Syllabary Keypad Developed for Cherokee ...

To help people communicate in Cherokee, the Cherokee Nation has developed a new Cherokee-specific computer keypad. The keypad was developed by two members of the Cherokee Nation’s Cultural Resources Department, Roy Boney, Jr. and Joseph Erb. The device makes it much easier for people to use computers...

Chinese Takes Over in American Schools...

American school systems, often strapped for cash and forced to divert resources toward preparing kids for standardized achievement tests, have been slowly decreasing their foreign-language offerings. According to the New York Times, “thousands” of American schools have dropped languages from...

Do Prairie Dogs Talk?...

Prairie dogs are small, burrowing rodents native to the United States, where they are often treated as vermin by farmers and ranchers. However, scientists are now discovering that these ground squirrels may have some of the most sophisticated linguistic abilities in the animal kingdom, second only to...

Day Care Aims to Teach Cornish to Toddle...

Cornish toddlers can now learn the Cornish language through a Saturday day care program at Cornwall College in Camborne. The program teaches the tots language through play while their parents take an adult Cornish language class. So far, according to the BBC, seven children have been registered for...

Learning a Language? There’s an Ap...

When you’re trying to learn a new language, practice makes perfect.  How many times have you said to yourself, “I would love to learn another language in my spare time?” Since many of us lead very busy lives, finding that spare time to practice and learn can be challenging. However, if you...

Once You Learn a Language, Do You Ever F...

Many people who studied a foreign language in school don’t continue to practice it after they graduate. The conventional wisdom is that if you don’t speak a language, you will forget it rather quickly. As my Spanish teacher used to say: “Use it or lose it.”  But is that really the case? The...

Nine Year Old Girl Achieves Sign Languag...

Tayla Reynold’s mum is hearing impaired and it can be difficult for her to keep up with her girls. 9 year old Tayla has taken it upon herself to improve their communication by doing a sign language qualification. Tayla is now officially the youngest person in Britain to complete the Level 1 British...

Facial Expressions Don’t Always Tr...

Facial expressions and body language are often thought of as a universal language. However, researchers from The University of Glasgow have now discovered that the way people perceive facial expressions varies across different cultures. The research focused on the ways that natives of East Asia and Europe...

Online Role-Playing Game Teaches English...

According to the New York Times, the video game developer behind the popular Age of Empires game has just released a new video game in China aimed at teaching children a second language. The fantasy role-playing game is called Wiz World Online, and it incorporates many of the elements that make role-playing...

How Does Learning Another Language Affec...

How does a learning a new language shape your brain? Are the brains of bilingual people different from those of people who only speak one language? Despite our advanced medical technology and  fancy brain-imaging machines, our understanding of how the human brain works is still in its infancy.  This...