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July 13, 2016

Book Review: My Reading Companions to Cornwall

I enjoy reading and learning new interesting (arte-)facts about Cornwall. Even though I try to pack my days with as many steps to walk and as many places to visit as possible, there is always time for reading and time to discover new publications on this topic. Below are my essentials:

Walking
I am usually equipped with OS maps which help me to locate myself, measure distances, or check if a beach disappears under a high tide. I find them very useful, but I also follow my own desires if I find an interesting path or if I just go for a walk without a precise destination in mind. Many years ago in a local charity bookshop I bought the walking guidebook called The Big Walks of the South by David Bathurst. Each path (the book includes The South West Coast Path, The Cotswold Way, and The Pembrokeshire Coast Path amongst others) is divided into manageable shorter walks and described with great precision. There are also mentions of places worth visiting. I rarely carry it with me, but I often read the relevant section before leaving home.

Sea + Food + Sleep
Cornwall is the land of many beautiful and secret beaches which I would not have been fortunate enough to discover without these two guidebooks: Wild Swimming. Explore The Secret Coast of Britain by Daniel Start and Wild Guide. Devon, Cornwall and the South West by Daniel Start, Tania Pascoe and Jo Keeping. The latter can also take you on a voyage of discovery of hidden places, local food and campsites. Both guidebooks are very easy to follow and contain many beautiful photos, maps, road directions and short descriptions. Even though they are quite heavy to carry, they are two of my most useful essentials when it comes to travelling to Cornwall.

Art + Science
My most recent discovery is Sea and Shore Cornwall. Common and Curious Findings by Lisa Woollett. The book combines science and art and the result is breathtaking. There are beautiful descriptions, poems, Cornish words, micro- and macro-photos. I enjoy reading its inspiring content on the beach (and trying to identify some of my findings!) and then looking at its lovely pictures when I get home. Here is one of my favourite discoveries/quotations from the book:

“equinoctial tides
If we exclude the influence of the winds, the biggest tides of the year come after the full and new moons closest to the spring and autumn equinoxes. There are times when the Earth is the closest to the sun and so the combined pull of sun and moon together is strongest. They are known as equinoctial tides”
[Lisa Woollett, Sea and Shore Cornwall. Common and Curious Findings, Zart Books, 2014, p. 74.]

Written by Kinga Macalla

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July 6, 2016

On Languages: French

One of the most widely-learned and widely-spoken languages in the world is spoken by England’s neighbours across the Channel. Many of us will have learnt some French at school. The chances are we mostly learnt about France in our lessons. However, French speakers can be found all over the world, in many countries and on all five continents. With 274 million speakers, French is the 9th most widely spoken language on the planet. Of those 247 million, 96.2 million are in Africa, making it the continent with the largest number of French speakers, in countries as diverse as Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Rwanda and Morocco. Many African countries use French as their main international language, as do Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. In Europe, French is the 2nd most common mother tongue, and is spoken in Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland, and by some speakers in Italy. In North America, it is the first language of 7.2 million Canadians and nearly 2 million people in the United States (primarily in Maine and Louisiana). It is also spoken in Lebanon, and in French overseas territories like Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Polynesia.

French also has an important place in international institutions. It is one of the official languages of the United Nations (UN), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the European Union (EU).

Apprendre le français – Learning French
French is a Romance language. As such, it is similar to Italian, Romanian, Spanish and Portuguese in its vocabulary and grammar. Its spelling is slightly more difficult than those other languages though, as it has many homophones (words that sound the same but are spelt differently) and silent letters, and it has a some irregular plurals: plurals usually end in ‘-s’ but they can also end in ‘-eux’ and ‘-aux’ (watch out for ‘cheval’ (horse)-‘chevaux’ (horses) vs ‘cheveu’ (a hair)-‘cheveux’ (hair)).

Grammatical differences between French and English are that French uses gendered nouns, so there are nouns like ‘la voiture’ (the car) and ‘le bateau’ (the boat). Sometimes, the gender of the word changes its meaning, so ‘la tour’ is a tower and ‘le tour’ is a trip around something (like Le Tour de France). Adjectives take the same gender as the noun, so ‘the blue boat’ is ‘le bateau bleu’ and ‘the blue car’ is ‘la voiture bleue’.

French verbs take different forms depending on the speaker – these are called conjugations. English only changes its conjugation for the third person (he, she, it) (I walk, you walk, he/she walks, we walk, you all walk, they walk) but French does this for every person (je marche, tu marches, il/elle marche, nous marchons, vous marchez, ils/elles marchent).

French has some different past tenses compared to English, and two auxiliary verbs, avoir and être, which are used to form the past. The gender of the person has to agree with être verbs.

