What does it take to keep a language alive?
Minde, a Portuguese village of 3000 people, has its own language, Minderico.
DSCN1304Minderico developed as a secret language of the textile merchants in the town of Minde. When I heard it, I couldn’t understand anything even though the language has Latin roots.
Luca Spaghetti (from Eat, Pray, Love) learned English with American pop songs
The worldwide bestseller, Eat, Pray, Love, turned the already comical surname of Luca Spaghetti into an almost household name.
Luca Spaghetti
In the USA Today article, When (Luca) Spaghetti met (Elizabeth) Gilbert ..., reported that Mr....
Don’t fault innovative musicians!
Instead of criticizing people who are risk takers, we should be applauding their efforts because if we don’t innovate, these languages are going to die.
Russia through French eyes: Experiencing life anew in a different language
Rare is the book which envelops my attention, delights me in its prose, makes me re-read passages both for the joy of the flow of the sentences and for the content and strikes a...
Video on relationship between Language and Music, “Music, Language and the Brain”
Great video of a lecture by Aniruddh Patel on the relationship between language and music at the Library of Congress. The discussion of how language background can effect classical music from England and...
Vote for a language education start-up to get a $100,000 grant
By Tyler Ulrich (guest blogger)
Language education is competing against other industries for $100,000
The Loogla language and literacy project may be awarded $100,000 in a grant competition. Watch the video and spread
the word!
voteliteracy.com
No logins, age...
Rosetta Stone or a teacher? Foreign language learning technology
About a week ago, I received an email from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages asking the members if they felt that the ads for the Rosetta Stone foreign language learning...
The importance of female role models for female language learners
Last week, for International Women’s Day, I wrote a blog post, How we all benefit when women are multilingual about the scarcity of female language bloggers and You Tube polyglots on the Fluent in...
Making language learning free and available to all
Aaron Myers and I met in Istanbul, Turkey in November 2011. Aaron Meyers has created his project, I-586, to bring free language learning materials to people in languages other than English since so many...
Computer programs replace foreign language teachers in N.J. classrooms after budget cuts
For parents whose childrens' schools have cut foreign language education, it's imperative to use foreign language music, movies, TV and radio at home to keep their kids learning. A software program WON'T be enough.
See...