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Researchers from University College London studied the brains of 105 people – 80 of whom were bilingual. Learning languages enhances the brain, scientists believe

They found learning other languages altered grey matter – the area of the brain which processes information – in the same way exercise builds muscles.

People who learned a second language at a younger age were also more likely to have more advanced grey matter than those who learned later, the team said.

Scientists already know the brain has the ability to change its structure as a result of stimulation – an effect known as plasticity – but this research demonstrates how learning languages develops it.

 

The team took scans of 25 Britons who did not speak a second language, 25 people who had learned another European language before the age of five and 33 bilinguals who had learned a second language between 10 and 15 years old. “It means that older learners won’t be as fluent as people who learned earlier in life”
Andrea Mechelli, of University College London

The scans revealed the density of the grey matter in the left inferior parietal cortex of the brain was greater in bilinguals than in those without a second language. The effect was particularly noticeable in the “early” bilinguals, the findings published in the journal Nature revealed. The findings were also replicated in a study of 22 native Italian speakers who had learned English as a second language between the ages of two and 34. Lead researcher Andrea Mechelli, of the Institute of Neurology at UCL, said the findings explained why younger people found it easier to learn second languages.

Impact

“It means that older learners won’t be as fluent as people who learned earlier in life. “They won’t be as good as early bilinguals who learned, for example, before the age of five or before the age of 10.” But Cilt, the national centre for languages, cast doubt on whether learning languages was easier at a younger age. A spokeswoman said: “There are conflicting views about the comparative impact of language learning in different age groups, based both on findings and anecdotal evidence.” However, she said it was important to get young people learning languages in the UK. Only one in 10 UK workers can speak a foreign language, a recent survey revealed. But by 2010 all primary schools will have to provide language lessons for children.

Context

A key to understanding anything in a second language is being familiar with the context. There are many ways to become more familiar with context. Actually living the experience is the best but is not always possible. That is why extensive reading and listening is the best alternative to actually living the experience.

When I lived in Hong Kong and studied Mandarin I built up a vast library of content on different subjects of interest that I would read and listen to often. Each time I listened I would seem to focus on different words and phrases until they became natural to me. The local environment did not give me the opportunity to “experience” Mandarin.

Even when I lived in Japan I still had my own language world of reading and listening because it was too difficult to get it all from real life, either because my Japanese was still not good enough or simply because reading can cover more ground than I could experience myself.

Experiments have shown that if you give language learners a glossary or vocabulary list of new words for a text they have not seen it will not help them understand the new text. They simply will not remember these words which they have tried to learn out of context. If they are already familiar with the subject they will understand better, but the vocabulary list will not help.

So the lesson is that all attempts to memorize isolated vocabulary lists, TOEFL vocabulary lists, technical vocabulary lists, antonyms and synonyms, or memorizing the dictionary which Chinese learners sometimes try to do, are very ineffective ways to learn.

That is why in The Linguist we make sure that all words and phrases are learned in the context of authentic content chosen by the learner. Usually the learner will choose a subject that he/she is already familiar with and that makes comprehension and the learning of new vocabulary easier. All occurrences of these words and phrases are collected in the learners’ database for regular review.

You have to experience the language. You have to communicate with people, and to read and to listen a great deal. There are no short cuts. The more efficiently you learn new words and phrases the faster you will grow your language power.

