brain power

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...
english as a second language

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...
video

I don’t “speak white”. Multilingualism is my identity.

For those of us who are bilingual or multilingual, our languages may shape our identities and cultural affiliations more so than race, economic status or religion. With about 20% of children in the US population...

Hiding behind a multilingual mask

Being surrounded by various languages at the UN and then being forced to speak Portuguese, I had to think about what to do with my language knowledge and stop hiding.  United Nations, “It’s your world”...
People communicate online in different languages communication concept

Why It’s Smart to Be Bilingual: The brain’s real super-food may be learning new...

A recent article in Newsweek, Why it's smart to be bilingual, shows some positive and negative elements of multilingualism. I didn't know that those who know more than one language may have a reduced vocabulary...
Crown Princess Masako

Famous Women who speak foreign languages, Do you know of any?

As I am thinking of ways to promote women and girls learning foreign languages and showing their linguistic prowess, I compiled a list of famous and powerful women who are multilingual. Some of them use...
US Department of Education

Proposed cuts in funding for foreign language programs in US

Public foreign language programs may now be cut or eliminated because of education budget cuts to the Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP), the only source of federal funding for K-12 foreign language programs. This...
Student ridiculed

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...
learning a foreign languagevideo

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...

When being multilingual is a burden

What you’re about to read may seem counter-intuitive.  Sometimes, being able to speak more than one language can be more of a burden than a benefit.  You might ask:  “How so? Isn't the ability to communicate across...

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