Stacey Katz Bourns, Cheryl Krueger, and Nicole Mills— What does it mean to be able to communicate? In general, many researchers would say that competent communicators know what to say, how to say it, and when to say it. In his discussion of language acquisition and classroom practice, VanPatten (2017,
Marek Kohn— Amnesia inclines us to assume that entry into language is painless, as does the apparent ease with which children typically become speakers. But many if not most skills require struggle to acquire, even if they seem effortless once mastered. We take language to be one of the most
A look at how we acquire language and the importance of learning more than one language at any age. Subscribe:Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | Soundcloud
In a world that has global English and translation technology, it’s easy to assume that the need to use more than one language is diminishing— but it is more important than ever, argues science writer Marek Kohn. His new book exploring bilingualism and plural language use is Four Words For Friend: Why
Gerald Shea— Noam Chomsky, giving a lecture in Chicago in 1965, mistakenly defined language as “a specific sound-to-meaning correspondence.” When asked where this left the signed languages of the Deaf, Chomsky revised his definition on the spot, calling language a specific signal to meaning correspondence. The distinction was important, for it was
On the heels of our publication of Nobel Prize winner Patrick Modiano’s Such Fine Boys and Sundays in August in English, two of his esteemed translators sat down to discuss Modiano’s idiosyncratic and impressive body of work and the distinct nuances of translating it. It is with great pleasure that we present
What drives us to learn? How do books help us understand the world? How does language fail us? We sat down with reader and writer Alberto Manguel to satisfy our, well, curiosity. Yale University Press: How much do your personal experiences affect what you write about? Alberto Manguel: I’m not a scholar,
The Schott's Vocab blog on the New York Times website has posted a fascinating interview with Claude Hagège, author of On the Death and Life of Languages, which YUP recently published in a new English translation. When asked about languages challenging English's global dominance, Hagège makes two particularly fascinating points