FEATURED NEWS
October 4, 2019 | Tampa Bay Times
Armwood High School senior Maria Medina knows how tough it can be to learn English.

Spanish was her first language, and Medina acknowledged she sometimes still misunderstands portions of her lessons, despite having completed the English learners program years ago.

That’s why she and several Armwood classmates are asking state lawmakers to exempt high school students still learning English from the 10th-grade testing requirement . It’s the latest in a string of proposals aimed at creating ways to fairly determine whether students are learning their material, rather than whether they are fluent in English.

October 4, 2019 | CNN Business
The legacy of colonialism worldwide has left numerous languages hanging on by a thread, as native tongues have been supplanted — often by force — with English, Spanish or other majority languages. Globalization has only accelerated the process, as those supertongues became even more economically and culturally powerful.

The digital revolution has been considered as having the potential to be the final nail in the coffin for many endangered languages . Digital language death happens when a tongue fails to "ascend" to the digital realm, meaning that it can't be used on smartphones or other parts of daily digital life, according to the Hungarian linguist András Kornai. That lack of relevancy can doom a language to history.

"It's really important that people see a language like Welsh as something they can interact with and use on modern devices," said Jonathan Perry, a language teacher who works on Duolingo's Welsh course. "It brings the language up to date with modern technology usage which is absolutely so essential that a language feels fresh and used."

October 6, 2019 | CBC
It's never been done before on CBC Radio's CrossTalk phone-in: a deaf person in studio as a guest on the show.
 
That man is Myles Murphy, the executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of the Deaf. 

Host Ramona Dearing recently invited Murphy and Barbara O'Dea, an advocate for deaf education, to take audience calls and comments on whether the education system in Newfoundland and Labrador is  shortchanging deaf students.  

The discussion raised numerous issues, from children with classmates and sometimes even teachers who can't communicate with them to the prejudices that some deaf people still experience daily. 

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Registration for Language Advocacy Day 2020 is now open! Join the Joint National Committee for Languages and language advocates from around the country to let representatives know that  " multilingualism is the future ."  Register now for early bird pricing and save!

To learn more about  sponsorship opportunities , please contact Trey Calvin (tcalvin@languagepolicy.org)

Now in its fourth year, the Multilingual Education Fair of DC, organized by the DC Language Immersion Project in partnership with the education institutions of the DC region, is the premier event for families, young professionals, teachers and administrators from across the DC region gathering to celebrate multilingualism.

The fair welcomes over 1,500 visitors from DC, Virginia, Maryland and other surrounding areas looking to gain and improve linguistics skills, cultural competence and find language-related job opportunities.


The world’s indigenous peoples, nations and their languages represent complex system of knowledge that have been in existence for thousands of years. Ensuring these languages continue to live and thrive via new generations being raised speaking them is an critical endeavor globally and one of growing support nationally, from bi-partisan policy makers to native community members committed to advocating for these national treasures.

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Montréal, QC

FIT-North America is proud to announce the first FIT-NA symposium, “Translation and Interpreting for Indigenous Languages,” in honor of and aligned with the FIT 2019 Theme for International Translation Day , honoring the United Nation’s International Year of Indigenous Languages. The Symposium is open to all interested parties and will be held in downtown Montréal at the headquarters of l’Ordre des Traducteurs, Terminologues, et Interprètes Agréés (OTTIAQ). Registration will open shortly and will be limited to the first 30 in-person attendees. A webcast will also be available.

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THURSDAY, October 10, 2019 ISSUE
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