Communication Today

Yesterday, I entered an elevator with a man who continued talking on his Smartphone in a foreign language. After I pushed the button for my floor, I looked toward him and was about to ask, "Where to?" He had seen the button I pushed while he was listening to someone on his phone, and he just shook his head indicating he was going to the same floor as I was.

     I have been in elevators when friends who had been speaking together in a foreign language instantly switched to English to ask the floor button they should push for me. I also have been in vans taking hotel passengers to an airport, when the Spanish-speaking driver could switch to English to ask which terminals we needed.

     One of my globe-trotting, English-speaking friends developed a technique for asking directions in a foreign country. She looks for a young woman who she assumes, usually correctly, studied English.
Of course, studying a foreign language before visiting a foreign country works, too.

     Research outcomes based on studies at the University of Pennsylvania provide some useful advice to help adults learn a foreign language and to help parents and teachers enable children to enjoy knowing a new language. I read that babies first put together the word a parent says with the object the parent shows them. A baby's eyes have to go to the object when the baby hears the word for the object. This process reminded me of the German teacher who held up a turkey statue and asked us what is was before she told us the German word for turkey. We tried our best and said something like, "grosse Vogel" to imply it was a big bird.

    The point is, language research found we progress from learning nouns to verbs and finally ideas. We have to build up a vocabulary to be able to infer more meanings. Parents, teachers, and children can begin together to learn a foreign language. Find a foreign language book or dictionary and make a list of the foreign words for objects in the home or classroom, foods, toys, and the like. Practice using these nouns with each other as you go about the day. Then, try to describe these items without each other seeing them. Use gestures and any other means you can think of to help you decide what other words you need to learn for colors, shapes, describing how objects are used or how big they are.

     Exceptions to language "rules" are a special challenge. Some verbs, for example, don't end in "ed" the way traveled and dined do. Counting introduces the need to memorize exceptions. Studies show once an English-speaking child can count to 73, he or she can continue counting indefinitely. I don't know where the so called "tipping point" for infinite counting is in other languages, but a fiend tells me it's sooner in Spanish.

     Studies indicate a child who knows how to count is on the way to mastering basic arithmetic skills. In any language, once a child knows one plus one is two he or she can buy or sell and won't be cheated out of a dime because a nickel is larger. Alexander Hamilton knew how to put the financial system of the new United States in order, because he handled shipping costs and revenue on the docks of Puerto Rico at an early age.

     As we begin to make a list of resolutions for 2019, we might think about adding learning, and helping children learn, bits and pieces of another language.

February 16: Celebrate Chinese Year of the Dog

Foreign languages express a dog's bark in different ways. In English, dogs go "Arf "or "Woof." In French, barking sounds like "Ouah, Ouah" and in Chinese, "Wang, Wang." "Wang Cai" is a popular name for Chinese dogs, because it means "prosperous wealth."

In the Chinese zodiac, those born in the Years of the Dog (1946, 58, 70, 82, 94, 2006, 18, etc.) are loyal, honest, just and have strong morals. They are great friends, because they give wonderful advice and help others break bad habits. It seems these loyal friends also could use a friend, since their friendly nature belies inner worry, anxiety, stress, and even pessimism that can cause unhealthy eating. They need to relax, maybe with yoga.

I guess those born in Dog Years should wear green, red, and purple which are said to be their lucky colors, and they should look forward to days on their lucky numbers: 3, 4, and 9. In contrast, they should stay away from blue and brown and beware of 1, 7, and 8.

What is a good profession for those born in Dog Years? Their ability to make correct judgments about people suits them for work as referees, lawyers, and interviewers.

No matter in what zodiac year Chinese children are born, they all like to celebrate the New Year, when they receive coins in red envelopes.

Secret Codes

If you communicate with emojis, you might be using a secret code that people who speak another language can understand, but some who speak your own language can't. That's the essence of secret codes. You send information you intend someone to understand and hide your messages from everyone else. Of course, spies do this all the time. They report plans, troop movements, economic conditions, and the health and characteristics of key officials enemies want to hide.