Parler français – Speaking French
Because French is found in so many different places, there are inevitably many different varieties of the language. There are differences in words, expressions, pronunciation and even grammar. This page has some videos that show you the differences. You can choose which variety you would like to learn and find examples of it online to help you practice, or you can watch films or listen to the radio. A good place to listen to different varieties of French is Radio France Internationale, which has presenters and callers from around the world.

If you want to speak like a native French speaker, the chances are you will need to work on your pronunciation. The French language has quite a few sounds that do not exist in English, such as ‘ʁ’, the guttural ‘r’, which means that you pronounce ‘r’ with your throat rather than at the front of your mouth, and ‘y’, a ‘u’ sound made with your lips pursed. You may also notice that French people move their mouths a lot when they speak – this is because it is important to articulate when speaking French. Practise doing this in front of a mirror – and don’t be embarrassed to do it when speaking in public too!

S’ouvrir sur le monde – Embrace the world
Speaking French gives you access to an array of culture – literature, film, music, history, food, philosophy, art, fashion – from all the different places where French is spoken and allows you to travel the world (all five continents, remember). It also gives you an insight into international politics and, who knows, might even land you a job in one of the European or international institutions!

Written by Suzannah Young

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June 29, 2016

Language Learning Techniques: Develop your Writing Skills in Another Language

We hope you enjoyed our post on how to improve your reading skills in another language. Now we are back with tips on how to work on another skill – writing. Each language has its own writing conventions for different genres. Practice these and you can write letters to your friends, write business emails, publish an article in a newspaper, keep a blog or even write novels in your new language. Here are a few tips for working on your writing skills.

Writing is an Active Skill
Unlike listening and reading, the skills we have looked at already, writing is not just about understanding what is being said to you or the text you have in front of you, it is about producing your own meaning. Writing is an active skill. This means that you are using your brain actively, using grammar and making sentences. You will need to practice writing to be able to do it effectively, but it is not impossible to learn! One tip is to try to think and write in the target language rather than translating in your head or from a first draft. This will come more naturally with practice. Improving your writing will also have a knock-on effect on your other skills, as you will learn and remember (even complex) vocabulary better, understand grammatical constructions and become more creative in your chosen language. If you combine your learning tools (reading, listening, writing and speaking), you will engage all your senses in the learning process and therefore learn faster.

Don’t Forget to Read
Reading in your chosen language is a great way to get used to different writing styles that you can bring over into your own writing. It will help you with sentence construction and spelling, and give you an idea of different writing conventions. Think about how the texts you are reading are structured and which types of phrases or vocabulary are used in different situations and for different purposes – such as introducing a topic, description, comparisons, conclusions, etc. Some people also recommend copying out texts to help yourself get better at writing in the language you are learning – it will help you get used to writing those letters in that order and those words in that order. If you choose to do this, make sure the texts are interesting and you have a relaxing space to do it in and, ideally, a notebook dedicated to this exercise.

Close the Textbook
When you are practising writing, try to write long texts, rather than simply completing gap-filling or translation exercises in your textbook. Make it personal to you, so it becomes more than answering questions and checking the answers. Try writing a diary in your new language – write creatively about things you have seen that day, thoughts you have had, perhaps with illustrations. If you do this you will automatically make the writing a part of you. Remember, writing is expressive – so use it to write about how you feel. Don’t worry if you don’t write everything correctly the first time, you can write and re-write your text as much as you like. Having the diary will also let you see how much progress you have made – compare early entries to later ones to see how far you have come. You don’t have to show anyone your diary if you don’t want to, but it will have helped you get down what you want to say in the language you are learning. Of course, if you want to ask a native speaker to check your writing, you can do that too!

Have the Right Tools
If you want to write grammatically correct texts with creative use of vocabulary, remember to have a good dictionary (a monolingual one as well as a bilingual one if you can get your hands on it), a thesaurus to help you develop your knowledge of synonyms and a grammar reference if there is one available in the language you are learning.

Written by Susannah Young

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June 22, 2016

Interview with Writer & Broadcaster Sophie Pierce

Sophie Pierce & Matt Newbury are the authors of “Wild Swimming Walks. Dartmoor and South Devon. 28 lake, river and beach days out.” The interview was conducted with Sophie Pierce.

1. How did you come up with the idea of writing a book on wild swimming and walking? Why Dartmoor and South Devon? Are these regions famous for their rivers, lakes and seafronts?
Matt and I have been friends for ages and both love swimming outdoors. Matt is born and bred in Devon, and lives by the sea in Torquay, while I live on Dartmoor with its many beautiful rivers and lakes. A few years ago we wrote our first book, about wild swimming in Torbay, and we wanted to do another book, but broaden it into walks as well. After all, you usually have to walk to the most stunning places! We just wanted to share the joy and fun of outdoor swimming, and show people how easy it was to have an adventure at home. Dartmoor and South Devon are where we live, and contain some of the most exciting and beautiful swimming spots in the world.

