Not learning languages reduced job prospects
The Telegraph article, Foreign languages are 'elitist' subjects, came out earlier this year in the UK showing that state jobs require foreign language knowledge while fewer school offer language classes. This means that more people...
Even the Ivy League cheats students on foreign language education
A super expensive Ivy League education at Harvard may still deprive students of the knowledge they need to get ahead in this world.
According to the article, Colleges come up short on what students need to...
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...
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...
The Power of Music to affect the brain and foreign languages
Sometimes when I speak about the pedagogical and healing powers of music, it feels like I am talking to a wall as few teachers, doctors and newsmakers take music seriously.
Thankfully, National Public Radio (NPR)...
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...
Brain Power: Repeating sounds
At the gym, I read the Can You Build a Better Brain? article in Newsweek about how to restructure our brains as we take on new things to learn. We need to repeat actions many times ...
Sensual Brazilian music —> Learn Portuguese
Luciana Lage of Street Smart Brazil and I have a video series on how to learn Portuguese via Brazilian songs.
Here is the introductory video where we explain the connection between listening, music and learning...
Improving my Portuguese, one (lost) calorie at a time
We've probably heard of people improving their conversation skills in a language over a meal.
I'm reversing the trend. Portuguese vocabulary goes up and the inches melt away. (Let me be ambitious and count in...
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...