     Not only is it necessary to write secrets in code and in things like lemon juice that disappears until the paper its written on is heated, but methods for sending messages also are important. Short radio bursts are used and messages are hidden in James Bond-type devices. During the Revolutionary War, Nathan Hale, considered the first U.S. spy, unfortunately  hid a secret message in his boot which was easily discovered when he was caught by the British.

     You and a friend might make up a secret code that gives words different meanings or uses the third letter in every word to make a sentence when those third letters are written together. If you want to send your message during a class, how would you get it to your friend three rows away? Or you might wrap a long strip of paper around a baseball bat, write your message vertically on the paper, unwind the paper and hide it somewhere. In order to read your message, a friend would have to wind the paper around a bat that was the same size as yours.

     Decoding mistakes can happen. In 1916, Elizabeth Wells Gallup claimed she found coded messages from Sir Francis Bacon hidden in Shakespeare's scripts. Using only words written in one particular typeface, she found a message Bacon left in Richard II that led her to believe he said he wrote the play. When Elizabeth and William Friedman looked at Gallup's work in 1955, they found the different typefaces she relied on were caused by accidental primitive printing technology, not the intentional work of Bacon or anyone else.

     Suppose you and a friend have a secret meeting or message hiding place. Spies have left messages in pumpkins, under bridges, under floor boards, and in bottles in the hollows of trees. You can signal your friend that you want to meet or you have left a message by methods similar to those spies have used. Where spies have put chalk marks on mail boxes, you could put a chalk mark on a friend's locker. Instead of putting a flower pot on a balcony, you could put a toy at your window or blink a flashlight. Slaves escaping on the Underground Railroad used to look for safe houses that had statues positioned in a certain way out front.

     Fans of Harry Potter know his owl Hedwig carried secret messages. Homing pigeons performed the same task in wartime. Could you train a pet to do the job?

     Secret codes often are very difficult to decipher. Letters carved into the sculpture, "Krypto," outside the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency remained a puzzle until an analyst spent eight years on his lunch hours using pencil and paper to figure out three of the sections on the stone. Even then, what the message meant was unclear. The movie, The Imitation Game, showed how Germans in World War II created an impossible to crack Enigma code that caused a British decoder at its secret Bletchley facility to build a computer to try millions of letter combinations. That didn't work until one person realized each transmission began with a weather report. By comparing each day's weather with the letters used in that day's secret message the number of combinations the computer had to try was reduced and messages Germans sent regarding enemy ships they intended to destroy could be read faster.

     Nowadays, it is possible to both code and decode secret messages by computer. It also is possible to hack into messages sent by computer unless security measures, such as the use of secure passwords and default passwords, are taken. TIME magazine (Nov. 7, 2016) reported that on October 21, 2016 cyber hackers even tapped into the unsecured Internet of Things (remotely controlled internet connected surveillance cameras, printers, digital video recorders) and used them to activate a virus, Mirai, (the Japanese word for "the future") that overwhelmed servers at one company with malicious traffic that prevented legitimate users from reaching intended receivers. The tasks of preparing a truly secret code and transferring secret codes are becoming more difficult every day.

(For more information about how emojis communicate, see the earlier post, "Communicate without Words.")

Humor Paves the Way for Refugees

     Transplanted from Syria to Germany, Firas Alshater is a humorous YouTube sensation who has attracted about 2.5 million views. Standing blindfolded on a Berlin street corner, it took an hour and a half for a German to respond to his sign asking for a hug. No worries. He said integration will work; it just takes a bit more time.

     Actually, Firas explained that you can teach yourself to hate anything, even an adorable kitty.

     He showed a dog and cat who had a language problem. When the dog wagged its tail, the cat thought it wanted to fight. When the cat purred, the dog expected a fight.

     On the other hand, Firas showed how a heavily tattooed, right wing protester couldn't help but shake hands with a cute refugee baby in Dresden.

     In Syria, Firas Alshater made films unless, as he reports, he was in prison for making films. Hounded by the Assad regime and Isis, he moved to Germany to work for the Filmbit production company two and a half years ago and decided to stay where he was welcome.

