COVID vaccination ampule and syringe on yellow background

Oxford’s 2021 Word of the Year

English

BREAKING NEWS: Oxford’s 2021 Word of the Year Is a Shot in the Arm is November 1’s New York Times headline. The article describes the context and reasoning behind the decision. It’s an entertaining read. “Vaccine,” already a common-enough word in English, more than doubled in frequency over the past year, as vaccines against the…

Hand drawn pattern with hello in different languages

The COVID-19 Message

Literacy

‘Mistranslations’ was the title of one of the exhibitions for Melbourne Design Week 2021 (to April 5). It was devised in response to translation errors and confusing information regarding COVID-19, produced during 2020.  Artists from non-English speaking backgrounds were invited to create posters in languages other than English to make the COVID-19 safety messages clear. …