How US Libraries Survive—and Thrive—in the Changing Linguistic Landscape (Part 2) Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 9, 2015 in Archived Posts
The United States is now home to more Spanish speakers than Spain, the number of foreign language speakers has grown 94% since 1990, and 1 in 5 U.S. residents now speaks a foreign language at home. As libraries strive to serve their communities, they must consider more carefully how best to serve members who speak…
Rooster Dialects and the Age of Information Posted by Malachi Rempen on Sep 7, 2015 in Archived Posts
You know what I love about the internet? I love the fact that you can learn almost everything you need to know by just looking it up, and information about just about everything humanity has ever done is available instantaneously. The dumbest things can be checked and, in some cases, verified. Take, for example, the comic…
How Google Translate Works, and Why It Doesn’t Measure Up Posted by Transparent Language on Sep 2, 2015 in Archived Posts
With over 200 million daily translations, there’s no denying that Google Translate is a wildly popular translation service. Indeed, machine translation has come very far since its infancy in the early 2000s. Instead of translating words at face value, machine translators have developed complex algorithms to deliver more accurate translations, and some even take into…
Go Back to School en Español with New Spanish Elementary Lessons Posted by Transparent Language on Aug 31, 2015 in For Educators, For Learners, For Libraries, Learning Material Updates
Spanish teachers and home schoolers, this course is for you! Online technology has opened up a world of opportunities for teachers and homeschooling parents, but there’s a lot out there in that world that you can’t control. Even in educational technology, it’s sometimes hard to know what you’re going to get. If you’re teaching grade-school…
Staying Resourceful in Language Learning Posted by Malachi Rempen on Aug 26, 2015 in Archived Posts
Do any of the following sound like they might have come out of your mouth at one time or another? “I know drilling grammar is important, but it’s just not fun…and life’s too short.” “I can read street signs and menus, and understand when spoken to, but I can’t speak it. I just can’t find…
How U.S. Libraries Survive—and Thrive—in the Changing Linguistic Landscape (Part 1) Posted by Transparent Language on Aug 24, 2015 in Archived Posts
All 119,000+ libraries in the United States (whether public, academic, or government) share a common goal: to serve their community. As the linguistic landscape of the U.S. shifts, libraries must adapt to better serve their diverse members. How exactly can libraries respond to meet the needs of recent immigrants, resettled refugees, and non-English speakers in…
Appreciating the Little Things about Language Learning Posted by Malachi Rempen on Aug 19, 2015 in Archived Posts
I love the way that learning languages, like learning anything I suppose, slowly strips away the fog of ignorance. If you don’t speak French, it might sound to you like some kind of sugar-whipped vocal pastry, a pretty but unintelligible alien tongue. As you learn, however, gently the veil begins to lift, and what was previously opaque becomes…