   

   

   

Join a Book and a Fox to Make a Box

On holiday trips in trains, planes, and automobiles, pass the time by helping kids create funny new word combinations.

     According to an item in Entertainment Weekly (Dec. 4, 2015), Jeopardy champion, Ken Jennings, said his son came up with a salmon covered with Nutella and called it "salmonella." Or just create nonsense words by making a brilk out of breakfast and milk.

     The earlier post, "Word Games Lead to Reading Fun," has word combination examples that use names to create new words.

     In any language, kids can use this technique to become their own versions of Dr. Seuss.

Convert Stories into Foreign Language Games

Screenwriter, Lee Sheldon, wrote a story that was incorporated into an alternative reality game where students learned Mandarin Chinese by interacting with Mandarin-speaking actors. That was just the beginning. Since then he has created plot lines for over a dozen more games. Students are excited to participate and college class attendance soared. Teachers can learn how to turn classes into games by reading Sheldon's book, The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework As a Game.

Several finalists for 2015's Children's Choice Book Awards have international and intergalactic themes that could become classroom games.

• Temple Run: Race Through Time to Unlock the Secrets of Ancient Worlds by Tracey West takes readers on a quest to uncover the clues that will lead them safely through ancient civilizations
• I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World follows the Nobel Peace Prize winner as she worked to overcome obstacles to women in Pakistan
• The Return of Zita the Space Girl by Ben Hatke is an adventure that requires Zita to break out of a planet's jail

What If We Don't Speak the Same Language?

These days we don't need to travel to a foreign country to meet people whose first language is different from ours. Especially in college and university towns, such as where I live, students from around the world will be doing the same things we are: shopping, mailing packages at the post office, riding the bus, renting an apartment, working, attending religious services, eating in restaurants, visiting museums, doing laundry, throwing out the trash.

Smiling and saying "Hi"

Whether you come in contact with a woman wearing a scarf over her hair or a foreigner mopping an office building's hall, a smile is always an appropriate greeting.  
     When you begin to see the same person almost every day, it's easy to start saying, "Hi." One day, when I met the visiting Chinese mother, who was carrying the daughter of my neighbor, we both said "Hi" at the same time. The grandmother also raised the little girl's hand to wave at me.

Weather brings us together

Since it's been really cold here lately, it was very easy to exchange a few words with an Hispanic maintenance man when I came in shivering. He asked if I had always lived here. It gave me an opportunity to ask where he was from and if he had a chance to return there very often.
      When I came in this morning, a student from China asked me if it was cold, so he would know how to dress to go out. I suggested it was colder than China here, but he told me he had gone to college "on the same latitude." We agreed that he was familiar with this kind of weather.
     A woman from India who works at the local grocery store speaks English with a heavy accent that is somewhat difficult to understand. On a day when the temperature was six below zero, I mentioned it sure was different from India. That led to an extended conversation about her friend who was visiting from India and planned to travel on to even colder weather in Minnesota. I could tell her about a friend of mine who came to visit from Texas without an overcoat.
     When we're sweltering this summer, maybe I'll meet someone from Finland, and we can exchange observations about the heat.

Animals attract attention

It's hard to remember not all countries have the same animals. One day, when I was in the park with my granddaughter, a man pointed to a squirrel and sort of shook his head as if to ask what it was. Not all cultures have pets either. Two little Muslim boys who live across the hall from us are fascinated with our cat, Claire. When I see them, I linger outside the door to let them study Claire, while their mother and I exchange smiles.

The world watches some sporting and entertainment events

Just as it's easy to strike up a conversation with someone wearing a cap with the name of a team on it, it's easy to ask a foreigners if they've been watching the Olympics or a World Cup soccer game.
     After the Academy Awards, I knew a Mexican neighbor would be eager to exchange a few words about Alejandro G. Inarritu and his Oscar-winning Birdman film.

(For other ideas on this topic, see the earlier posts "Getting to Know You" and "How Do You Say?")

