then you should come to the New Zealand Studies Association conference in July 2015!
If you’d like to present at this conference, the call for papers is now open. Deadline is January 11, 2015. A selection of the conference papers will be published in the association’s journal, The Journal of New Zealand and Pacific Studies.
Hope to see you in Vienna next year!
I went to New Zealand last month to present at an applied linguistics conference, and decided to stay for another two weeks to travel around both the North and South islands and also head up to the Cook Islands. I had a feeling that I was going to love New Zealand, and I was right, of course. These pictures do not do this country justice. It is incredibly beautiful!
Just look at that water. Just look at it!
The conference was at Victoria University in Wellington and yes, it rained almost the entire time. However, I suppose that is perfect conference weather… I had been warned about Wellington’s windy wet weather, though it wasn’t quite as cold as I had feared. I had a lost luggage crisis the first day of the conference (and so didn’t attend sessions until the second day) and presented at the end of the third and final day when the sun decided to come out. That was also the day that Michelle arrived to start our annual vacation / holiday.
After our presentations, when the weather was finally nice
Highlight of a rainy day in Wellington: playing with the language barrel at Te Papa Museum.
We took the ferry and train to Christchurch, then another train to the west coast. I highly recommend them, especially since they are such scenic journeys and there is a viewing carriage on each train so it’s much easier to take pictures.
So. Blue.
Such pretty colors and contrasts
Then it was rental car time. Driving around the South Island is so much fun! We stopped at Fox Glacier before heading to Queenstown, Te Anau and Milford Sound.
Mount Cook from Lake Matheson
Fox Glacier with itty bitty people walking on it
Queenstown from above
Milford Sound
We flew up to Auckland from Queenstown on Air New Zealand which of course has a Middle Earth-themed safety video. We did the silent boat tour of the Waitomo Glowworm caves and headed over to Rotorua (it really does smell like rotten eggs!) and Matamata to visit Hobbiton.
Nice fake tree
No hobbits to be found
Pretty green hills and lots of sheep
I hadn’t really heard much about the Cook Islands before since the South Pacific tends to get summarized by “Tahiti and Fiji” (neither of which I have been to yet). But since they are in free association with New Zealand, they use the NZ dollar and not having to exchange money makes traveling just a tiny bit easier. Plus, Cook Islands Maori is very similar to the variety of Maori used in New Zealand, so it was a fun and nerdy Polynesian language adventure for me.
Cook Islands Maori
Muri Lagoon on Rarotonga, a.k.a. paradise
I’m already planning my next trip to New Zealand. Bay of Islands, Lake Taupo, Abel Tasman National Park and Dunedin are on my list so far! As luck would have it, there is a conference I am planning on attending in Dunedin next year… See you in 2014, New Zealand!
New Zealand, you are so cool and pretty and perfect. Never change.
I’m off to New Zealand in two weeks to present at the Applied Linguistics Association of New Zealand / Applied Linguistics Association of Australia conference in Wellington. My presentation is “Formality and Francophonie: Stylistic and geographic variation in university textbooks of French” (Spoiler alert: there isn’t much.) The conference is November 27-29 at Victoria University of Wellington and I plan to live tweet the sessions I attend, probably with the hashtag #alanz2013.
Wellington with cable car (Wikimedia Commons)
Then on November 30, Michelle will be joining me from the US and we will begin our annual vacation together. (Remember our European and Australian vacations?) We’ll be exploring both the North and South Islands of New Zealand as well as the Cook Islands, which is in free association with New Zealand.
This will be my first trip to a tropical island in the South Pacific and my first experience with Polynesian languages. I hope to learn more Maori and Cook Islands Maori because right now my vocabulary is limited to kia ora / kia orana.
For Francophiles based in the South Pacific region, 20 out of the 39 universities in Australia and 6 out of the 8 universities in New Zealand currently offer French:
Australia
New Zealand
If small island living is your thing, then the University of the South Pacific also offers courses in French. The main campus is in Suva, Fiji, but there are campuses on eleven other island nations.
And of course Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie and Université de la Polynésie Française offer courses and degrees in French since these islands are collectivités of France and use French as an official language.
Let me know if I’ve missed a university.
Anyone who has done research on vocabulary acquisition has come across Dr. Paul Nation’s articles and books. His 1990 book, Teaching & Learning Vocabulary, as well as his 2001 book, Learning Vocabulary in Another Language
Currently, Dr. Nation teaches at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, and his homepage offers useful resources to download for those interested in vocabulary acquisition. The ZIP file Vocabulary Resource Booklet includes survival vocabulary in 19 languages, based on Nation and Crabbe’s 1991 article “A Survival Language Learning Syllabus for Foreign Travel” (which is also included), ideally for tourists who will be in a foreign country for only a few weeks or months. This survival vocabulary should take no more than 60 hours to learn.
Here is the syllabus in English, from the article. Numbers in parentheses simply mean that the item occurs in more than one section.
1. Greetings and being polite
Hello/Good morning etc. + reply [there are many cultural variants of these, including Where are you going?, Have you eaten?]
How are you? + reply e.g. Fine, thank you.
Goodbye
Thank you + reply e.g. It’s nothing, You’re welcome.
Please
Excuse me [sorry]
It doesn’t matter
Delicious (6)
Can I take your photo?
2. Buying and bargaining
I want … (4, 6)
Do you have …?/Is there …?
Yes (8)
No (8)
This (one), That (one) [to use when pointing at goods]
There isn’t any
How much (cost)? (5, 6)
A cheaper one (5)
NUMBERS (5, 7) (These need to be learned to a high degree of fluency)
UNITS OF MONEY (5, 6)
UNITS OF WEIGHT AND SIZE
How much (quantity)?
half
all of it
(one) more
(one) less
Excuse me [to get attention] (4)
Too expensive
Can you lower the price? + reply (Some countries do not use bargaining. In others it is essential.)
NAMES OF IMPORTANT THINGS TO BUY (These may include stamps, a newspaper, a map.)
3. Reading signs
Gents
Ladies
Entrance/In
Exit/out
Closed
4. Getting to places
Excuse me (to get attention) (2)
Can you help me?
Where is …? (5)
Where is … street?
What is the name of this place/street/station/town?
Toilet
Bank
Department store
Restaurant
Airport
Train station
Underground
Bus station
Hospital
Doctor
Police
Post-office
Telephone
Market
I want … (2, 5, 6)
How far?/Is it near?
How long (to get to …)?
Left
Right
Straight ahead
Slow down (Directions for a taxi.)
Stop here
Wait
Ticket
When
5. Finding accommodation
Where is … (4)
Hotel
How much (cost)? (2, 6)
A cheaper one (2)
I want … (2,4,6)
Leave at what time?
NUMBERS (2, 7)
today
tomorrow
6. Ordering food
How much (cost)? (2, 5)
The bill, please
I want … (2, 5, 9)
NAMES OF A FEW DISHES AND DRINKS
A FEW COOKING TERMS
Delicious (1)
7. Talking about yourself and talking to children
I am (name)
Where do you come from?
I am (a New Zealander)/I come from (New Zealand)
What do you do?
I am a (teacher)/tourist
You speak (Chinese)!
A little/very little
What is your name? (Especially for talking to children.)
How old are you? + reply
NUMBERS (2, 5)
I have been here … days/weeks/months
I am sick
8. Controlling and learning language
Do you understand?
I (don’t) understand
Do you speak English? (7)
Yes (2)
No (2)
Repeat
Please speak slowly
I speak only a little (Thai)
What do you call this in (Japanese)?
_______________________________
Do you agree with this list? Anything missing? Anything not that necessary for survival as a tourist?