Not a Small World After All
Inside Higher Ed
Enrollments in foreign language courses in the US have decreased by 6.7 percent since 2009 after increasing steadily since 1995 according to a new report by our colleagues at the Modern Language Association (MLA).
Language advocates investigate what caused the drop and debate whether it is the beginning of a new trend of moving away from foreign language study.
Why Presidents Aren't Bilingual Anymore
Mashable
Not a single US president since Franklin D. Roosevelt has spoken a second language. While FDR was fluent in French and German, the language portfolio of US leaders has been overwhelmingly monolingual.
Mashable explores the trends at play; are American leaders monolingual? Is this a trend unique to the US, or are there international examples? This article presents a new perspective on the monolingualism "epidemic" of the American president.
Speaking By Numbers
The Language Magazine
A math teacher and a Spanish teacher share the consequences of student motivation in their areas of expertise and dissent the myths that perpetuate negative attitudes towards studying both subjects. This is a must-read for anyone who has ever claimed to be language averse or is "just not a math person."
European Languages Linked to Migration from the East
Nature
Geneticists publish new research on the mysterious origin of many European languages contending that the Yamnaya, a group of ancient steppe herders originating from present day Russia and Ukraine, imported at least part of the Indo-European language family into Europe.
The origin of these languages which include Germanic, Slavic, and the large family of Romance languages is a hot topic amongst researchers.