Beyond Words - Language Blog
Recent Blog Posts
7 Questions to a Linguist: Framing the Issue with Dr. Julie Sweetland
December 9, 2015
In this installment of 7 Questions to a Linguist, the focus is on an organization that crafts metaphors for more effectively communicating social issues and scientific topics. The FrameWorks Institute, a recipient of this year’s MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions (the “organizational genius grant” awarded by the John […]
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7 Questions to a Linguist: Vyvyan Evans Shares the Bloody Secret Life of Theories
November 18, 2015
In the latest installment of 7 Questions to a Linguist, ALTA Language Services had the pleasure of catching up with Vyvyan Evans. Vyv Evans, PhD, is a professor of Linguistics at Bangor University, United Kingdom. The author of more than a dozen scholarly and popular books on language, meaning, and […]
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World Language Competency Credits Empower High Schoolers to Honor Their Cultural Heritage
November 12, 2015
More than 40 million people in the U.S. speak a language other than English in the home. This data, courtesy of the 2011 American Community Survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, should indicate a growing comfort and acceptance among young bilingual Americans and their peers. The reality, however, is […]
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7 Questions to a Linguist: Arika Okrent Follows Her Curiosity
October 28, 2015
Today’s installment of 7 Questions to a Linguist features a conversation with the popular, prolific, and Klingon-certified writer Arika Okrent, PhD. Not only is Okrent a frequent contributor to Slate, The Week, and Mental Floss, where she takes an entertaining approach to exploring and explaining linguistic phenomena, she’s also this […]
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From Head to Toe, Speaking Another Language is Good for You
October 22, 2015
One day, when I was 8 years old and still spoke with a thick Russian accent, my mother and I sat in the lobby of a dentist’s office. While we waited our turn to have modern dentistry reverse the effects of Soviet toothpaste (no fluoride!), I picked up a magazine […]
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7 Questions to a Linguist: John McWhorter Scales the “Mt. Everest” of Russian
October 9, 2015
In today’s 7 Questions to a Linguist, we hear from one of the language field’s most intriguing cultural commentators: author, linguist, and Columbia professor Dr. John McWhorter. A staple of media discussions surrounding the changing face of race relations, McWhorter has appeared on CNN Tonight, Meet the Press, The O’Reilly […]
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7 Questions to a Linguist: Steven Pinker Doesn’t Speak Motherese
September 22, 2015
In the latest entry of 7 Questions to a Linguist, ALTA Language Services caught up with psycholinguistics wunderkind Dr. Steven Pinker. The Harvard psychology professor, frequent TED speaker, and award-winning author staked his claim in contemporary discourse thanks to his user-friendly application of cognitive linguistics to society’s big questions. As […]
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7 Questions to a Linguist: David Crystal, OBE, FBA
September 4, 2015
In the second installment of 7 Questions to a Linguist, ALTA Language Services had the pleasure of catching up with language scholar, writer, lecturer, and broadcaster David Crystal. “Those linguistic experiences have long disappeared from my memory now, though I like to think that they might still be neurally lurking […]
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7 Questions to a Linguist: Dr. Farooq Kperogi on “Glocal” English
August 17, 2015
Welcome to the inaugural interview of our 7 Questions to a Linguist series! Over the next few months, we’ll be exploring some of the most fascinating, eye-opening, and unexpected insights from leading language professionals around the world. To kick things off, ALTA Language Services spoke with professor, journalist, newspaper columnist, […]
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Trying to Build a Tower That Reaches Heaven: Interview with Translator Michael Kandel
July 14, 2015
Michael Kandel’s humility borders on self-deprecation. The leading English-language translator of Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem sees the translator’s lot as utilitarian, unromantic, invisible. His mantra is that failure is inevitable. And yet, the scope and significance of Kandel’s work would have a brasher personality gobbling up laurels – […]
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