Ain’t Not Nothing: Double Negatives Posted by Malachi Rempen on May 16, 2016 in Archived Posts
The comic above is essentially a recreation of a true story, one which occurred in the 1950s at Colombia University. Renowned philosopher J.L. Austin was giving a lecture, and explained exactly what my coffee bean-shaped friend above explains: that in many languages, double negatives create positives, and in some, double negatives create negatives; but in…
Practice Activities in Transparent Language Online Posted by Transparent Language on May 11, 2016 in For Educators, For Learners, For Libraries, Learning Feature Updates
There are four parts to the language puzzle: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. All of the courses and vocabulary lists in Transparent Language Online include a mix of activities to build all four skills. But what if you’ve mastered writing (or typing) a set of words and phrases, but you want to practice saying them?…
In Defense of Fearlessly Making Things Up Posted by Malachi Rempen on May 9, 2016 in Archived Posts
Speaking a language is about communication, and communication is about successfully conveying a message. Ergo hence therefore (yes, I may have taken Logic 101 in college), speaking a language, foreign or not, is generally about finding the easiest way to deliver a message. Words in a language are specifically designed to be mutually comprehensible – the…
Survival Spanish for Librarians Course Posted by Transparent Language on May 4, 2016 in For Libraries
In our increasingly diverse population, languages are critical to almost every public service industry. First responders are learning Spanish in St. Louis and Mandarin in New York City to better serve non-native English speakers in the midst of a crisis. Public schools offer night classes to parents of ESL students to keep them informed and…
Twist Your Tongue in 17 Languages Posted by Malachi Rempen on May 2, 2016 in Archived Posts
Lots of people have asked me for translations for the tongue twisters in the above comic, so before we continue, here they are, including transliterations so you can twist your tongues yourselves (remember to say them five times fast!): 1. French: Les chaussettes de l’archi-duchesse, sont-elles sèches ou archi-sèches? (The socks of the arch-duchess, are they dry…
Why Language Matters for the U.S. Military Posted by Transparent Language on Apr 27, 2016 in Archived Posts
The U.S. is notoriously less language-capable than our allies and adversaries. This gap in training—which can’t adequately be filled by contract interpreters or machine translation—results in unacceptable risk and limited opportunities. In an era of persistent conflict and powerful cooperation, the U.S. military is recognizing the need for better language capabilities across the spectrum. A…
Staying Positive While Learning a Language Posted by Malachi Rempen on Apr 25, 2016 in Archived Posts
There are lots of reasons to be negative when learning a new language. It takes too long, it’s too hard, other people are better than you, none of the software or products or apps or methods you’ve bought are working, nobody wants to talk to you, the language is hard to pronounce, nobody understands you…