Communicate without Words

It started with iconic computer symbols and emoticon faces made out of punctuation marks, like :-). Then, Japanese emoji (e for picture; moji for character) were used to communicate on social networks, write books, and create digital dictionaries. Now, artist Yung Jake has used emojis from emoji.ink to "draw" portraits of celebrities.

      According to trendwatching.com, Mauritius-based app company, Oju Africa, has created 56 African emojis for Android users that also can be used with apps, such as WhatsApp and Twitter. For cat lovers, free cat emojis are said to be available from free.motitags.com. One caution, sometimes viruses are in free emojis.

     Even before computers, however, people around world have been communicating with music. (See the earlier blog post, "Music of the Sphere.") In any language, the slightest musical mistake sounds awful. Across borders, music has been shown to have the ability to identify children who are in danger of falling behind in key language and math skills. Neuroscientists and neuropsychologists, such as Ani Patel and Nadine Gaab, have found that the mental demands required to play a musical instrument condition the brain to perform well in other areas: language comprehension, memory, attention, precision, switching between tasks, emotional maturity, and persistence. Maybe all diplomats should be required to study music, which seems to enhance the brain's networks for performing other tasks, like listening to each other in any language.

New World's Resolutions

As 2014 begins, children, parents, students, and teachers have an opportunity to find new opportunities for international, and even out-of-this-world, involvement. Here are some suggestions. (In parenthesis, there are references to related, earlier blog posts.)

     1. Prepare for the Winter Olympics, February 7-23, by going to a map or Russia to locate Sochi, where the winter games will be held. ("Wide World of Sports")

     2. Name a new doll, action figure, or plushie toy for an international icon, such as Malala or Mandela. ("What's in a Name?")

     3. Find an outgrown clothing item to pin or tape to the country on a wall map of the world where the item was made. ("Fashion Forward")

     4. Get ready to give children coins in red envelopes in honor of the cheerful and exciting Chinese Year of the Horse, which begins on January 31. ("Go Holiday Globe (S)hopping")

     5. Mark the end of September on your calendar to remember to learn if a space probe sends information back from Mars, when it lands on or comes near the planet. ("Space Explorers")

     6. Make a contribution to or plan a fundraiser for an international cause, such as Kids in Need of Desks at unicefusa.org or Operation International Children at operationinternationalchildren.com. ("Hope for the Future")

     7. Go to ePals.com to find a joint project to work on with a class in a foreign country. ("Getting to Know You")

     8. Read a book with an international theme. ("Talk With the Animals," "This We Believe," "Travel the World with Summer Reading")

     9. Get in touch with the world's environment by planting a tree. ("A Healthy Environment")

    10. Learn a few words in a foreign language. Say "Thank you" in German, danke; or greet friends in Japanese, konichiwa." By December 25, 2014, you'll be wishing everyone Milad Said (Mee-LAHD Sah-EED) in Arabic. ("How Do You Say?")

   

Airport (and train station) Outings

Every rainy season presents both a challenge for entertaining children and an opportunity to introduce them to travel. No tickets (except maybe for parking) are required to push strollers or to let older children pull their own roller suitcases filled with toys and snacks through major airports, including those that have separate buildings for international flights, and railroad stations. Since these environments cater to travelers who need information and who have waiting time to kill, they provide some unusual teaching experiences.

     Just consider the "Arrivals" and "Departures" boards with their cities, times, concourse and gate/track numbers. Help children choose a city, see the current time, figure how long it will be before a plane or train arrives or leaves, and begin the process of going to the concourse letter, gate or track number. Once there, watch people arrive or go through security. See how they might have to take off their shoes, put metal items in a basket, or how they might set off an alarm. Count how many travelers are women/men, how many carry their own luggage or wear hats/caps, how many have people welcoming them or seeing them off.

     What if a family misses the next plane or train? Check the airport's board to see how long they would have to wait for the one after that. See if there is a paper train schedule and help children study what stops a train makes, if trains have different schedules on weekends, and the cost of tickets for children and adults.

