Dave
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dmalinowski.bsky.social
Dave
@dmalinowski.bsky.social
🕘: Applied linguistics, language education & linguistic landscape
🕔: photography, bicycling, coffee, LEGO, trains
🕛: opposing authoritarianism and technoligarchy
Absolutely love this essay by Ross Benjamin, which counters the instrumentalist view of language as a transparent conduit of meaning.

I think there's even an argument for AI-translation-as-violence, in that it simply vaporizes the vibrant socio-semiotic spaces between languages.

#AcademicSky
"To translate is not simply to transfer meaning but to attend to differences—of culture, time, thought, expression—that evade perfect alignment"

Brilliant essay by Ross Benjamin on how AirPods & other automated translation tech eliminates what really matters in communicating across languages
The Costs of Instant Translation
AI might soon rob us of the thrill and challenge of cross-cultural conversation.
www.theatlantic.com
November 11, 2025 at 6:33 PM
“So, there we were. A group of Black Americans confronted with all these dead white Americans…When they were alive, we couldn’t sit in the same room”

- Jefferson Wiggins, 1st Sergeant, 960th Quartermaster Service Company: www.history.com/articles/bla...

Black Liberators: blackliberators.nl/en/
November 10, 2025 at 6:51 PM
How can you express “Stay Strong” in other languages? We owe it to our neighbors to keep those words on the street, and to keep ourselves standing with them.

#StayStrong #SanJose #SanFrancisco #Oakland #Richmond #SanMateo #RedwoodCity #Fremont #Gilroy #BayArea #SouthBay #EastBay #NorthBay #noICE
This mural, outside Ganado Feed on Lincoln Ave. in San Jose, urges the people who see it to find resilience in challenging times…in English. But some people in our community might really need to hear that message in another language, too.

#translate #sanjose #staystrong #murals #linguisticlandscape
November 8, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The lesson from this little episode in authoritarian idiocy seems clear: A sandwich is not a pipe bomb, a hand grenade, or a Molotov cocktail, so DO NOT TRY TO EAT THOSE OTHER THINGS
🚨NOT GUILTY! D.C. Jury ACQUITS sandwich thrower.
November 7, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Reposted by Dave
Day 2 of our learning challenge:

Amigos Auto Mall is one of many San Jose businesses with names that come from, or borrow from, languages beyond English. What does “amigos” say to the public that “Friends Auto Mall” might not?

#signs #linguisticlandscape #spanish #español #languages #translation
November 5, 2025 at 4:58 PM
“We take our oath to the Constitution; not to kings”

- Governor-elect of New Jersey @mikiesherrill.bsky.social 🎉

The #NoKings flag is flying tonight in NJ, VA, NYC, Boston, PA, CA (go #Prop50!) & around the country. A well-deserved sigh of relief to all before tomorrow’s battles!
November 5, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Is the "place" in "I learn in this place" the same as the "place" in "Find your place"? You don't really have to think about it, unless you're standing there, trying to translate it.

...which, I think, is one way for human language learners to put AI (...wait for it...) in its place.
Join us the next 2 weeks as we #TranslateSanJose one sign at a time!

Day 1: How would you translate these signs—located on the banners along 1st St in downtown SJ—into Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, or any of San Jose’s many languages?

#dtsj #translation #linguisticlandscape #learn #signs

1/2
November 4, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Looking down helps me look up.

——
#leaves #pavement and #shadows as #nature #closeup #photo #streetphoto
November 3, 2025 at 7:00 AM
I won’t say that I saw all this coming, but the sinister feeling that crept over me when I saw this front yard display last October, a few weeks before the election, was palpable.

1/2

#halloween #AmericanDarkness
November 1, 2025 at 3:09 AM
I’m thankful and determined to be working on Translate San José, a project that’s trying to make multilingualism more visible in public space, precisely at a time when Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and other AMERICAN languages are being demonized in right-wing discourse. Diversity is our strength ⚡️
Great to see everyone who came out for our Language Learning Personal History workshop on Wednesday, and many thanks to Amy Russo of the SJSU Writing Center for her facilitation. We reflected and learned from each other’s histories in language...inspiring!

