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So far daruma has created 43 blog entries.

March 2018

22. Can Learning a New Language Help You Find Your True Identity?

2018-04-03T16:44:58-04:00By |Episodes|

Can Learning a New Language Help You Find Your True Identity? We're back with Season 2 of America the Bilingual! We open with this episode that features two stories of how people reconstruct themselves in a new language and how, through that process, they can sometimes discover and express important new aspects of themselves that can be liberating. Can learning a new language help you find your true identity? It did for Judson MacDonald. He was struggling to come to terms with his true identity. He had a part-time job at a conservative restaurant [...]

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December 2017

19. When America Went to War Against the German Language

2017-12-11T17:11:10-05:00By |Episodes|

When America Went to War Against the German Language Americans do remember World War I, but most of us have forgotten the war within our own borders that took place during those same years. After burning German textbooks from Baraboo High School, a crowd turns to a man waving an American flag. Baraboo, Wisconsin, 1918. (Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.) It was a war against all things German-American, including the teaching of the German language. Our internal war was so violent, destructive and cruel, that as soon as the war in [...]

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November 0018

The Surprising Truth About American Bilingualism: What the Data Tells Us

2024-05-01T17:24:44-04:00By |Articles|

We Americans think we suck at languages. We particularly think we suck when compared with European countries, “where everybody speaks three or four languages.” Yet this view of our country is outdated. The surprising truth is that the United States is a world leader in bilingualism. This truth matters because the skills that American bilinguals possess not only help those individuals advance in their careers, but taken together, American bilinguals are key to building American soft power. By bilingual, I mean someone who actually uses two or more languages on a daily basis. It’s not [...]

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