     In the area where travelers claim their luggage, see if there is a rack of brochures describing local attractions. Choose a few that might lead to your next outing. Watch luggage arrive on carousels. Look for signs that tell where travelers can get buses and taxis, go to a parking lot, make hotel reservations, exchange currency, or rent a car. Explain why someone would need a currency exchange (See the earlier blog post, "When to Buy/Sell in the World Market.") or to rent a car. And why would someone in the luggage claim area be holding a sign with a person's name on it?

     Some transportation centers might offer a bit of foreign language study. Look for signs identifying telephones and restrooms in languages other than English. What are these languages and why are they needed? At an airport or train station there also might be some attraction brochures and restaurant information printed in a variety of languages.

     The chairs and benches provided for waiting travelers give little visitors a chance to sit, have a snack, listen to announcements (or even a piano or musical group), and look for people arriving in their native dress. Once rested, there often are exhibits to visit and even playsets to climb. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the airport has a ping pong table and an exhibit of foreign coins found in the airport's "wishing well" pasted on cards with the flags of their countries. Some airports and train stations have art exhibits and display items from local museums. Then, there are the gift shops and book stores. Since these market to travelers, they have items for amusing children on trips that also can amuse them at home.

     After an airport or train station outing, when kids start thinking about taking their own trips, you'll find some family travel ideas at the earlier blog post, "See the World."

    

Getting to Know You

The best way to get to know about a foreign country is to talk to a foreigner in person. Using Skype Translator, it may soon be possible to have a real time conversation with someone speaking a different language. Microsoft is developing software that can translate a conversation between two people videochatting in these different languages: English, Spanish, Italian, or Mandarin. Actually, a person would say one or two sentences and then stop for a translation. The other person then would respond the same way.

      Until these real time computerized translations or face-to-face meetings can occur, the next best thing is to exchange letters or e-mails with children who live in other countries. An episode on the PBS show, "Arthur," showed how correspondence with a child in Turkey dispelled the notion that children there lived in tents and rode to school on camels. There are a variety of ways to find foreign pals, but, until a real one is located, items in a kit from littlepassports.com help children learn about one country each month, and they can pretend to write letters from foreign countries they have studied. From Russia, a young make-believe correspondent might write:

          Do you like to draw? I do. Yesterday our class visited the Hermitage Museum, where
          we saw a painting of Napoleon. He looked very heroic, but we are learning that his
          army tried unsuccessfully to defeat Russia in winter. Our winters are very cold, and we
          get a lot of snow.

If a Russian pen pal is found, it would be fun for a child to compare a real letter with this pretend one.

     Foreign students are in a good position to help children who are searching for a real pen pal. Classmates could have cousins and other relatives who would like to correspond with someone in the United States. Neighborhood families may be hosting foreign students who are eager to maintain U.S. ties after they return home. Then too, a local college or university is a good source of babysitters. Those from foreign countries may develop a lasting relationship that they want to maintain.

     Aside from relying on personal contacts to find an international pen pal, organizations often have established structures that either can or do facilitate person to person correspondence across borders. Some agencies, such as Pearl S. Buck International (psbi.org), encourage benefactors to write to the children they sponsor. Through translators, the children send return messages to those who support them. Members of international organizations, such as Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, are in a good position to ask their leaders to find counterparts in other countries. Children also should urge cities and churches with sister cities and parishes to help them contact foreign students. The Peace Corps maintains a website, peacecorps.gov/wws/educators, that enables teachers to locate members willing to correspond with their classes. And ePals.com also helps facilitate joint projects between U.S. teachers and teachers in foreign countries.

     In some areas, children may not have to go far to visit a neighborhood where foreign immigrants maintain much of their culture. A walk through Chinatown of Little Italy is an easy way to visit shops, meet people from foreign countries, and sample native foods. While traveling near and far through the United States, there are many opportunities to seek out communities that have preserved a distinctive foreign lifestyle. In Door County, Wisconsin, for example, children will find descendants of Norwegians and Swedes who settled there in the 19th century. Surrounded by brightly painted Dala horses, they can pour lingonberry syrup on their pancakes and watch goats nibble grass from the roofs of nearby log cabins.

