Patrick HEINRICH

Affiliations

• Professor Ca'Foscari University (since 2021)
• Associate Professor Ca'Foscari University (2014-2021)
• Professor Dokkyo University (2013-2014)
• Associate Professor Dokkyo University (2010-2013) 
• Assistant Professor Duisburg-Essen University (2002-2008)
• Research Associate Düsseldorf University (1999-2000)

Part-time affiliations & visiting professorships 

• Visiting professor: Duisburg-Essen University (2016); University Toulouse Jean-Jaurès (2013, 2016)
• Part-time lecturer: Hokkaido University (2016-2024); University of Lapland (2015); Gakushuin University (2010-2013); Okinawa International University (2008, 2010)
• Visiting fellow: Okinawa University (2009-2012); University of the Ryukyus (2008-2010, 2022-2023); Hosei University (2006-2012)
  Erasmus staff exchange: University of Ljubljana (2025); University of Vienna (2019); University of Helsinki (2016)

Academic education・qualification

• 2018 Abilitazione prima fascia (Italian Habilitation)
• 2005 Habilitation Thesis, Japanese Studies (Duisburg-Essen University)
• 2002 Dr. phil Japanese Studies (Duisburg University)
• 1998 Master Linguistics and Japanese Studies (Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf)

Most important teachers

• Ulrich Ammon, Florian Coulmas, Fumio Inoue, Josef Kreiner, Jiri V. Neustupny, Shinsho Miyara

Awards & scholarships

• 2014 Honorary member Foundation for Endangered Languages
• 2008 Award of the Japanese Association of Sociolinguistic Sciences
• 2002 Award for best PhD thesis of the year, Duisburg University
• Various scholarships by JSPS, DAAD, DFG, Japan Foundation, Humboldt Foundation

Citations and impact Google Citations: 1600+ / h-index 21 / i10-index 43 

Associate Editor

• East Asian Pragmatics (Toronto University Press)

Editorial Board

• The Endangered Language Yearbook (Brill)
• Contemporary Japan (Taylor & Francis)
• Current Issues in Language Planning (Taylor & Francis)
• International Quarterly of Asian Studies (Heidelberg University Press)
• Kotoba to shakai (Sangensha)
• Études japonaises (Institut français de recherche sur le Japon)
• Journal of Arabic Sociolinguistics (Edinburgh University Press)

Keynote lectures

• (12.09.2025) "Language and Well-being in Yomitan Village and Setouchi Town: A contrastive analysis". Kyoto: Kyoto University.
• (14.12.2024) "Language as a Relational Good: Language and Well-being in the Ryukyu Islands". Hiroshima: Hiroshima Eiken University. 
• (23.03.2024) "Language and Well-being in the Ryukyus: Explorations from Yomitan, Setouchi and among New Speakers". Nishihara: University of the Ryukyus. 
• (15.03.2023) "Multilingualism in Japan: Research on and for transformative changes". Tokyo: University of Tokyo.
• (30.11.2023) "Language Diversity in Japan: Sociolinguistic Explorations in the Ryukyus and in Tokyo". Torun: Nicolas Copernicus University
• (22.11.2019) "Language Endangerment Occurs in Borderlands: Cases from Japan, Korea and China". Olomouc: Palacký University Olomouc
• (11.04.2019) "Globalization Starts at Home: Japan's Transformation into a Multilingual Society". Tokyo: Toyo University.
• (10.10.2018) "Language Maintenance and Revitalisation for Wellbeing: Development of New Models in Language Revitalisation and Preservation". Manila: Commission on the Filipino Language.
• (22.09.2017) "How Happy Our Ancestors Must Have Been! Language Endangerment in Japan and Social Wellbeing". London: SOAS.
• (14.05.2017) "Managing Language Problems in a Welfare Linguistics Framework". Princeton: Princeton University.

