I recently purchased the book, Those Crazy Germans! by Stephen Somers. I was looking for a lighthearted book about German culture to lend to my students. This book met all my needs.
Read more 25 Jun 2014
Book Review: Those Crazy Germans!
26 Feb 2013
Book Review: Found in Translation
As a Spanish and German language instructor I am sometimes asked to do translation work. However, I am not qualified as a translator or interpreter and must carefully explain that to my clients. They are sometimes confused, they don’t understand why if someone can speak two languages they cannot simply translate between them. The answer to this question is explained in the wonderfully written Found in Translation co-authored by Nataly Kelly, a Spanish-English translator and Jost Zetzsche a German-English interpreter.
Read more 19 Dec 2012
Book Review: Speak
Speak: a short history of languages, was written by Tore Janson, a Swedish linguistics and language professor. The book uncovers the history of how the world’s languages have evolved over the years from prehistory through to modern day touching on the earliest civilizations of Africa, Asia and Europe.
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I just finished reading The Power of Babel by John McWhorter. McWhorter is an American linguistics professor who has written many interesting books on various linguistic topics. As an African-American, he has a special interest in black American English and has written many books on the topic. The Power of Babel however is a general treatment on the history of the languages of the world. It is written for both linguists and laypeople alike and the author uses specific examples from wide reaching languages to show the amazing variety and complexity of human speech.
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