     No doubt, these foreign contacts will lead children to want to visit foreign countries. For some ideas about foreign travel, go to the earlier blog post, "See the World." Also see the blog post, "How Do You Say?"



    

How Do You Say?

Foreign languages complicate the simplest international conversation. Students need to remember konichiwa  is a greeting in Japanese and that por favor is the way to say "Please" in Spanish. When children in non-English speaking countries study a foreign language, they tend to learn English. Children whose native tongue is English lack this kind of focus. They have less incentive to learn a foreign language, because international business is said to be conducted in "broken English," and more than half of online Internet traffic is transmitted in English.

     Even though 2500 of the world's 6000 languages are in danger of becoming extinct, an English speaker needs to decide which of the remaining 3500 to learn. Perhaps, one of the other five official languages of the U.N.: French, Russian, Chinese, Spanish, or Arabic. Usually U.S. students are limited to the Spanish, French, German, and possibly Latin taught in their elementary, middle, and high schools. In college, students often are reluctant to take advantage of the opportunity to study a wider variety of foreign languages. TIME magazine (July 29, 2013) reported that the prime time to learn a second language is the brief period from three months before birth to six years of age. During that period, the agile brain readily picks up the pitches and rhythms of language (a talent that also can signal a student's musical potential). Since research indicates that learning a new language is easier for a child than an adult, those intent on graduating from college with high GPAs shy away from the challenge of learning Urdu, Farsi, or Swahili.

Eliminate language anxiety

People in different countries often do speak unfamiliar languages. Even English-speaking Australians call sheep, jumbuck, and food, tucker. But foreign languages are part of the U.S. heritage and current culture. Immigrant grandmothers sing babies Italian lullabies or ask children, "Ist das nicht eine Schnitzelbank?" At school, youngsters learn the round, Frere Jacques, before they can translate the words to "Brother John, Brother John, Are you sleeping?" In holiday pageants, they sing "The First Noel" and "O Tannenbaum." Youngsters aged 5 to 10 learn to sing songs in Spanish and German at DreamBank, a center created by American Family Insurance to host community events in Madison, Wisconsin.

     Without knowing the meanings,kids hear adults talking about: the hoi polloi, going mano a mano, the need for an ombudsman, schlepping over to a neighbor's to watch a football game, enjoying al fresco dining, and the enfant terrible. Expressions to avoid around kids: those found in How to Swear Around the World by Jason Sacher.

     Some expressions are easy to learn in Spanish, French, German, and Italian.

Hello: Hola, Allo, Guten Tag, Ciao

Good-bye: Adios, Adieu, auf Wiedersehen, Addio

Thank you: Gracias, Merci, Danke, Grazie

Yes: Si, Oui, Ja, Si

No: No, Non, Nein, No

At the end of their school days, children could surprise their teachers by bidding them, Adieu. At home they could respond, Danke, when their parents compliment their report cards.

     These days children have become accustomed to seeing the English words they understand alongside other languages on toys, puzzles, promotional give-aways from fast food restaurants, and instructions. Thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that applies to Canada, the United States, and Mexico, nearly every household item is like a Rosetta Stone that now carries the official languages of Canada (English and French which is spoken in Quebec province); the United States, English; and Mexico, Spanish. When a child is using a crayon, adults can point out the name of a color, such as yellow, is written in English; Spanish, amarillo; and French, jaune. Words like warning, precaucion and advertencia obviously have the same meaning as do guarantee, garantia, and garantie. By cutting copy into the three NAFTA languages on a tissue box, for example, and studying copy blocks side by side, children can begin to spot other words that might have the same meanings. They also can to to a website, such as babelfish.yahoo.com, to translate their own copy into 12 other languages.

     Along with product packaging, children are exposed to foreign words in other ways. They might see a foreign language newspaper or hear a foreign language spoken in a movie and on television programs on foreign language stations. Some children's television shows, such as "Sesame Street," "Dragon Tales," and "Maya and Miguel" on PBS and Nick's "Dora, the Explorer," have made learning Spanish words an integral part of their programs just as teaching some Chinese words were part of "Ni Hao, Kai-lan" on Nick jr. By logging on to the activities associated with these shows, children can further their foreign language learning experience.