Other academic presentations

• (19.05.-23.05.2025) "Language and Well-being in Japan" (Intensive course). Ljubljana: University of Ljubljana.
• (26.02.2025) "What is Lost in Language Loss in Japan? Language Endangerment, Revitalization, and Policy". Ljubljana: University of Ljubljana.
• (15.12.2014) "Language reclamation in a welfare linguistics framework". Hiroshima:Hiroshima Eiken University.  
• (21.08.2024) "Uchinaaguchi and well-being" (a chat with Nick Luscombe on Apple Poscast). Okinawa: OIST.
• (05.-09.08. 2024) "Language Diversity and Wellbeing" (Intensive Course), Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (24.04.2024" "Roundtable Discussion: Monolingualism & Multilingualism". Tokyo: University of Tokyo (Online).
• (18.04.2024) "Language Diversity, New Speakers, and Wellbeing in the Ryukyua Islands". Washington D.C. George Washington University (Online). 
• (24.03.2024) "Yomitan-son ni okeru kotoba to kōfuku" [Language and Wellbeing in Yomitan Village]. Yomitan: Community Hall.
• (23.03.2024) "Language and Wellbeing in the Ryukyus: Explorations from Yomitan, Setouchi and among New Speakers". Nishihara: University of the Ryukyus.
• (15.03.2023) “Multilingualism in Japan: Research on and for transformative changes”. Tokyo: University of Tokyo.
• (29.09.2023) "Ryukyuan Language Documentation and Revitalization". Fieldnotes Podcast. Interview by Martha Tsutsui Billins. 
• (18.08.2023) "Language and Wellbeing in Yomitan Village (Okinawa)". Gent: Gent University. 
• (04.08.2023-09.08.23) "Language and Wellbeing in Japan" (intensive course). Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (03.08.2023) "Cultural Responsive Teaching". Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (25.03.2023) "Ryūkyū rettō ni okeru gengo to kōfukukan (chūkan hōkoku)" [Language and Subjective Wellbeing in the Ryukyus (Interim Report)]. Yomitan (Online presentation).
• (26.09.2022) "La storia sociolinguistica dei parlanti del Dunan". Venice: Ca'Foscari University of Venice.
• (15-18.8.2022) "Sociolinguistics: Language and Wellbeing in Japan". Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (18.03.2022) "'These dialects are language, too': Knowledge transmission about language diversity in Japan through the UNESCO Atlas of Endangered Languages". Strasburg: University of Strasbourg.
• (29.01.2022) "Masiko Hidenori no ‘Ideorogii to shite no nihon’ o saikō suru" [Reflexions on Hidenori Masiko’s Japan as Ideology]. Tokyo: Tagengo shakai kenkyūkai.
• (19.12.2021) "Hidenori Masiko to iu shōgeki [The impact of Masiko Hidenori]". Osaka: Tagengoka genshō kenkyūkai (Online contribution).
• (27.08.2021) "L'esprit de celui qui parle: Wilhelm von Humboldt on Japanese". Ghent (Online symposium).
• (16.08.-19.08.2021) "Sociolinguistics: Language and Wellbeing in Japan". Hokkaido University  (Online intensive course).
• (2021.06.28) "Language ideology and cultural capital in Okinawan language textbooks". Zürich University of Applied Sciences (Online symposium). 
• (2021.06.08) "New speakers and new-speakerism in the Ryukyus". Hong Kong University (Online symposium).
• (2021.05.06) "Sinitic Writing in the Ryukyus". Shanghai Normal University (Online workshop).
• (2021.04.20) "Ryukyuan language learning and transformational change". Kyushu University (Online seminar).
• (2020.11.14) "Is there a 'young generation' in Japan and if so, what sets them apart from others?". Kyoto: (Online symposium). 