#multilingual #sanjose #academicsky
November 1, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Just another 12 miles of No Kings errands around town in San Jose

——
#bicycle #selfie w/ #NoKings & #California #flags
October 31, 2025 at 7:35 PM
life laid bare

———
#green stays in the #veins of #leaves and us too #nature #photo
October 31, 2025 at 3:12 AM
Can someone help me figure out the math here? GOP reps complain that SNAP recipients are lazy, ripping off the government. But THEY are the ones not working while collecting over $100,000 every day on our dime, to the tune of almost $9,000,000 over the last few months.

That look about right?
October 29, 2025 at 4:02 AM
Reposted by Dave
This is amazing. And it’s truly the stuff of nightmares.
October 27, 2025 at 11:08 AM
No Kings on Sunday! 21-mile ride from San Jose, through Santa Clara and Sunnyvale and back again, via an early vote center to cast my Yes on 50 ballot.

Not a bad afternoon considering the state of the world 🗳️🇺🇸🌴🥥💙
October 27, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Mamdani speaking powerfully to the agonizing, vile, racist truths that Muslim Americans in New York and across the U.S. have to endure every day.

We’d all be so lucky to have you as mayor, @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social. Good luck, and VOTE ZOHRAN, NYC!
I need you guys to take a moment to watch Zohran Mamdani's remarks today about anti-Muslim hate and the bipartisan cancer it is.

This will go down as a defining speech in modern American politics.

www.facebook.com/share/v/1716...
October 26, 2025 at 3:10 PM
12 more miles of No Kings riding in the books! From downtown San Jose to the Tesla Takedown protest at Winchester Ave and back via San Carlos, here passing the iconic (and now dark) Western Appliance neon sign.

#biking #nokings #protest
October 25, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Seeing new research in these fields makes me feel good, even if I can't keep up amidst this absurd American political theater of cruelty.
- New Immigrants & Multilingual Linguistic Landscape in Taiwan www.multilingual-matters.com/page/detail/...
- Advocacy in Translanguaging Education
#AcademicSky
Advocacy in Translanguaging Education
This book examines diverse aspects of advocacy for translanguaging as a legitimate educational practice. It advances a practical theory of the translanguaging of education that is informed by delibera...
www.multilingual-matters.com
October 25, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Just sent my last 30/100 hand-written, illustrated, and stickered letters to fellow Californians urging them to vote in the upcoming upcoming special election.

Let’s get out there, California!
🗳️ #vote #Yeson50
October 25, 2025 at 3:46 AM
Yesterday was No Kings Thursday.

Today is No Kings Friday.

How will you resist today?

🔃 🇺🇸
October 24, 2025 at 3:04 PM
No Kings Wednesday 🚲

Proud to ride in San Jose with We the People in the California Republic tonight, just down the road from Alameda, Oakland, and San Francisco, where trays of 🧊 sit in the freezer ready to spill all over the place.

Let’s turn up the 🔥!
October 23, 2025 at 7:11 AM
Bay Area folks, however ICE shows up in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose & other cities, check out the action plan from Indivisible:

- Bay Resistance Mass Call 6pm tonight
- Plan for day-of rally & march in SF & library vigils
- Materials for neighborhood pods & Adopt-a-corner
- Whistle protocol
Trump has an obsession with San Francisco. We have a plan.
buff.ly/uIneZ5r
October 22, 2025 at 2:21 PM
No Kings Tuesday 🚲

- a 6km commute via San José City Hall, trying to keep #NoKings rolling
October 22, 2025 at 2:30 AM
October 21, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Reposted by Dave
Y'all, @dukepress.bsky.social legendary fall sale is on right now

50% off with code FALL25 on all available books and journal issues from Oct 20 - Nov 9, 2025

A great time to get both Alchemy lecture volumes, including

"Five Manifestos for the Beautiful World" #Lit #Blackademics #BookSky
October 20, 2025 at 2:28 PM