Episode 5: The Language News Report Welcome to ALTA’s Beyond Words Podcast. Our podcasts provide listeners with the latest language news, language-related interviews, and language lessons that can be applied to real-world situations. They’re always brief, always informative, and always...
Simon Critchley wrote an interesting commentary for the New York Times on Sunday, May 16, 2010, titled What is a Philosopher? He opens the article by stating the obvious—“There are as many definitions of philosophy as there are philosophers –...
According to a recent story in the Philadelphia Inquirer, American attendance at foreign language films dropped exponentially during the last decade. Carrie Rickey reports that foreign film ticket sales account for less than 1 percent of business at the US...
With warmer weather comes an increase in outdoor activities—swimming, running, and biking, just to name a few. Although the Boston Marathon was held last month, many of the other big ones lie ahead—Chicago, New York, and Leadville—and the season has...
Voting for Lexiophile’s Top 100 Language Blogs starts today! If you are a fan of ALTA’s Beyond Words, vote for this blog. Also, take a few moments to check out some of the other nominated blogs; Lexiophiles does a great...
On April 20, when the Deepwater Horizon Transocean-BP oil rig exploded, killing eleven workers and, two days later, sinking completely into the Gulf of Mexico, everyone knew that the damage was going to be immense—but no one knew it would...
Alabama gubernatorial candidate Tim James recently created controversy with his political advertisement titled Language. The advertisement focuses on one of James’ campaign promises to eliminate driver’s license exams in all languages except English. In the ad, James says, “This is...
Episode 3: The Language News Report Welcome to ALTA’s Beyond Words Podcast. Our podcasts provide listeners with the latest language news, language-related interviews, and language lessons that can be applied to real-world situations. They’re always brief, always informative, and always...
From a young age, our lives are filled with assessments: standardized tests, driving exams, placement tests, and, if a business or government agency tests the English or foreign language skills of potential hires and current staff, there is a good...
ALTA has completed a comprehensive study of court interpreter exams for the Judicial Council of California. The published report, California's Assessment of the Consortium for Language Access in the Courts' Exams, appears on the California Court's website. In May of...
Episode 2: At the Bar, A Russian Lesson Welcome to the second installment of ALTA’s Beyond Words Podcast. Our podcasts provide listeners with the latest language news, language-related interviews, and language lessons that can be applied to real-world situations. They’re...
Robert E. Wolverton Sr., a Mississippi State classics professor, occasionally asks his students to vote on the most beautiful and the ugliest words in English. In his last survey conducted in 2009, the words vomit, moist, puke, phlegm, slaughter, snot,...
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