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...
Gift for the holidays: how a language saved a life
For a limited time, until December 31, 2014, Saved by Language is on pre-sale. You can buy it here. The DVD comes with English, Ladino, Spanish and Bosnian subtitles. Choose from PAL and NTSC formats.
A musician and polyglot discuss how to learn languages with music
While in Sarajevo last month filming the documentary Saved By Language (about how the endangered language of Ladino saved a Jewish boy's life in World War II), I spent time with my dear friend
Damir...
I can learn language with music and TV? Really? CBS interview with Susanna Zaraysky
Language is Music?
What?
Watch this interview on CBS 5 Bay Sunday (San Francisco) about the book, Language is Music, with book author, Susanna Zaraysky who explains how to learn foreign languages with music and the...
Older Students Learn Fake Language Rules Faster. What about real languages?
Although I agree with the premise of the research findings that adults can learn languages, and perhaps even faster than children, I don't like the way language acquisition is measured by creating an artificial...
How Russian speakers can sound harsh in English without realizing it
Jon Stewart of The Daily Show made a funny and correct assessment of why Russian speakers sound "evil" in English, although they may not have any bad intentions.
"I wonder if Russia has been our...
Le mistral gagnant: Rediscovering my inner Francophile in India and Quebec
One missing digit
One missing digit (not a finger!) almost kept me from going to India.
En route to Chennai (Madras), I had a rude awakening at the Frankfurt airport: my passport number in my...
Don’t speak like your neighbor’s cow, Why a good accent is important
The French, who are very proud of and particular about the pronunciation and proper use of their language, have a saying about people who speak French poorly and/or with a bad accent: “parler français...
Education: It’s the music, stupid!
While politicians bicker about how to re-organize and finance schools, parents worry about their children’s academic performance and low-performing students struggle to follow lessons, we are forgetting about a free, fun and extremely powerful...
Ode to imperfection: why trying to be perfect is counter-productive to language learning
A couple weeks ago, I got some criticism for my imperfect Russian in a Russian-language Facebook forum that had linked to my Russian language video about using music and media to learn languages.
Here's my...