2. What were the most challenging and the most rewarding experiences in writing the book?
The most challenging aspect of the book was getting all the fine detail right, such as the distances, the map references, all the detailed information we have included, and being disciplined, taking notes as we researched the routes. It was also a challenge to fit in the research as we both work full time. Every weekend when the weather was good we were out there researching routes and trying to find new swims. The field research though was also extremely rewarding, as well as being fun. We also got quite fit!

3. Being a keen wild swimmer yourself, do you often meet many enthusiasts of wild swimming? Do you belong to a swimming club?
We have made lots of friends through wild swimming. We meet up on the Devon Wild Swimming page on Facebook and if someone is going for a swim, they generally post the time and the place and people come along. Generally, wild swimmers seem to be great fun, incredibly relaxed, friendly and non-judgemental. They are also great consumers of cake!

4. The photos in the book are so spontaneous and lively that the reader immediately wants to join you and jump into these wild waters. Why do you want to inspire people to follow your passion of wild swimming? Why is it so special?
We have just had so much fun, and also some truly unusual experiences swimming in natural waters that it’s simply about wanting to share that. A friend of ours has a phrase “You never regret a swim” and another friend says that when you come out of the water “your factory settings are restored”. Swimming outdoors seems to give you a natural high.

5. There are many references to local legends (quite dark, sometimes) in the book. How did you become familiar with them? Are they a natural part of the culture of Devon and Dartmoor, or did you come across them when reading books on these regions?
Bodies of water are often associated with legends, particularly on Dartmoor. Many of these legends go back hundreds of years into folklore and nobody really knows where they come from. But in all cultures water is incredibly significant, it is necessary for life itself, it is used in rituals of course, baptisms etc., so it is not surprising that stories grow up around rivers, lakes and the sea. Some of them we found out about through reading books, as there is a lot of literature about Dartmoor. Some we just found out about the traditional way – word of mouth.

6. What are your future plans? Do you have any projects you would like to work on?
Matt is working on a book about swims around the world, and is also thinking of working on a book about Cornwall. Sophie has started writing a novel set by the sea in South Devon.

Brilliant, thank you, we will follow your writing and travelling projects eagerly.

Interviewed by Bristol Language School
Photos courtesy of Sophie Pierce
If you would like to purchase a copy of “ Wild Swimming Walks”, you can do so here.

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June 15, 2016

Travelling Corner: A Frenchman in America (Part 1)

Salut! I’m Nicolas, a French teacher and a new recruit at Bristol Language School. As I’m very keen on discovering new cultures, I love to travel. But I had never left Europe – until I went to the U.S. a few weeks ago! Here is my report about this experience…

Day 1:
It was to be my first transatlantic flight, but I thought I would never arrive at the airport on time as the road to Gatwick was blocked by some trees that had blown down during the stormy night…not a good start! Fortunately, it was only the way to the North terminal that was blocked, and I was headed for the South terminal – phew! Had I forgotten anything? I had my ticket, my ESTA visa, my luggage, a packed lunch, my sunglasses, a few dollars… And we were off!

The flight was from 2pm (here) to 5pm (there), so basically we followed the sun and it seemed like the day would never end! When you arrive in Los Angeles, you are greeted by a massive American flag and a picture of Barack Obama (I didn’t dare take a photo in the airport – I didn’t want them to think I was a spy!), then you have to fill in a form for customs, and then you have to pass through SECURITY. I don’t know if anything like this exists in other countries, but there, the scanning gate is like a cross between Orwell’s Big Brother and a Star Trek teleport machine. And finally, you need to have all your fingerprints scanned, which doesn’t make you feel very at ease.

In total, it takes me almost 3 hours to reach my hostel, which is in Venice. This is no country for pedestrians!!! I am not surprised, but I thought it would be easy enough to find a bus stop, but there are no shops, no pedestrians (it’s 7pm), and no one knows where my hostel is… or even recognises the name of the street it’s on! Don’t panic! After a bit of trial and error, a man helps me find it, and I land in a comfy, although not very clean, place.

At last, I can have a proper local burger and fries! I have one with some other hostel guests. Some of them are from South America, others are from the East coast. I struggle to get used to their accent… I need to train my ear!

It’s midnight, and I realise I’ve been up for more than 24 hours. I go to bed and fall asleep straight away… Tomorrow I will have more energy to visit LA!
To Be Continued…

Written by Nicolas Salmon

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June 8, 2016

Magazine Review: On Languages, Translation and Travelling

Every month we publish a book review on our blog, but this month I have decided to write about some magazines on languages, translation and travelling that I enjoy reading (and yes, I am an old-fashioned lady, as I only have paper versions of them!). They are all available for subscription in the UK and internationally, but some are only available through membership.