• (2020.09.03) "If you Can't Hold on: Language Obsolescence in Yonaguni and Reversing Language Shift Theory" (Conference on the Endangered Languages of East Asia). Venice: Ca'Foscari University of Venice.
• (17.08.-20.08.2020) "Sociolinguistics: Language and Wellbeing in Japan". Hokkaido University (Online intensive course). 
• (07.03.2020) "Yonaguni-ten <l ' isola> ni tsuite (Annual Meeting of the Ryukyuan Heritage Language Society). Nishihara: University of the Ryukyus. 
• (07.02.2020) "Language standardization and de-standardization in Tokyo: Empirical findings and methodological challenges". Rome: La Sapienza University of Rome.
• (22.11.2019) "Language Endangerment Occurs in Borderlands: Cases from Japan, Korea and China". Olomouc: Palacký University Olomouc.
• (14.11.2019) "Language and its Double" Turin: University of Turin.
• (03.10.2019) "Cultural Expertise and Language". Oxford: Oxford University.
• (05.08.-08.08.2019) "Issues in the Japanese Sociology of Language" (intensive course). Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (15.05.2019) "Sprache und Gesellschaft im Modernen Tokyo". Vienna: University of Vienna. 
• (13.05.-17.05.2019) "Current Trends in Japanese Sociolinguistics" (Erasmus teaching staff exchange). Vienna: University of Vienna. 
• (11.04.2019) "Globalization Starts at Home: Japan's Transformation into a Multilingual Society". Tokyo: Toyo University.
• (08.03.2019) "Language Endangerment and Subjective Wellbeing in the Ryukyus". Venice: Ca' Foscari University 
• (02.03.2019) "Yōroppa ni okeru nihongo kyōjuhō ni kansuru kōsatsu" [Reflections on Japanese Teaching Methods in Europe]. Duisburg: Duisburg-Essen University.
• (01.03.2019) "Werufea ringuistikkusu no wakugumi ni okeru gengo mondai to kanri" [Language Problems and Management in a Welfare Linguistics Paradigm]. Duisburg: Duisburg-Essen University.
• (21.02.2019) "Language Life in Post-Modern Tokyo". Venice: Ca' Foscari University.
• (14.12.2018) "Language Life in Post-Modern Tokyo". Leiden: Leiden University.
• (10.10.2018) "Language Maintenance and Revitalisation for Wellbeing: Development of New Models in Language Revitalisation and Preservation". Manila: Commission on the Filipino Language.
• (06.-09.08.2018) "Issues in the Japanese Sociology of Language" (intensive course). Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (21.06.2018) "At Risk of Exclusion. Language Revitalization In the Japanese Ryukyu Islands". Duisburg: Duisburg-Essen University.
• (14.06.2018) "Language Revitalization in Yonaguni". Venice: Ca' Foscari University.
• (16.04.2018) "Language Standardization in the Chinese Character Cultural Sphere. China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam". Cambridge: Cambridge University.
• (10.03.2018) "Japanese Language Education for Welfare. From Theory to Practice". Cambridge: British Association for Teaching Japanese.
• (01.02.2018) "Protect, Project, Connect. Language Education for Welfare". Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (31.01.2018) "Language Revitalization for Welfare. Ryukyuan and Ainu". Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (30.01.2018) "Don't Leave your Language Alone". Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (29.01.2018) "The Dark Side of Modernity: Language Endangerment in Japan". Sapporo: Hokkaido University.   
• (11.12.2017) "After Language Standardization. Dialect Cosplay in Tokyo". Ningbo: University of Nottingham Campus, Ningbo, China. 
• (22.09.2017) "How Happy Our Ancestors Must Have Been! Language Endangerment in Japan and Social Wellbeing". London: SOAS.
