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...
Is a polyglot’s brain different?
Listen to this new Subtitle podcast episode "Is a polyglot's brain different?", to find out the answer.
You'll also learn about my language-learning story and about the brains of people who speak many languages.
I did...
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...
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...
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”...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
