FLC in the News
Study Shows Unborn Babies Cry in Their Mother Tongue(11-10-2009)
Newborn babies mimic the intonation of their native tongue when they cry, indicating that they begin to pick up the first elements of language in the womb, a study suggests.
Article available online.
The death of language? (10-20-2009)
by Tom Colls
An estimated 7,000 languages are being spoken around the world. But that number is expected to shrink rapidly in the coming decades. What is lost when a language dies?
Article available online
After the Fall(08-31-2009)
Photo exhibits at OSU mark 20th anniversary of Berlin Wall destruction
By Jill Laster
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Twenty years after its fall, the Berlin Wall still looms large in Germany and beyond. The Ohio State University Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures is getting a jump on the official anniversary of the fall of the wall with two photography exhibits on display through Sept. 21 in The Global Gallery at Hagerty Hall’s World Media and Culture Center.
Article available online
The Real Reasons to Support Language Study (07-31-2009)
By Mauro F. Guillén
In an era of dwindling budgets, universities have identified language programs as an area for possible cuts. Languages with few students are being framed as luxuries that cannot be afforded during a time of scarcity. Such is not the case.
PDF available online [PDF]
Linguist’s Preservation Kit Has New Digital Tools (07-28-2009)
By Chris Nicholson
TEI, Sierra Leone - Jogue, yipe, simoi are three short words for foods in Kim, a language in Sierra Leone that Tucker Childs has been trying, for the past three years, to write down, record and understand. Based on recordings taken there, he has devised an alphabet and compiled a dictionary and is finishing a book on the grammar.
Article available online
Learning Hindi Was Hard, but It Was Just the Start (07-24-2009)
It is not unusual for Katherine Russell Rich, an author and a former magazine editor, to break out into song in the back of a taxi, and not just any song, but a song in Hindi from one of her favorite Bollywood movies.
Article available online
Unraveling how children become bilingual so easily (07-21-2009)
by Lauran Neergaard
WASHINGTON – The best time to learn a foreign language: Between birth and age 7. Missed that window? New research is showing just how children's brains can become bilingual so easily, findings that scientists hope eventually could help the rest of us learn a new language a bit easier.
Article available online
Czech Women are 'ova' Name Issue (07-09-2009)
PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Lucie Kundra is something of a feminist rebel -- not because she wouldn't take her husband's name when they got married in 2008, but because she did.
Article available online.
International Flag of Language Design Contest (07-09-2009)
The National Museum of Language is proud to announce the creation of what it believes to be the world's first International Flag of Language.
Article available online.
Exposure To Two Languages Carries Far-reaching Benefits(05-26-2009)
People who can speak two languages are more adept at learning a new foreign language than their monolingual counterparts, according to research conducted at Northwestern University. Article
available online
Lively languages (05-18-2009)
New tiles in the Thompson library represent every alphabet in the library's collection. Much of the renovation at the new library has focused on giving a modern update to the classic elements of the library. Forty-nine new inlays on the library's floors take this idea just a little bit further.
Article available online.
NSEP Boren Scholarship for 2009-2010(05-15-2009)
The Foreign Language Center is pleased to announce that three OSU undergraduate students were selected to receive 12 month NSEP Boren Scholarship for 2009-2010. We congratulate the following recipients and wish them much luck for the future!
John Bolam will study Korean at Yonsei University in South Korea.
John Dixon will study Arabic at the University of Jordan.
Lowell Howard will study Portuguese in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
For information about the 2010-2011 NSEP Boren Scholarships, please contact
Rebecca Bias in the Foreign Language Center.
Think Global Ohio(04-16-2009)
Visit
Think Global Ohio, a multimedia toolkit of resources to help Ohio schools prepare students for the interconnected world of the 21st Century. Watch video of Dr. Gene Harris, Superintendent of Columbus City Schools, as she focuses on educating our students to become global citizens by learning languages and developing awareness and tolerance of other cultures.