• (31.08.2017) "Critical Content-Based Instruction: Developing an Advanced Japanese Course on tabunka kyosei for Italian Master Students". Lisbon. EAJS.
• (07.-10.08.2017) "Issues in the Japanese Sociology of Language" (intensive course). Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (23.06.2017) "Ryukyuan Language Shift in a Welfare Linguistics Framework". Kanda University of International Studies. Makuhari: KUIS.
• (14.05.2017) "Managing Language Problems in a Welfare Linguistics Framework". Princeton: Princeton University.
• (09.05.2017) "Language as a Factor for Welfare". Venice: Ca' Foscari University. 
• (27.04.2017) "Cool rules: Nouvelles présentations de soi même à travers la langue par les jeunes au Japon". Toulouse: Université Toulouse-Jean Jaurès. 
• (04.04.2017) "With or Without Honorifics. Language Revitalization in the Ryukyus". Venice: Ca' Foscari University.
• (18.03.2017) "Language and Identity in the Diaspora". Osaka: Kwansai Gakuin Daigaku.
• (02.11.2016) "Japanese Language Education, Welfare and Motivation". Oxford: Oxford Brookes University.
• (05.09.-09.09.2016)"Language Endangerment in Japan" (intensive course). Gothenburg: Universty of Gothenburg.
• (10.08.2016) "Language Shift as an Index of Social Inequality - The Case of the Ryukyus". Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (08.08.-12.08.2016)"Issues in the Japanese Sociology of Language" (intensive course). Sapporo: Hokkaido University.
• (09.07.2016) "Language Education for Welfare - The Case of Japanese in Europe". Venice: Ca' Foscari University.
• (27.06.2016) "Tokyo no gengo seikatsu" [Language Life in Tokyo]. Tokyo: Tokyo University.
• (26.06.2016) "Borders, Orders, and Visions of Communality. The New Silk Road as an Ideology". Coimbra: Coimbra University.
• (18.04-22.04.2016) "Language Endangerment Dynamics in Japan" (intensive course). Helsinki: University of Helsinki.
• (17.03.2016) "La vie langagiere à Tokyo". Toulouse: University Jean-Jaures. 
• (15.03.2016) "Ryukyuan in Japan. From Language to Dialect, and back again?" Leiden: Leiden University.
• (27.11.2015) "The Kokugo Revolution and its Legacy Today". Venice: Ca' Foscari University.
• (20.11.2015) "Discussion: Social Institutions in Transformation - Families, Care and Welfare". Torino: Collegio Carlo Alberto. 
• (13.11.2015) "Language Socialisation and Dialect Guise (hōgen cosplay)". Venice: Ca' Foscari University.   
• (29.10.2015) "What is Making Strangers 'Strange' in Modern Japan?". Florence: University of Florence. 
• (28.07.2015) "Conflicting Ideologies on the Authenticity and Adaptability of Ryukyuan Languages". Antwerp: IPrA.
• (19.06.2015) “Is 'Crossing' and 'Dialect Cosplay' one and the same thing and how come we do not know?” Leiden: Leiden University.
• (13.04.2015) “Sprache und Identität in Okinawa”. Wien: Universität Wien
• (11.10.2014) "Scaling the Linguistic Landscape in Naha (Okinawa)". Berlin: Japanisch-Deutsches Zentrum. 
• (18.07.2014) “Shimakutuba - Adapting Ryukyuan Languages to the 21st Century”. Yokohama: World Congress of the International Sociological Association.
• (17.05.2014) “The Role of Language Ideology in Ryukyuan Language Revitalization”. Chiba: IUAES.
• (27.04.2014) “Writing, Standardization and Language Endangerment – The Cases of Okinawa and Sicily”. Tokyo: Joshibi University of Art and Design.
• (16.03.2014) “Gengo ishiki, gengo nettowaaku to gengo shifuto no sōgo kankei”. [The Interrelation between Language Attitudes, Language Networks and Language Shift ]. Nakijin: Kōminkan.
