The Guardian

2 min read

The Académie Française, France’s ultimate authority on the language, sparks national row after describing inclusive writing as an ‘aberration’

Nautilus

11 min read

I was a wayward kid who grew up on the literary side of life, treating math and science as if they were pustules from the plague. So it’s a little strange how I’ve ended up now—someone who dances daily with triple integrals, Fourier transforms, and t

The Atlantic

4 min read

Being interviewed on CNBC during the 2008 financial crisis should have been a highlight of my career. I had been invited to the studio in Manhattan to explain why the New York State Insurance Department, of which I was then superintendent, was trying

Manhattan Institute

2 min read

Many Western countries, France among them, are worried about declining literacy standards. Whether this decline is real or a reflection of national anxiety about a broader decline is itself a matter of dispute. But the fact is, when French school pup

India Today

2 min read

There is a change happening in the field of foreign languages. The global economy is shifting from the English speaking world and use of diverse foreign languages on the Internet has changed in the last few years for global communication and for comm

Pianist

2 min read

There are far too many pianists of all ages around today who are lacking in the ability to read music as fluently as they can read English. This need not and should not be the case, but in order to change things we need to get our pupils to experimen

Italia magazine

1 min read

Published six times a year by an experienced team in Rome, Tutto italiano not only helps you improve your fluency, it also helps you underst and what it is to be Italian. The glossy magazine is packed full of lively articles and the latest news cover

Cricket Magazine Fiction and Non-Fiction Stories for Children and Young Teens

6 min read

Dear Editors, Thank you for the wonderful magazine. I love the stories that are in there. I always love to read, and the contests are fun to do. I love the art, and the poems are so funny! This is a haiku I wrote: Inspire and create Use your imagina

The Christian Science Monitor

2 min read

For many language learners, fluency feels impossible. But being fluent is more about familiarity and confidence in writing and speaking than perfection.

Nautilus

11 min read

I was a wayward kid who grew up on the literary side of life, treating math and science as if they were pustules from the plague. So it’s a little strange how I’ve ended up now—someone who dances daily with triple integrals, Fourier transforms, and t

Rotman Management

6 min read

You have said that the most important leadership competency for the 21st century is the ability to navigate differences. Why is this so important right now? One of the most amazing things we have witnessed in our time is the ability of platforms and

The Christian Science Monitor

3 min read

Africa reporter Ryan Lenora Brown spruced up her French at Middlebury’s summer language school. But the most important lesson wasn’t in a dictionary.

Pretoria News Weekend

1 min read

FRENCH is the official language of 21 countries in Africa and is spoken in a number of others, which explains why the annual Francophonie Festival is so popular. Shortly before lockdown last year, the event was hosted at Crawford College and attended

Orion Magazine

2 min read

I ENCOUNTERED tulca (tul-kah) while trying to make sense of the physical and emotional landscapes in western Ireland, where the language can sometimes be like spider-silk strings that I clutch on days when feeling seasick standing on dry land. Most w

TIME

2 min read

LEARNING A SECOND LANGUAGE IS TRICKY AT ANY age (and it only gets tougher the longer you wait to crack open that dusty French book). Now, in a new study, scientists have pinpointed the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency in a second l

Opera Canada

6 min read

When Opéra de Québec staged Bizet’s Carmen in May 2018, most of the cast was French-Canadian, except for the three leads, who hailed from Brazil, Mexico and the country Georgia. Critics reviewing the premiere took the non-Francophones to task for wha

Futurity

2 min read

People are more willing to eat foods that they find disgusting if those foods are presented in a foreign language, new research shows. The finding could help win acceptance for environmentally sustainable foods that many people are unwilling to try.

Mother & Baby India

4 min read

While researching for this article, I came across so many questions and doubts about raising a bilingual child in the US or Europe. “Bilingual?” I thought to myself. “They’re concerned about their children learning two languages? They should look at

The Atlantic

4 min read

Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and a Democratic presidential candidate, has become famous for speaking lots of languages. Depending on the day and the media outlet, the number rises and falls. He’s been granted six languages, seven

Global Voices

4 min read

Originally published on Global Voices Screenshot of a YouTube video showing protests in the Basque Country in support of immersive teaching France's language policy has long placed French as the only “language of the Republic” and has ignored or even

The Christian Science Monitor

4 min read

English-speaking regions of Cameroon have long claimed they are marginalized by its French-speaking majority. The escalating conflict echoes a dilemma testing Africa as a whole: how to integrate minority groups pushed to the periphery in countries ma

Nautilus

10 min read

Sparkling or still water? Organic or conventional avocados? Four stars or three-and-a-half? The modern world sets loose upon us a barrage of choice in the consumer marketplace, while the Internet not only expands our consumption opportunities—giving

Nautilus

6 min read

Recently a Quebec arts foundation required the Francophone rap group Dead Obies to give back an $18,000 grant they’d been awarded to record their newest album. The problem? A word count determined that the group had stirred too much English into thei

Global Voices

4 min read

A setback for Occitan, spoken by more than half a million people in France, due to failed cultural initiatives or to the policy of the French State?

Futurity

4 min read

New research suggests that people think about the question, “If you could save the lives of five people by pushing another bystander in front of a train to his death, would you do it?” differently if they hear it asked in a language other than their

Literary Hub

6 min read

People ask me whether I think in French or in English now that I’ve lived in the US a while. I lie when I answer this. I say it depends on what I’m thinking about—English for work, French for family and curse words. This answer is usually welcomed as

Faces People, Places, and World Culture for Kids and Children

3 min read

This month, Kylie corresponds with Sofia, a 15-year-old from the Canadian province of Quebec. French is the most widely spoken language in the province. In 1995, the people of Quebec voted to become independent from Canada. It was a very close vote,

Rhythm

1 min read

“My dearest desire was to play like Max Roach, or to play like Art Blakey, and because of that I learned what the drums can do and what they have done in the past. It’s like learning a vocabulary. If you want to learn how to speak French the way you

The Christian Science Monitor

3 min read

How important is it that a job title reflect your gender? In France, an official change to add feminine titles has people debating whether the change increases equality or lessens it.

The Atlantic

4 min read

Geralde Gabeau, a longtime leader in Boston’s Haitian community, used to work at the Boston Medical Center and with medical students at Boston University. Several years ago, there was a shortage of interpreters at the medical center to assist patient