Chancellor Fingerhut Announces FY 2009 STEM and Foreign Language Academies (03-26-2009)
OSU Foreign Language Center receives award for Regents’ Chinese Academy: Using Technology to Deliver Foreign Language Instruction. Partners: Ohio State University, Washington State Community College, and Miami University.
Read Press Release
Experts trying to decipher ancient language(02-28-2009)
ALMODOVAR, Portugal - When archaeologists on a dig in southern Portugal last year flipped over a heavy chunk of slate and saw writing not used for more than 2,500 years, they were elated.
Article available online.
2,500 languages threatened with extinction: UNESCO(02-19-2009)
PARIS (AFP) – The world has lost Manx in the Isle of Man, Ubykh in Turkey and last year Alaska's last native speaker of Eyak, Marie Smith Jones, died, taking the aboriginal language with her.
Article available online.
ROTC Pays Extra For Learning Languages(12-23-2008)
Desperate for officers who speak Arabic, Mandarin and other foreign languages, the U.S. Army is doling out monthly stipends to entice ROTC cadets in college to learn languages spoken in hot spots around the globe. The
article is available online.
A Teller of Tales (10-08)(11-13-2008)
In Eric Shepherd’s hands (literally), Chinese storytelling becomes a highly stylized form of performance art. The article is available online. Link:
www.ohiostatealumni.org/newscenter/shepherd.php
German school for kids, adults takes off(10-20-2008)
Organizers hope it will lure families, encourage learning about ancestry. The article is available
online.
2009 Critical Language Scholarships for Intensive Summer Institutes(10-09-2008)
The United States Department of State and the Council of American Overseas Research Centers (CAORC) are pleased to announce the availability of overseas scholarships for
intensive summer language institutes in eleven critical need foreign languages for summer 2009.
Good Morning Germany!(09-19-2008)
Students at Lauchhammer High School in Germany videoconference with OSU students of German in the Spring of 2008. View the
Article in German [PDF] (04-08)
Why Foreign Language Education Matters (09-18-2008)
Imagine a storeroom full of hundreds of hours of audio recordings and documents in Farsi, Pashto, Urdu, or Korean. The materials might hold the clues to prevent a future terrorist attack or help American intelligence officials finally locate Osama bin Laden, but only a handful have been translated because a lack of trained linguists.
Article is available online.
Yiddish survey aims to find how Americans use Jewish-influenced words(09-04-2008)
Oy gevalt, you should only know how many Yiddish and Hebrew influences have found their way into American English already. And you will, once two researchers have analyzed the information they've been collecting from all over North America.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article is available online.
Second Language Could Become Full-Time Income(08-31-2008)
To drive home the growing need for interpreters and translators in the United States, Louis Provenzano, president and chief operating officer of Language Line Services, offered these statistics. The
Columbus Dispatch article is available online.
There is More to Sweden Than Do-it-Yourself Furniture(07-18-2008)
The Swedes are leading a charge in technology, and the Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce recently established a chapter in Columbus.
The Columbus Dispatch article is available online.
Knowing other languages brings opportunities(05-06-2008)
Knowing foreign languages is a competitive skill for college students seeking jobs after graduation. Find out more from the Modern Language Association. Read the
MLA Foreign Language Brochure.
New push for language skills(05-06-2008)
If Ohio wants to jump-start its sputtering economy, it should start teaching Arabic, Chinese and Spanish to children as young as preschoolers and encourage more foreign trade, according to a new blueprint created by business, education and government leaders.
The Dispatch article is available online.
Dr. Diane Birckbichler, Director of the Foreign Language Center, testified before the Senate Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management.(05-06-2008)
The hearing was entitled “"Lost in Translation: A Review of the Federal Government's Efforts to Develop a Foreign Language Strategy"” and was chaired by Senator Daniel Akaka (D-HI) with Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) as Ranking Minority Member. Dr. Birckbichler appeared on a panel with ACTFL President Rita Oleksak, Mr. Michael Petro of the Committee for Economic Development. The Departments of Defense and Education, as well as the FBI testified on another panel.
