At the end of last year, I took a few days off between Christmas and New Year’s to visit the Arctic adventures of Iceland. Between the fjords, hot springs, and lack of sunlight, I also noticed something else that I have not seen in many other places, a predominance of English in a […]
How Do You Modernize a Language? Read More »
It goes without saying that language is an inherent part of identity. Words we use can change how we perceive the world or even ourselves.When a language is part of a regional identity, this feeling is only amplified. Nowhere is this truer than the case of Catalan. While Catalan is mostly
Language of the Month: Catalan Read More »
Every December during Christmas time, Christian families around the world prepare for one of the largest religious holidays in the Christian tradition. While many of these traditions have an old world flair, including masses presented in Latin or songs sung in languages of familial heritage, have you ever considered what language would have
Language of the Month: Aramaic Read More »
One of the most important aspects of language learning is the ability to communicate in an authentic manner with other speakers of the language; in fact, this immersive communication experience is the key to any successful language learning. But for many teachers finding these authentic opportunities can prove difficult, especially when one lives in an
Interview with Dr. Edwige Simon of University of Colorado- Boulder Read More »
In October, I was fortunate enough to take a weekend getaway to Denver, Colorado. As a fan of history, I took the opportunity to go to History Colorado, a major museum in the city that offers a glimpse into the history and culture of the former mining town. I was expecting to learn plenty about
Language of the Month: Ute Read More »
The months of September and October are an important time for people of the Jewish faith. During this time, they celebrate the New Year during Rosh Hashanah, have a solemn Day of Atonement on Yom Kippur, and celebrate Sukkot to commemorate the provisions given by Yahweh. Another important aspect of Judaism
Language of the Month: Yiddish Read More »
Many times, we have precious little evidence of the foundation or creation of a language. We can look from an anthropological perspective or etymological perspective to make reasonable guesses with evidence, but not often do we have definitive beginnings of the formation (and possible purpose thereof) of a language. However, this
Language of the Month: Palenquero Read More »
2019/09/17 At this point in time, nearly every student in the US has returned to school across all 50 states. While teachers are preparing lessons, students are reuniting with friends, and parents are looking at schedules for the coming year, many states have been preparing and implementing an exciting new opportunity for language classrooms, the
The Seal of Biliteracy Read More »
As the UNESCO Year of Indigenous Languages continues, we at the Museum want to highlight work being done to make the year a success and preserve and study lesser-known indigenous languages further. I had the opportunity to interview Keith Cunningham at Georgetown University, who is currently working on a doctoral dissertation in linguistics, who is
Interview with Keith Cunningham, PhD Candidate at Georgetown University Read More »
Since starting the Language of the Month featured, we have travelled as far as the Museum’s backyard with Piscataway, to the far reaches of Asia with Cantonese. We have also seen languages both surviving (Cantonese) and almost completely forgotten (Piscataway). However, there exist several languages in the middle of these two, which are
Language of the Month: Tjupan Read More »