• (14.02.2014) “Language Revival and Revitalizations – Insights from Ryukyu, Hawai‘i and Sicily”. Hilo: University of Hawai‘i Hilo Campus.
• (13.02.2014) “Japanese Sociolinguistics – A Critical Review”. Hilo: University of Hawai‘i Hilo Campus.
• (11.02.2014) “Language, Security and Freedom in the Ryukyu Islands”. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Manoa Campus.
• (13.01.2014) “Language, Security and Freedom in the Ryukyu Islands”. Tokyo: German Institute of Japanese Studies.
• (13.12.2013) “The Role of Networks in Language Shift and Reversing Language Shift”. Tokyo: Gakushuin University.
• (08.12.2013) “Language Norms and Writing in East Asia”. Tokyo: Joshibi University of Art and Design.
• (22.11.2013) “Mission Impossible? Language Revitalization in the Ryukyus”. Chicago: American Anthropologist Association.
• (15.09.2013) “Hōgen ronsō to gendai no gengo kiki” [The Dialect Debate and Language Endangerment Today]. Ginowan: Okinawa International University.
• (05.09.-09.08.2013) “Ryūkyū shogo ni okeru gengo kiki” [Language Endangerment in the Ryukyus] (Intensive Course). Ginowan: Okinawa International University.
• (17.05.2013) “The Difference between Language Revival and Revitalization. Implications for the Ryukyus”. Tokyo: Gakushuin University.
• (27.04.2013) “Japan as Ideology”. Elizabethtown (Pennsylvania): Elizabethtown College.
• (15.03.2013) “Le multilinguisme au Japon: passé et présent”. Toulouse: University Toulouse le Mirail.
• (21.02.2013) “The Present State and Future Tasks of Ryukyuan Linguistics”. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Manoa Campus.
• (15.12.2012) “Ijin no kōchiku – gengo no yakuwari” [The Role of Language in the Construction of Strangers]. Saitama: Dokkyo University.
• (01.12.2012) “Naze  hondo de gengo ga tōitsu sare, Ryūkyū de tayōka sareta no ka?” [Why did Language Unify on the Mainland but Diversity in the Ryukyus?]. Tokyo: Hosei University.
• (24.11.2012) “Multicultural Japan? Japan, Southeast Asia and tabunka kyōsei”. Weingarten: Tagungshaus Weingarten.
• (18.11.2012) “Framing New Language Ideologies in the Ryukyus”. San Francisco: San Francisco University.
• (05.11.2012) “The Role of Language Ideology in Language Shift: Hawai‘i and Ryukyu”. Cape Town: University of Cape Town.
• (03.11.2012) “Near-dialectization of Ryukyuan Abstand Languages”. Wien: Universität Wien.
• (12.09.2012) “Japanese Sociolinguistics: Origins, Developments and Present Tasks”. Venice: Ca’ Foscari University.
• (29.06.2012) “Sprachliche Transgression im Japanischen in Okinawa”. Bonn: Bonn University.
• (20.05.2012) “Doitsu to Nihon ni okeru ijū to gengo no mondai” [Problems of Language and Migration in Germany and Japan]. Nishihara: University of the Ryukyus.
• (30.03.2012) “Ryūkyū shogo fukkō no kanōsei” [Prospects of Ryukyuan Language Revitalization]. Tokyo: Waseda University.
• (02.03.2012) “Types of Language Shift and its Implications for the Ryukyus”. Tokyo: National Institute of Japanese Language and Linguistics.
• (03.12.2011) “New Okinawan Literacies: The Difficulties of Writing and Reading Ryukyuan Languages”. Tokyo: International Christian University.
• (02.12.2011) “Language as Cultural Heritage in Germany and Japan”. Saitama: Dokkyo University.
• (30.07.2011) “Ryūkyū ōkoku ni okeru Ryūkyū shogo, Chūgokugo to Nihongo” [Ryukyuan, Chinese and Japanese in the Ryukyu Kingdom]. Tokyo: Tokyo University. 
• (31.03.2011) “Language Revitalization Ideologies in the Ryukyus”. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Manoa Campus.