Disability-Related Organizations and Associations

Title:The Arc of the United States
Link: http://www.thearc.org
Description: The Arc of the United States works to include all children and adults with cognitive, intellectual, and developmental disabilities in every community.
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Title:Association of University Centers on Disabilities
Link: http://www.aucd.org
Description: The Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) is a membership organization that supports and promotes a national network of university-based interdisciplinary programs.
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Title:Developmental Disability Research Centers Directory
Link: http://www.aucd.org/ddrcportal/directory/directory…
Description: Click on the map to view information about the Developmental Disability Research Centers (DDRC) in a particular state, or use the search features to locate centers and researchers.
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Title:Family Voices
Link: http://www.familyvoices.org
Description: Family Voices focuses on the issues of children and youth with special healthcare needs. Families throughout the United States that have children with special healthcare needs, as well as caregivers, professionals, and friends provide content for the Family Voices Web site. The Family Voices Web site also provides breaking news, data and research, and quick links.
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Title:Institute for Community Inclusion
Link: http://www.communityinclusion.org
Description: The Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) offers training, clinical, and employment services; conducts research; and provides assistance to organizations to promote inclusion of people with disabilities in school, work, and community activities.
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Title:National Dissemination Center for Children and Youth With Disabilities
Link: http://www.nichcy.org
Description: The National Dissemination Center for Children and Youth With Disabilities (NICHCY) is an information center that provides resources on disabilities and disability-related issues. The NICHCY Web site offers information about specific disabilities, special education and related services for children in school, individualized education programs, parent materials, disability organizations, professional associations, education rights and what the law requires, early intervention services for infants and toddlers, and transition to adult life.
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Title:National Organization on Disability
Link: http://www.nod.org
Description: The National Organization on Disability (NOD) expands the participation and contribution of America’s 54 million men, women, and children with disabilities in all aspects of life.
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Title:National Rehabilitation Information Center
Link: http://www.naric.com
Description: The National Rehabilitation Information Center (NARIC) collects and disseminates the results of federally funded research projects, includes commercially published books, journal articles, and audiovisuals, and averages around 200 new documents per month.
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Title:National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
Link: http://www.servicelearning.org
Description: The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse maintains a Web site with timely information and relevant resources to support service-learning programs, practitioners, and researchers. The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse operates national e-mail discussion lists for K-12, tribes and territories, and higher education service-learning to encourage discussion and exchange of ideas.
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Title:National Youth Leadership Network
Link: http://nyln.org
Description: The National Youth Leadership Network (NYLN) is dedicated to advancing the next generation of disability leaders. The NYLN: promotes leadership development, education, employment, independent living, and health and wellness among young leaders representing the diversity of race, ethnicity, and disability in the United States; fosters the inclusion of young leaders with disabilities into all aspects of society at national, state, and local levels; and communicates about issues important to youth with disabilities and the policies and practices that affect their lives.
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Title:Project Reach: Service Inclusion For Community College Students
Link: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/projectreach
Description: Project Reach Awards Funds to Support Service Learning for Students with Disabilities.
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Title:University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Directory
Link: http://www.aucd.org/directory/directory.cfm
Description: Click on a state for contact information for University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD’s) across the country.
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Title:TASH
Link: http://tash.org
Description: TASH is an international membership association leading the way to inclusive communities through research, education, and advocacy. TASH members are people with disabilities, family members, fellow citizens, advocates, and professionals working together to create change and build capacity so that all people, no matter their perceived level of disability, are included in all aspects of society.
Source: EST
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Title:American Foundation for the Blind
Link: http://www.afb.org
Description: The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is a national nonprofit organization that expands possibilities for people with vision loss. AFB’s priorities include broadening access to technology; elevating the quality of information and tools for the professionals who serve people with vision loss; and promoting independent and healthy living for people with vision loss by providing them and their families with relevant and timely resources. AFB’s work in these areas is supported by the strong presence the organization maintains in Washington, DC, ensuring the rights and interests of people with vision loss are represented in our nation’s public policies.
Source: EST
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Title:American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD)
Link: http://www.aapd.com/
Description: The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), the country’s largest cross-disability membership organization, organizes the disability community to be a powerful voice for change – politically, economically, and socially. AAPD was founded in 1995 to help unite the diverse community of people with disabilities, including their family, friends and supporters, and to be a national voice for change in implementing the goals of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Source: EST
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Title:National Disability Rights Network (NDRN)
Link: http://www.napas.org/
Description: The National Disability Rights Network (NDRN) is the nonprofit membership organization for the federally mandated Protection and Advocacy (P&A;) Systems and Client Assistance Programs (CAP) for individuals with disabilities. Collectively, the P&A;/CAP network is the largest provider of legally based advocacy services to people with disabilities in the United States.
Through training and technical assistance, legal support, and legislative advocacy, the National Disability Rights Network works to create a society in which people with disabilities are afforded equality of opportunity and are able to fully participate by exercising choice and self-determination.
The National Disability Rights Network serves a wide range of individuals with disabilities – including, but not limited to, those with cognitive, mental, sensory, and physical disabilities – by guarding against abuse; advocating for basic rights; and ensuring accountability in health care, education, employment, housing, transportation, and within the juvenile and criminal justice systems.
Source: EST
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Title:National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD)
Link: http://www.nacdd.org/
Description: The National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities (NACDD) is a national membership organization representing the 55 State and Territorial Councils on Developmental Disabilities. NACDD is a 501(c) 3 organization with the purpose of promoting and enhancing the outcomes of its member councils in developing and sustaining inclusive communities and self directed services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Source: EST
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Cultural Competency

