When we learn a new language as adults, we often struggle with articulating the sounds. What is relatively easy for children whose palate is still soft, becomes increasingly difficult the older we get. Usually, when children hit puberty, their palate hardens which makes it a bit more difficult for them to articulate new sounds. Against […]
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When parents should NOT speak their L1 with their children
Against the common advice, backed up by countless research that states that parents should speak their L1 – first language – with their children, it is time to explain why this is not always the best solution for multilingual parents. I think there is an important misunderstanding leading to many parents doubting about the decisions […]
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A poem about March 2020
When I read Irene Vella’s poem Ma la primavera non sapeva nulla, that went viral on social media (and beyond), I couldn’t refrain myself from translating it into German. Although this poem has already been translated into several languages, I felt the urge to have a German version too, German and Italian being the two […]
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About cultural and linguistic blind spots
When interculturalist Edward T. Hall says “culture hides more than it reveals and strangely enough what it hides, it hides most effectively from its own participants”, he talks about the blind spot we all have on our own culture. What are possible blind spots on our own culture? We can have these blind spots on […]
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Resources to learn and foster Arabic
Please find a list of resources you can use to foster Arabic at home. As Arabic is a language I still don’t master (yet), I invite you to share other links to sites that provide resources to teach Arabic – understanding, speaking, reading, writing – for children from 0-18 yo, and also for adults, in […]
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