“In the Name of Confucius” is the first documentary film exposing the growing global controversies surrounding the Chinese regime’s multi-billion dollar Confucius Institute (CI), a Chinese language program attaching to over 1,600 foreign universities and schools around the world. Featuring the exclusive personal story of a former CI teacher, Sonia Zhao, whose defection and complaint…

The University of Southern California’s (USC) Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work will no longer use the word “field” in its curriculum, as it may have racist “connotations” related to slavery. The word “may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign,” according to a letter from the department on Jan. 9….

Commentary The other day, I was walking out of Penn Station in New York City and had to step over some homeless bums just to get to my taxi. Pardon me. I’m so very sorry. I simply cannot believe that I wrote that. It’s so offensive. Having now consulted the Centers for Disease Control and…

Commentary “Language is the perfect instrument of empire.”—Antonio de Nebrija, bishop of Ávila, 1492 The bishop was correct, in his time and ours. Spain proceeded to become the most powerful empire in the world over the following century, spreading her mother tongue across the Americas—just as the Roman army had imposed Latin across its sweep…

The Treasury Board is rejecting an idea pitched by some Indigenous public servants to offer “blanket exemptions” from having to learn both of Canada’s official languages. A briefing note released to The Canadian Press under federal Access-to-Information from last fall shows senior officials deliberating over the exemption call coming from some members of the Indigenous…

The proportion of Canadians who mainly speak French at home continues to decline in nearly all provinces and territories, including Quebec, the latest census release shows. Statistics Canada reported Wednesday that the percentage of Canadians who speak predominantly French at home fell to 19.2 percent in 2021 from 20 percent in 2016. All provinces and…

Commentary Language is a critical tool for communication among humans; we cry “watch out” when a speeding car hurtles toward a pedestrian. We also think of language as a cognitive tool for society at large, since all human learning is closely tied to how we learn and process language. Yet sometimes we forget language is also an important social and cultural…

With the school year wrapping up this week for the few remaining states still going, kids across the country are shifting into “summer mode” faster than you can say Bomb Pop. While summertime surely should be a time of fun, unwinding, and new adventures for our kids, it always comes with a small dose of…

Commentary Wording is no doubt a small thing by comparison with the horror of a mass shooting such as the one of schoolchildren and teachers at Uvalde, but it’s nonetheless of some significance. In all the reports, I noticed that 8, 9, and 10-year-old children were referred to as “students.” They were not students, they…

via StackCommerce Learning a new language may sound intriguing on paper, but it can also benefit you personally and career-wise. For example, more and more employers are looking for professionals adept in languages other than English. In addition, when it comes to travel, having basic conversational skills in your destination’s local language could enrich your…