Learning Hungarian via Italian opera, neo-Nazis and a phone sex line
Living in Budapest, Magyarország (Hungary) made me think in different ways in order to express myself in Hungarian, see the modern incarnations of a dark chapter of European history and hatred and fend off...
Bride kidnapping in Central Asia, Is an English speaking woman less likely to be...
Talking about learning English using music and media at the American Corner, Kant, Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz flag on wall.
In the past year, I’ve been paying more attention to reaching out to girls...
I was a child refugee. Don’t send back the migrant ships!
After long last, I am making videos again. Below you have a video in Italian and a blog post in English and link to the original Italian article I wrote.
VIDEO:
I made this video "I...
Living in multiple realities
Being a world traveler and polyglot can disorient someone, even a seasoned traveler like myself. I think my brain is not able to process multiple realities simultaneously. I am actually kind of embarrassed to...
Political barriers shouldn’t be linguistic barriers
I was recently in the former Yugoslavia as an election observer in Macedonia and was pleasantly surprised at how I was able to use Serbo-Croatian to communicate with various people: a Slovenian diplomat, an...
Teaching language learning in areas marred by ethnic violence
The odd irony of giving three presentations about language learning in a city that saw 450 people killed last year in ethnic violence was not lost on me. Via the US Embassy, I was...
Could speaking English empower female sex trafficking victims to escape?
I rarely talk about the practical life-saving applications of speaking another language. But the topics of female sex trafficking and bride kidnapping make me wonder about how speaking another language, particularly English, could liberate...
How to identify depression and find help
I am writing to convince you why it’s important to talk to people who are close to you about their mental health issues. If you don’t want to do it because it makes you...
Living in the middle of many worlds
Are you multilingual and looking for a job? How about being a spy or economic hit man?
Candidate character description:
Multilingual, sensitive to other cultures, can mix with local populations in difficult areas around the world,...
Putting my money where my mouth is
I was born in a Communist country where you couldn’t speak freely. If you opposed the government, you would go to jail or you’d go to a gulag (prison camp) and may never return,...
