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Category: Language and Culture

Beyond Words 2010 Quarterly Round Up

Spring has arrived and we’re taking a look back at the articles we’ve posted since January. Here are a few from the past four months that you might have missed. Hopefully, they’ll provide an informative and entertaining break to your...

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5 Tips For Learning a New Language

For the last 30 years, ALTA has provided language training to corporate clients and government agents whose relocation to foreign countries requires them to achieve high levels of proficiency in a new language. High proficiency includes the ability to communicate...

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The Most Popular Foreign Languages: Foreign Language Enrollment in U.S. Schools

Over the past few decades, the United States has seen a steady increase in college enrollment. With higher education readily accessible to more and more people—from 1987-1997 college enrollment increased by 26%, and, from 1997-2007, college enrollment increased by an...

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Beyond Words Podcast: Episode 1

Episode 1: Landing in Morocco, An Arabic Lesson Welcome to the first installment of ALTA’s Beyond Words Podcast. Each episode will provide listeners with the latest language news, language-related interviews, or language lessons that can be applied to real-world situations....

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Looking at Globish: A Note on the Impact of English

One decade in to the 21st century and we’re already starting to look for concrete trends that actually hold water. While fashion and the housing market and car design are mutable, where does language fit into the picture—and how will...

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Speech Perception: Overcoming a Hidden Obstacle for Language Learners

Language learners experience a blow to their confidence when they fail to comprehend a native speaker. Many students have experienced something like this: after months or even years of diligent study and practice, they fail to understand someone during a...

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Hegan: The New Male Vegan

It’s hard not to have fun when newspapers roll out with brand new words like the 2008 recessionista , the “style maven with a budget,” or, more recently, the femivore, a stay-at-home mother who finds empowerment through feeding her family...

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Naming Cars: The Etymology of Automobiles

On March 21, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta will begin a three month exhibition about car design in the context of various art movements throughout the last century. The Allure of the Automobile will feature some of the...

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The Language of Liqueur

Liqueur and liquor may both stem from the same Latin verb liquere meaning “to be fluid” and the Old French noun licour meaning “liquid.” Nevertheless, liqueurs are entirely different liquids from their counterpart spirits. According to Stuart Walton, the author...

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10 Foreign Language Covers

A language acquisition study published in the journal Cognition in 2008 suggests that listening to and singing along with music may play an important role in learning a language. Reported by Cognitive Daily , the study supports that singing in...

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What is the Best Language Teaching Method?

There are three teaching methods that dominate the business of language instruction: the Direct Method, the Grammar-Translation Method, and the Audio-Lingual Method. Deciding which is the best method is difficult because each has strengths and weaknesses, and the nature of...

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Fictional Languages in Film:The Linguists Behind Na’vi, Sindarin, Klingon and Ulam

Among the ten films nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, one prompted a lot of discussion amongst language professionals: James Cameron’s Avatar, which features the fictional language, Na’vi. In honor of the linguistic work in Avatar, Beyond Words has compiled...

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