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Bilingualism delays onset of Alzheimer’s symptoms A study confirms the dramatic effect of being bilingual, with bilingual speakers being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s more than 4 years later than monoglots. Clinical records of 211 patients diagnosed with probable Alzheimer’s disease have revealed that those who have spoken two or more languages consistently over many years experienced a delay in the onset of their symptoms by as much as five years. It’s thought that lifelong bilingualism may contribute to cognitive reserve in the brain, enabling it to compensate for memory loss, confusion, and difficulties with problem-solving and…

Vocabulary acquisition in children is significantly affected by the child’s ability to repeat back words. This limitation becomes less as the individual gains a large vocabulary, and thus develops a greater ability to make semantic (meaningful) associations. When learning a new language, your ability to repeat back unfamiliar words is only a factor where you are unable to form a meaningful association to a familiar word. In such cases, the keyword mnemonic can be especially useful to those with limited ability to repeat back words. Research with children has demonstrated that the ability to learn…

Learning to pronounce the language in a clear way is a very important learning goal. Clear pronunciation will help you to be better understood by native speakers, and they will also appreciate your efforts. Like other aspects of language knowledge, it is helped if there is the opportunity to listen to the language (meaning-focused input), to speak (meaning-focused output), to study aspects of pronunciation (language-focused learning), and to get fluent in listening to and speaking about easy familiar topics (fluency development). Young children seem to have little need for language-focused learning to develop their pronunciation…

Words typically occur with other words to make up phrases. Most of these phrases have a meaning that is closely related to the meanings of the words that they contain, for example, next week, six o’clock, strong tea, in a minute. For some phrases, the relationship between the meaning of the phrase and the words it contains is not quite so clear, but there is still a strong connection. For example, kill two birds with one stone, see the light at the end of the tunnel, you know, for instance, think about. For a small…

Exposure to two languages carries far-reaching benefits A new study provides evidence that bilingual speakers find it easier to learn a new language than those who only know one language. The study compared the ability of three groups of native English speakers – English-Mandarin bilinguals, English-Spanish bilinguals and monolinguals – to master words in an invented language that bore no relationship to English, Spanish or Mandarin. The bilingual participants mastered nearly twice the number of words as the monolinguals. The finding adds more support to the value of introducing another language to children at a…

Are you thinking to self-publish your book but are not totally sure which publisher to choose? We have listed 5 most popular publishers and provided a brief description of each one: CreateSpace CreateSpace was acquired by Amazon in 2005. CreateSpace enables authors to publish e-books for Kindle, as well as hard copied for Amazon. CreateSpace also offers distribution for additional fees. It is free to create e-book for Kindle on CreateSpace. For a 300-pages book, it would cost around $4.5 to use their printing-on-demand service. If the same book is placed on Amazon.com for $15,…

Ability to Learn Grammar Laid to Gene by Researcher.” This 1992 headline appeared not in a supermarket tabloid but in an Associated Press news story, based on a report at the annual meeting of the principal scientific association in the United States. The report had summarized evidence that Specific Language Impairment runs in families, focusing on the British family which the inheritance pattern is particularly clear. The syndicated columnists James J. Kilpatrick and Erma Bombeck were incredulous. Kilpatrick’s column began: Researchers made a stunning announcement the other day at a meeting of the American Association…

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest debates among Christian authors is whether to go with traditional publishing or self publishing. After weighing pros and cons, Christian Lingua Translation Agency has come to the conclusion that self-publishing would probably work best for new Christian authors. So we have decided to share the insight with you.  1- Receive Higher Royalties We found out in our research that self-publishers usually receive higher royalties. The reason is that the author can regulate the price. Traditional publishers decide on the price themselves and so the authors usually receive less money at…

Learn to simplify Imagine this situation: you have been living in Germany for a few weeks, trying to learn the language. Some people you know mention a party they are going to attend at Jochen’s house, but Jochen isn’t there with you and the others now, and he hadn’t given you a previous invitation to the party. Therefore, you don’t go. The next day, you see Jochen on the street, and he says to you: “Hallo! Wie geht’s? Warum bist du nicht zur Fete gekommen? Du hast uns gefehlt!” (Hi! How are you? Why didn’t…

Too many authors overlook a key strategy when building a successful author platform: beginning a correct, successful online marketing. Who has time for that? Well, if you want to set your book up for marketing success, you need to make time. You have to put in some work in order to see results. It might seem overwhelming at first, but once you get a plan in place, it will work to your advantage. These 5 tips can help you set up a solid online presence: 1. Create a Facebook Fan Page Not your own personal…