In Your Dreams: Can You Learn a Foreign Language in Your Sleep? Posted by meaghan on Aug 6, 2014 in Archived Posts
A “good night’s sleep” seems to be the solution to many things. What if I told you that “sleeping on it” could be a new strategy for language learning? Sounds like a dream, right? Maybe not. Researchers in Switzerland dug a little deeper into the “learn while sleep” myth, and the results were quite surprising…
Is Monolingualism the Illiteracy of the 21st Century? Posted by meaghan on Aug 4, 2014 in Archived Posts
I came across a Gregg Roberts quote that said “Monolingualism is the illiteracy of the 20th century”, and haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. I’m not quite sure who Gregg Roberts is (though a quick Google search associates him with a World Language Specialist for the Utah Department of Education), but he…
Cultural Immersion in the Virtual Classroom: Teaching 5th Graders About Other Cultures Online Posted by Transparent Language on Jul 30, 2014 in For Educators
We’ve all heard of the 4 core language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. When it comes to learning a foreign language, a fifth skill must be considered—cultural competency. But how does an instructor go about teaching culture from a classroom, hundreds or thousands of miles away from the target country? Add on one more…
Confessions of a Native Russian Speaker Posted by mtaulier on Jul 28, 2014 in Archived Posts
Any adult who makes a decision to learn a foreign language knows the road will be perilous, long and often frustrating. We pore over books, listen to audio CDs, take classes and commit to memory dozens, if not hundreds, of vocabulary words to make the process quicker and easier. But we all known it isn’t…
7 Tips for Hanging on to That Hard-Learned Second Language Posted by Transparent Language on Jul 23, 2014 in Archived Posts
Remember me? I’m the “old guy” who’s been learning French and who shared on this blog some of my not-so-secrets of how old guys – and maybe not-so-old guys – can pick up a second language. Well, now, sadly, I have transitioned to a new phase in language learning. I am now an old guy…
Pronunciation is King Posted by Malachi Rempen on Jul 21, 2014 in Archived Posts
The above comic is one of the very few I’ve done (along with the one from my previous entry) which is taken verbatim from personal experience. In 2008, I was on the island of Muuido, off the coast of South Korea, in a little restaurant on the beach. It was apparently off-season, as there was…
Introducing Our New Indonesian Language and Culture Blog Posted by meaghan on Jul 16, 2014 in Company News
You know all of those lovely language and culture blogs we run? Well, there’s a new blog in town: the Indonesian language and culture blog! Whether you’re an expat living in Indonesia, a traveler planning a quick trip to the country, or just someone who is curious about the language and culture, our blog is…