• (04.03.2011) “Grammar Writing and Verbal Hygiene”. Tokyo: Kwansai Gakuin University Satellite Campus.
• (28.01.2011) “Ryūkyū shogo no kikido to gengogaku no hannō”. [Ryukyuan Language Endangerment and the Response of Linguistics] Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Language.
• (19.12.2010) “Naze Okinawa mondai aru no ka” [Why is there Actually an Okinawan Problem?]. Saitama: Dokkyo University.
• (27.11.2010) “Societal Prerequisites for the Maintenance of Linguistic Diversity”. Tokyo: Gakushuin University.
• (08.11.2010) “Debates on the Status of the Ryukyuan Languages: Past and Present”. Hilo: University of Hawai‘i Hilo Campus.
• (05.11.2010) “Language Ideology in Modern Japan”. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Manoa Campus.
• (04.11.2010) “Language Documentation in Yonaguni”. Hawai‘i: Hawai‘i United Okinawa Association.
• (05.09.2010) “Ryūkyū shogo, nihon shuwa wa kiki gengo de aru”. [The Ryukyuan Languages and Japanese Sign Languages are Endangered Languages]. Osaka: Osaka University.
• (28.03.2010) “Gengo taiyōsei o shiji suru gengo seisaku” [Language Planning Supportive of Linguistic Diversity]. Miyazaki: Miyazaki University.
• (13.03.2010) (with Yuko Sugita) “Kiki gengo kiroku hozon to gengo fukkō no tōgō e mukete” [Towards an Integration of Language Documentation and Language Revitalization]. Tokyo: Keio University.
• (05.03.2010) “Yonagunigo no gengo kikido to sonzokusei” [Yonaguni Language Endangerment and Language Vitality]. Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
• (13.12.2009) “Language Vitality and Community”. Tokyo: Tokyo University.
• (12.09.2009) “Shimakutuba to keizai”. [Local Language and Economy]. Urasoe: Harmony Hall.
• (10.07.2009) “It's ‘iin’ not ‘ihn’ – Verbal Hygiene in Okinawa”. Melbourne: Monash University.
• (06.06.2009) “Ryūkyū gengo seisaku to kore kara no kadai” [History and Future tasks of a Ryukyuan Language Policy]. Tokyo: Joshibi University of Art and Design. 
• (20.02.2009) “Gengo kiroku hozon ni tsuite” [On Lexical Documentation]. Okinawa: University of the Ryukyus.
• (13.02.2009) (with Fija Byron) “Iimikku oyobi iitikku no shiten kara mita Ryūkyū shogengo” [The Ryukyuan Languages Seen from Emic and Etic Perspectives]. Nishihara: University of the Ryukyus.
• (21.12.2008) “Genzai ni okeru Yaeyama to Yonaguni no gengo jijō” [The Current Linguistic Situation on Yaeyama and Yonaguni]. Okinawa: Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts.
• (29.11.2008) “Gengo fukkō ni kan suru riron” [Theory on Language Revitalization]. Nishihara: University of the Ryukyus.
• (12.10.2008) “Ryūkyū shotō ni okeru gengo fukkō no tenbō” [Outlook on Ongoing Efforts of Language Revitalization in the Ryukyu Islands]. Sapporo: Hokkaido Gakuen University.
• (27.09.2008) “Ryūkyū gengo-shi ni rekishi o kuwaeru” [Adding History to Ryukyuan Language Histiory]. Tokyo: Hosei University.
• (23.08.2008) “Chiiki gengo ga naze hitoyō de aru ka – Yonaguni o chūshin ni” [Why Local Languages Matter: Focus on Yonaguni]. Okinawa: Okinawa Prefectural Museum.
• (08.03.2008) “Ryūkyū ni okeru ‘kotoba’ to ‘shisō no kyōdōtai’ no hensei” [Regimentation of ‘Languages’ and ‘Imagined Society’ in the Ryukyu Islands]. Taichung: Tunghai University.
• (21.02.2008) “La modernisation linguistique au Japon et ses conséquences pour l’Okinawa”. Toulouse: University Toulouse le Mirail.
• (07.11.2007) “Sprach- und Identitätsdiskurse in den Ryukyuinseln”. Bochum: Universität Bochum.
