Making lemonade from lemons, turning the burden of being a polyglot into a skill...
I wrote a blog post for my Polyglot Project Podcast interview about why I believe it's imperative for people to learn foreign languages. It's based on my family's history leaving the former USSR.
Here it...
Multilingual identity: I have to speak all my languages to be ME
So far, I've written about language learning and the importance of being multilingual. But I haven't covered a much more personal and psychological element of being a polyglot: my multilingual identity. I joke that...
Why female foreign language students or speakers may not practice or show their languages
Multilingual women, where are you?
In late January, I had a Skype call with Benny Lewis for about two hours to discuss our language learning trajectories and I asked him why there were more male...
Susanna Zaraysky speaking in 7 languages
I've had several requests to post a video of my speaking in all the languages I know. I've been so busy getting media attention for my books that I haven't made any of my...
Why the CIA needs me and other 1st and 2nd generation immigrants for language...
I keep getting messages from the CIA on Linked In because they need 1st and 2nd generation immigrants to fill their huge need for foreign language speakers.
According to this Reuters article, U.S. spy agencies...
Multilingualism: Being a Russian heritage speaker in the former USSR
Professor François Grosjean, the Emeritus Professor of psycholinguistics at Neuchâtel University, Switzerland is a specialist in bilingualism, multilingualism and heritage language speakers. Last week, he wrote a blog piece, Portraying Heritage Language Speakers: Heritage...
Being multilingual: Is my language my homeland?
(My country is the Portuguese language. Fernando Pessoa)
The idea of feeling an affinity with a language is not foreign to me given that I speak seven languages and have studied ten. In fact, my...
How languages change the psychology of multilinguals
Steve Kaufmann, of LingQ, invited Tetsu Yung and I on his podcast to discuss how we change psychologically when we speak in different languages and the politics of learning certain languages.
For years, I've felt...
Speaking your native (heritage) language despite ridicule
It’s assumed that just because I grew up speaking Russian that it was always easy for me to speak Russian. No way!
My parents’ Soviet immigrant friends liked to talk about how well their children...
Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power
Last week, National Public Radio (NPR) reported a story, Being Bilingual May Boost Your Brain Power, that bilingual children may have more brain power and that Alzheimer's disease may be delayed or averted if one...
