Speaking in Tongues documentary on public television
Speaking in Tongues is a documentary about raising multilingual children. I just saw it on public television in the US and it's excellent. It shows the controversy over bilingual education and how and why families...
Being in limbo: Difficulties of a Russian heritage language speaker going to a Russian...
The limbo land of being a heritage language speaker is one I’ve been inhabiting most of my life. It’s only recently that I’ve known the term “heritage speaker”, referring to those of us who...
Farenheit 451 (remake): no more multilingualism
As a bibliophile and great admirer of the dystopian novel Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and the original 1966 film adaptation, I was surprised at how much I liked the 2018 film remake that...
Special “foreigner treatment”: please no! I’m a heritage speaker.
Usually, I don’t want to attract attention to my not being a local by asking for special treatment when I am in a Russian speaking country. Because as soon as I tell...
Will there be more military linguists when homosexuals can serve in the military?
As I was driving home and listening to the news on the radio about the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell", the military's ban on homosexual military service people, I realized that this may...
Multiculturalism failed? Change your educational system!
Earlier this week, Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor remarked that Germany’s attempt at multiculturalism was a total failure and that Germany’s immigrants need to learn German to integrate. I thought about the problems of...
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...
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...
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...
Primero Hay Que Aprender Español. Ranhou Zai Xue Zhongwen.
A quiz: If a person who speaks three languages is trilingual, and one who speaks four languages is quadrilingual, what is someone called who speaks no foreign languages at all?
Answer: an American.
Primero Hay Que...
