Language Learning Is Not A Contest
Browsing through language learning related forums and blogs, I sometimes get the impression that language learning is a new sport. Learners boast with the number of tongues they have “mastered” and conversation topics circle around questions of “Faster, Higher, Stronger” with the polyglots as both heroes and judges of the fledgling adepts. And while anything…
66 SHARES / March 4, 2013
Code or Die: The Future Of Work?
In a new video designed to spread awareness about the importance of teaching people how to code, big promises are being made. Backed up by talking heads such as Zuckerberg, Gates and many more, the basic premise is that coding is the core asset for tomorrow’s job market. “Want to enjoy the colorful offices and…
135 SHARES / February 27, 2013
20,000 Mockingbirds: On The Changing Unchanging Nature of Books
While working myself through the back-list of the Nebula Awards for Best Novel, I came across Slow River by Nicola Griffith, a dark science fiction novel set in the not too distant future. At one point the protagonist tells an anecdote which is highly relevant to everyone with an interest in electronic reading or digital…
18 SHARES / February 20, 2013
Your Brain On Storytelling: Foreign Language Learning Through Stories
“The universe is made of stories, not atoms,” the poet Muriel Rukeyser once stated. Human beings are storytelling creatures. We use stories to make sense of both ancient history and daily experience. While stories are often specific to a certain culture or language, the power of storytelling is universal. Storytelling is much older than language….
561 SHARES / February 19, 2013
How The Cloud Killed The Library
It was not long ago that every home had a shrine of collected media: CDs, DVDs, books neatly organized for quick reference and dusted off daily for the prying eyes of neighbors and potential mating partners. In reverse these shelves helped us assess the alleged mental and emotional development or character of the people we…
17 SHARES / February 13, 2013
The Great Firewall Of Foreign Language
In the age of Instant Translation we tend to forget that language is still a big barrier in the way of global communication. The internet experience of an average user in China or America for example is vastly different, not only because of regional blocking – which is easily circumvented – but because of…
40 SHARES / February 3, 2013