Title:National Center for Cultural Competence
Link: http://www11.georgetown.edu/research/gucchd/nccc
Description: The mission of the National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) is to increase the capacity of health and mental health programs to design, implement, and evaluate culturally and linguistically competent service delivery systems.
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Title:Diversifying the Volunteer Base: Latinos and Volunteerism
Link: http://www.joe.org/joe/2001august/a1.html
Description: This article, from the Journal of Extension, describes the methods and findings of a study on Latino volunteerism. The article details strategies for recruitment and supporting participation of Latinos in volunteer activities. The Journal of Extension is the official refereed journal of the U.S. Cooperative Extension System.
Source: EST
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Title:Cultural Competency Webcasts
Link: http://www.ilru.org/html/training/webcasts/archive…
Description: The Independent Living Research Utilization (ILRU) offers Webcasts on a variety of topics. Past Webcasts have focused on cultural competency, including:
Disability Culture and Awareness (October 9, 2007)
Services for People of Minority Cultures-Part I (October 19, 2007)
Services for People of Minority Cultures-Part II (November 2, 2007)
Click on the above link to search for these and other webcasts. Please contact Peggy Stevenson (p.stevenson@ent-s-t.com) if you need help locating these resources.
Source: EST
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Multiculturalism

Even though I speak nine languages I am quite opposed to multiculturalism, or at least the ideology of multicultualism. The ideology of multiculturalism in Western countries promotes the position that immigrants should hold on to their ancestral culture rather than integrate or assimilate to the culture of the country to which they have emigrated. I think that promoting separation over integration is wrong.

People should be allowed to choose what they want to do. There should be no forced integration but there should also be no official encouragement to stay separate based on ancestry. The premise of multiculturalism is that ancestry, or assumed ancestry, should dictate your culture. This idea has many serious disadvantages.

First of all it works against the development of an inclusive sense of community within the host country. It encourages people to only see their original ethnic community as “their community”. This weakens solidarity in the host society.

Second, multiculturalism suggests that someone of a particular ethnic origin has an obligation to learn his/her ancestral language and culture, even in the second generation. There should be no such obligation. If I want to learn a language not related to my ancestry in preference to the language of my ancestors, that should be a matter of free choice.

There is an inherent contradiction in multiculturalism since the cultures that are promoted as being worthy of preserving are usually themselves the result of cultural blending. If French or Chinese or Moroccan culture is already the results of various cultures blending together, why should this blending process or assimilation in a new country be considered undesirable.

As a linguist I consider that I am free to learn any language and to enjoy any culture. I oppose the bureaucratic imposition of the parents cultural identity on a new generation of citizens. What is the connection to language learning? I will cover that in another post where I will point out that tying ancestry to language is a major obstacle to language learning.

Logic and rhetoric

People who come from a non-Western language background, have a much tougher time learning English. They do not have the Latin and Greek based vocabulary that is common to so many European languages.They have also not been exposed to the Western way of thinking that is behind much of the reading that we all do in school. The origin of the Western way of expressing ideas lies in the classics of ancient Greece and Rome, which have inspired centuries of Western literature and influenced how we express ourselves.

I have found a web site which I would recommend to any person of non-European background as an excellent place to become familiar with the theories of classical rhetoric. Here‘s the link. Spend some time studying this content and the different techniques of conveying ideas and persuading others. I think it will be quite helpful. It is recommended for advanced learners.

Ski trip

I just finished a wonderful week of skiing at Big White near Kelowna in the BC Interior. The climate is a little colder than the coastal range near Vancouver. The snow is light and plentiful. The runs were long and varied. There were steep bowls with fresh powder snow, moguls, long giant slalom type of runs, and skiing through the trees.

