New York City Parents Increasingly Seek ...

Most parents want what’s best for their children. In New York City, that desire is increasingly translating into a desire for babysitters and nannies who can do double-duty as both caretakers and language teachers. Parents are looking for babysitters who will speak to their children exclusively...

Bahasa Indonesia Giving Way To English...

Bahasa Indonesia is the national language of Indonesia, and has long been considered the linguistic glue that binds together the many different groups of people that make up the Indonesian nation.  However, as  educating children in English grows in popularity, an increasing number of Indonesian children...

Arabic Becomes Popular Language Choice A...

When New York City’s Friends Seminary began offering high school courses on Arabic language and culture two years ago, the decision was not without controversy, especially since few of the school’s students are of Arabic descent.  In particular, some parents were concerned that by offering...

Sustainable Development and Organizatio...

I just returned from the ALC2010 conference in Miami where I presented about developing a sustainable corporate strategy. I had pretty good feedback about the presentation so thought I would use bloglingua to expand on a couple of points (and give those who missed the event a chance to participate). So...

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...