August 18th, 2017 Americans get a bad rap for speaking only English, of making no effort to learn the languages of other cultures. For the most part, this is true. Unlike Europe, where an hour drive might find you in a completely foreign land, the furthest the average American will make it as far as […]
ACEI BLOG - LANGUAGE
Life Abbreviated
10/20/16 On my way to work this morning, I stopped by the German bakery nearby. Me: Hi! (Trying my best to greet the young staff with my cheery presence.) Server (20-something male with bleached blonde spiked hair): no response, a simple nod. Me: Plain croissant, please. He reaches inside the display case and from the […]
How to Be a Responsible Foreign-Language Learner and Speaker
August 25th, 2016 As participants in the 2016 Many Languages One World essay contest, we had to submit an essay on multiculturalism and multilingualism. Writing about multiculturalism and multilingualism is a tough and broad task, but what we can do, as individuals, is write about our own experience. As a student in Chinese department and […]
I Am Not A Citizen Of The World
August 11th, 2016 No soy una ciudadana del mundo. I come from Chile, located at the end of the world. Surrounded by the immensity of the Pacific Ocean, the loneliness of the Atacama Desert and the impenetrability of the Andes cordillera, it could be considered an island. I am not a citizen of the world. […]
IRAN: Happiness, Stealthy Freedom, and Faces of Iran on FB
June 12th, 2014 Happiness is… If you’ve been following the news from Iran recently, you must have heard the one about the group of six young women and men who posted a clip of themselves happily dancing to Pharrell Williams’ hit song “Happy!” As quickly as their video had gone viral, Iran’s morality police had […]
World Music Teaches You Everything
April 3rd, 2014 Music tells the stories of our world I majored in Humanities as an undergraduate because it was broad-based and I could take many courses, from California Geography to Entomology to history, philosophy, languages and literature. Later, I took an MA in Comparative Literature for similar reasons: I could read the great writers […]
Celebrating Spring
March 13th, 2014 With nervous pleasure, The tulips are receiving A spring rain at dusk ––Richard Wright Cultures around the world celebrate spring as a time of renewal, healing, and rebirth, moving from the darkness of winter to the much-anticipated light of spring. Whatever form of celebration this takes, it is a time of new […]
January 1964: A Retrospective
January 2nd, 2014 As we start the New Year, we thought it would be interesting to look back and see what historical events took place on this month in January, fifty years ago in 1964. As you can see from the list below, in only one month, a great deal happened around the world, some […]
Martin Heidegger’s Influence On “Riders On The Storm”
December 5th, 2013 Heidegger’s Concept: “Geworfenheit” (“Thrown-ness”) The song is a 60′s classic: “Riders On The Storm”. We’ve heard it a thousand times. But do many people know it may well be associated with the thinking of a modern German metaphysical philosopher? Jim Morrison was a voracious reader; even his senior-year high school English teacher […]
3 Things I’ve Learned as a Transglobal Pilgrim
October 3rd, 2013 Learning by doing is one of the most powerful, and rewarding ways to enter into another culture. I studied the French language for 12 years before finally going to France, and it was there that the desire to “become French,” overwhelmed me. As an avid people watcher, I love to observe body […]