I went with my son, daughter-in-law, her mother and our three grandchildren. We stayed in a chalet we rented right on the hill. In fact all the accommodation at Big White is “ski in ski out.”

The temperature varied between minus 5 and 0 Centigrade. We had two days of blue sunshine and three days of variable visibility and snow. But we need the snow so that was all right.

In the evenings my son and I played a high quality of outdoor pick-up hockey on an outdoor rink. We also took the whole family including grandchildren and grandparents for night-time tubing down a groomed tubing hill.

The grandparents had time to spoil their grandchildren and we had lovely meals at our chalet every evening, with plenty of help from all. New Year’s eve we had our champagne and went to bed early in order to be first on the slopes the next day.

I did not have time to think about language learning except when I sat beside some snowboarders from Korea who were studying English in Kelowna.

How long does it take?

People always ask me how quickly they can “learn” a second language, like English for example. I always answer that it depends on your level, and whether the language you are learning shares a lot of vocabulary with a language you already know (Italian-Spanish-even English; Korean-Japanese-Chinese etc.). Most of all it depends on how much effort you put in.

Along with motivation, intensity is one of the most important principles of language learning. If you spend at least 90 minutes per day for six days out of seven every week, you will make a significant breakthrough in three months. If you study 3 hours a week you will achieve very little.

A breakthrough might mean getting to basic conversation ability starting from zero. It might mean going from basic conversation to the ability to express more complex thoughts and read comfortably. You will know when you have made a breakthrough and it feels good.

Of course your activity must be intense. Sitting in language class may not be intense, especially if there 15 other students in the class. Personal study is intense. I am talking about reading, listening, learning words and phrases and using them in writing and speaking. You can do that with a minimum amount of tutoring.

Language learning is an ongoing process. You are always less than perfect but you should be constantly improving if you do it right. It is a long road of gradually getting more and more comfortable in the language. It should always be enjoyable but it does require deliberate effort.

I am not sure if this clarifies things or makes things more confusing.

Emergency Preparedness

Title:ADA Checklist for Emergency Shelters
Link: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/shleterck.htm
Description: This Web site contains checklists for emergency shelters in order for them to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
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Title:Department of Transportation-Emergency Preparedness
Link: http://www.dotcr.ost.dot.gov/asp/emergencyprep.asp
Description: The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Emergency Preparedness Web site contains basic information on emergency preparedness, transportation accessibility, and evacuation methods for certain modes of transportation, such as transit and rail systems. The DOT Emergency Preparedness Web site is designed to be an emergency transportation preparedness resource for individuals with disabilities, their family members, and care givers. Additionally, this page includes useful information for transportation providers on addressing the unique needs of people with disabilities during an emergency.
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Title:Emergency Preparation and People with Disabilities
Link: http://www.serviceandinclusion.org/index.php?page=…
Description: The National Service Inclusion Project (NSIP) publishes a Web page that contains information on emergency preparation for people with disabilities.
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Title:Ready America
Link: http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/disabled.html
Description: Homeland Security offers information, tips, and checklists for disaster preparedness for individuals with disabilities on their ready.gov Web site.
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Title:Resources for Helping Children Deal with Disasters
Link: http://www.aucd.org/template/news.cfm?news_id=3003…
Description: The National TA Center at United Advocates for Children and Families (UACF) has released a set of resources offering help for individuals who are physically, psychologically, or emotionally impacted from the effects of natural disasters. The resources offer advice and tips for communities to prepare for and deal with the repercussions of hurricanes and other disasters.
Source: EST
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Academic writing, business writing and such

There are courses on academic writing and on business writing. For people who already write correctly and well, these might be helpful. For people who lack sufficient control over the words and phrases of the English language, these courses are misleading.

There is only one kind of English prose -clear, concise and well constructed prose. If you control the words and phrases of the language it is easy to learn how to start with a “theme sentence” in every paragraph and the other little conventions of writing that are taught in these special writing courses. Without the vocabulary you do not have the resources to express yourself.

If your mind is muddled, no amount of courses on academic writing will help you.

That being said, once you have brought your vocabulary up to the required level, by all means read everything you can find on specialized writing. Start looking on the web where it is available free of charge. Or just buy a book on the subject.