     Museums, monuments, theme parks, and transportation centers that international visitors frequent often designate wash rooms and telephones in foreign languages, Attractions, such as Longwood Gardens outside Philadelphia and the Jelly Belly factory tour in Wisconsin, publish brochures in foreign languages that enable children to compare terms in English and those in another tongue. These foreign language brochures are also a good addition to a child's foreign city/country scrapbook. Without visiting another country, shops in communities where immigrants concentrate may give children practice guessing the meaning of the Spanish, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese words on neighborhood signs. At the same time, seeing at a young age that there are Greek and Russian letters and Chinese and Japanese characters that they do not understand may protect them in later years from naively getting a tattoo that says something they did not intend.

Learning a language

According to the same TIME magazine (July 29, 2013) article and other research, there is a life long advantage to learning a second language. The flexible, resourceful brain of bilinguals used to choosing between multiple words for objects and ideas seems to develop an ability to reason, maintain self control, multitask, resist distraction, deal with conflicting ideas, and delay the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

     Consequently, there is incentive to look for toys that involve foreign languages. Wooden blocks sold by Signals (signals.com) label their sides with alphabets, numbers, and animal names in Arabic, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Japanese, and Korean. In English, French, Spanish, German, and Latin, a book from The White House Historical Association (whitehousehistory.org) uses the names of U.S. presidents and words associated with the White House to illustrate the alphabet. Children are able to write their own fortune cookie messages using rub-on Chinese characters in a kit from Multicultural Kids (multiculturalkids.com/shop). Multicultural Kids also has sold dolls dressed in clothes children would wear in Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Greece, Israel, Russia, China, and Korea. These dolls were programmed to recite greetings, numbers, colors, days of the week, and other words and phrases in the languages of the country clothes they wore.

     When it comes to teaching foreign languages, in general, humans have been more effective than DVDs and CDs. One experiment compared a group of babies who played with a woman who spoke Mandarin Chinese, another group who watched a video of the Chinese-speaking woman playing with the children, and the third group who listened to a Chinese audio recording. Only the babies who actually interacted with the human woman could recognize Mandarin sounds. Language development seems to go hand and hand with the ability to look into eyes, follow their gaze, and figure out what someone is thinking. Instead of going through stores and telling a child the English names of every item they place in their carts, adults need to begin interacting by identifying fruits, vegetables, clothing, and household items in foreign language words. To help adults refresh old and learn new language skills, book and map stores carry an astounding array of phrase books, pocket dictionaries, CDs, CD-ROM programs, videotapes, audiocassettes, and workbooks. These stores also carry foreign language coloring books and other items targeted toward children.

    Online, foreign languages are taught at openculture.com and at learnalanguage.com. Foreign language audio tapes prepared by the Foreign Service Institute are available at fsi-languages.yojik.eu and at fsi.antibozo.net. Museumtour.com offers those 7 years and up two methods of learning a foreign language. "Instant Immersion" uses association techniques on DVD-ROMs and CD speech recordings to teach Spanish, French, German, Italian, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese. Or, for the basics in 25 languages, including Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, and Urdu, try "Talk Now!" In the future, we could be able to talk with each other in real time using Skype Translator. This Microsoft software is being developed to translate a conversation between two people videochatting in different languages using English, Spanish, Italian, or Mandarin.

     Ultimately, language is more than words. It influences how people interact. Some languages, such as German and English, are precise. Meaning resides in the words, and there is a directness in the way people ask and answer questions. In Japanese, Arabic, and Spanish, however, meaning depends on the context in which a word is used. Until people get to know and trust each other, they may offer vague responses. Since they cannot rely solely on the words they have heard, they are reluctant to commit themselves. In cultures where understanding requires a feeling for what people actually mean by what they say, personal and business relationships may be limited to family and well-known friends. New associations are slow to develop. Only when children understand how differences in languages determine how responses differ and how fast friendships develop in a culture, will they appreciate why a foreign student's behavior is not always the same as theirs.

(Also see the blog post, "Getting to Know You.")