• (28.06.2007) “Language Revitalization in Absence of a Language Policy – the Case of the Ryukyu Islands”. Toluca: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México.
• (14.06.2007) “Sprachenkrisen und Sprachtod”. Essen: Kennedyplatz.
• (26.04.2007) “Fremdsprachdidaktik bedrohter Sprachen – das Beispiel Okinawa”. Bonn: Universität Bonn.
• (10.04.2007) “Japanese as Foreign Language in Europe”. Chiba: Kanda University of International Studies.
• (22.02.2007) “Language Endangerment in the Ryukyu Islands. Where Exactly is the Threat?” Mülheim: Katholische Akademie Wolfsburg.
• (22.12.2006) “Sauvegarde et revitalisation des langues en danger de l´archipel des Ryûkyû”. Paris: CNRS, campus Michel-Ange.
• (14.09.2006) “All that you Fashion – the Future of The Ryukyuan Languages”. Venice: Ca’ Foscari University.
• (05.09.2006) “Language Choices in the Ryukyu Islands”. Braga: Universidade do Minho.
• (07.07.2006) “Return Okinawa – Daiku Tetsuhiro und die Hegemonie des Protests in Okinawa”. Mülheim: Katholische Akademie Wolfsburg.
• (02.05.2006) “Die Modernisierung der japanischen Sprache. Deutsche Sprachreform als Vorbild für die Neuerungen der Meiji-Zeit”. Halle: Martin Luther Universität.
• (24.03.2006) “Teaching Endangered Languages – the Case of Okinawan”. Duisburg: Universität Duisburg-Essen.
• (20.03.2006) “Language Endangerment and Language Attitudes in Okinawa and Miyako”. Nishihara: University of the Ryukyus.
• (02.02.2006) “So What Exactly Have we Learned? Constrains on Japanese-Ryukyuan Genealogy Studies”. Bonn: Universität Bonn.
• (17.01.2006) “Interkulturelle Kommunikation zwischen Konstruktion und Kompetenz”. Düsseldorf: Wirtschaftsclub.
• (18.11.2005) “Reversing Language Shift in Okinawa Island”. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University.
• (13.09.2005) “Debate on English as Second Official Language in Japan”. Tokyo: Gakushuin University.
• (07.05.2005) (mit Hans Martin Krämer) “Enfant terrible der japanischen Geschichtswissenschaft – Oguma Eiji und die Sicht der japanischen Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts”. Tübingen: Universität Tübingen.
• (27.04.2005) “Sprachwechsel in den Ryukyu Inseln”. Bochum: Universität Bochum.
• (09.02.2005) “Progressive Erasure and Reversing Language Shift Activities in Ryukuyan”. Kagoshima: Kagoshima University.
• (10.02.2004) “Nihon gengogaku no bunkiten” [Turning Points in the History of Japanese Linguistics]. Tokyo: Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
• (28.09.2004) “Language Shift in Ryukyuan Vernacular Languages”. Kobe: St. Cathryn’s College Kobe.
• (05.05.2004) “Advance Okinawa – Start with the Language: Debating the Future of Ryukyuan in 1940/41”. Valencia: Valencia University.
• (02.04.2004) “How Global Can Modern Be? Language Ideology in JFL Textbooks”. Duisburg: Universität Duisburg-Essen.
• (10.03.2004) “Gengo no torikae no ideorogii to Okinawa aidentitii” [The Role of Ideology in Language Shift and Okinawa’s Identity]. Tokyo: Hosei University.
• (15.07.2003) “'What Kind of Enlightenment Can Be Based on Inferior Language? A Language Ideological Debate in 19th Century Japan”. Toronto: Toronto University.
• (29.09.2002) “Sprachplanung und Sprachwandel in der Meiji-Zeit”. Bonn: Universität Bonn.
• (19.09.2002) “The Reception of Western Linguistics in Modern Japan”. Oxford: Oxford University.
• (26.01.2000) “Historisch-vergleichende Linguistik und die Frage nach der Herkunft der Japaner”. Tokyo: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Natur- und Völkerkunde Ostasiens.