Even spies need to read my book!
Having just read this article written by Nikita Khrushchev's great grand-daughter about how one of the Russian spies couldn't hide his Russian accent makes me both laugh and wonder why the Russian government spent...
Living in Italian (Vivere in italiano): A language that taught me to live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV2d2qcIyvA
My relationship to the Italian language was one of wonder and fun until I decided to use it professionally.
I took one semester of beginning Italian grammar in college. The class was so...
Rediscovering Budapest and reveling in the Polyglot Conference
Have you ever felt like traveling into your past while being marveled by the present?
My trip to Budapest for the Polyglot Conference was both a trip to my past and a wonderful journey to...
Portuguese via Brazilian music
In this lesson, Luciana Lage (of Street Smart Brazil) and I use the song Toda Sexta Feira to teach the days of the week in Portuguese, how to use the words todo/toda, and pronounce...
What makes the 20 most spoken languages tick?
What makes the 20 most spoken languages tick?
I greatly enjoyed the book Babel: Around the World in 20 Languages.
Gaston Dorren explains the histories of the 20 most spoken languages in the world, with...
Do you need musical talent to learn languages? No.
When people hear the title of my book, Language is Music, they often assume that one has to be a musician or a good singer to learn languages or that I profess that someone...
Suzuki method: similar to language learning
I read The Suzuki Method He Imported Keyed a Music Revolution article from the Wall Street Journal about how music learning changed in the US once John Kendall brought the Japanese Suzuki method to...
The Portuguese language has many homelands
Over two years ago, I wrote about the idea of a language as a homeland as I was starting my journey into the endangered language of Ladino/Judeo-Spanish.
The Portuguese writer, Fernando Pessoa, is quoted as...
Learning a Foreign Language Can Help You Live Longer
In his book, Healthy Aging, Dr. Andrew Weil recommends learning a foreign language as a way to prevent Alzheimers.
From the ABC News story, "Learning a Foreign Language Can Help You Live Longer":
"Weil believes that...
Music therapy effects the brain
Here’s a great show in Portuguese about the healing effects of music. Musicoterapia e a energia que vem dos sons (Music therapy and the energy that comes from sounds) from Caminhos Alternativos from the Brazilian...