Travelling: National Geographic
A classic. I had to include the NG here. I love their photographs: beautiful, intriguing and fascinating. The content can feed any desire from scientific and factual to artistic, and it is all highly inspiring. Also in the perfect format and size for any lengthy commuting or travelling.

Travelling & Languages: Cereal
Elegant. Minimal. Exquisite. A very tasteful read. Bi-annual magazine.

Travelling: Cornwall Life
Inspirational. With my heart soaked under the beauty of Cornwall, I inspire myself monthly by learning about new places to visit, stay, eat or relax.

Translation: ITI Bulletin
Practical. When I decided to become a translator, I wanted to learn more about this profession and all the links led to this bi-monthly bulletin published by the Institute of Translation & Interpreting. It is highly informative, with good advice from fellow translators and a wide range of interesting topics (from marketing, finances, networking and website-building to events, workshops and recommended reading). Available only through membership.

Translation & Languages: The Linguist
All-in-one. There is a good combination of translation-, interpreting-, language-, communication-, education-, linguistic-related topics. It is published bi-monthly by the Charted Institute of Linguists. Available through membership, subscription or online.

Languages: Babel Magazine
Curiosity. It is a real linguistic pleasure. I think I am often surprised by the articles published here; I mean positively surprised. I have been a subscriber from the very first issue and still enjoy every issue out of 4 published annually.

This is my list. Do you have any favourite magazines or journals on languages, translation and travelling? Please share your favourites in the comments below.

Written by Kinga Macalla

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June 1, 2016

On Languages: Italian

Do you want to get a real taste of Italian life, travel around this beautiful country with ease, appreciate its art and architecture and be able to compliment the chef when you try the local delicacies? This guide to learning the language of the Bel Paese should give you a head start.

Say what you see
Unlike English, Italian spelling is phonetic. That means that the spelling of a word tells you how to say it (except in a few isolated cases, such as homonyms like ‘pesca’ (fishing) and ‘pesca’ (peach), and of course regional variations). It also means that words that have the same ending will always rhyme. For example, ‘cane’ (dog) and ‘pane’ (bread) will always rhyme (compare with English ‘chalice’, ‘police’ and ‘lice’, to give you an idea!). Italians pronounce every letter in a word, including vowels, so ‘aiuola’ (flowerbed) is a-i-u-oo-l-a and ‘cappello’ (hat) is cap-pel-lo. One thing to watch out for though is the stress pattern in words: in words with two syllables, like freddo (cold) and dito (finger), the stress falls on the first syllable, unless there is an accent on the last syllable to tell you that it is stressed (compare ‘papa’ (Pope) and ‘papà’ (dad)). In longer words, there is no predictable stress pattern, so you will need to learn them. Uomo avvisato mezzo salvato – forewarned is forearmed!

Articulate!
Italian speakers move their mouths a lot when they are speaking. They open their mouths wide and form the sounds with their lips – they don’t mumble! They do this to say the vowel sounds clearly. Have a go: try pronouncing the Italian letter ‘a’ – you just have to open your mouth wide and say ‘aahh’! Try this with new words you learn – practice pronouncing them in front of the mirror and make sure you get your mouth moving!

Get your hands moving
Anyone who has spent any amount of time in Italy or around Italians will have noticed that Italians move their hands a lot when they talk. The insider knows that this is not just for emphasis – unlike some languages where speakers have more or less idiosyncratic hand gestures that they use to stress what they are saying, or to try to make it clearer, Italian hand gestures each have an individual meaning. They are so vital to communication that Bruno Munari even published a (humorous) Supplement to the Italian Dictionary all about hand gestures (the text is available in Italian, English, French and German). You can also find numerous videos on the internet that explain their use. Try and learn a few to make your spoken (and silent) Italian more authentic.

Regional variations
There are many different regional accents in Italian, which means that consonants, vowels and the melody of the phrase change depending on where you are in the country. Most areas, but particularly villages and rural areas, also have a dialect that is different from standard Italian. Dialects are mostly used at home and with friends, whereas standard Italian is used for more formal occasions and between Italians from different regions so they can understand each other. Read more about regional variations here and read about the use of different expressions here.

Take your pick
Italy has a lot to offer, be it music, art, literature, food, sport, architecture, history, travel or fashion. Pick your favourite one of these and learn all about it – in Italian!

Written by Suzannah Young

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May 25, 2016

Language Learning Techniques: Develop your Reading Skills in Another Language

You may remember our blog post from a few weeks ago on how to improve your listening comprehension skills in a new language. This week we give you more tips on how to optimise your language learning – this time with advice on how to develop your reading in another language. Whether you’re choosing what to eat at a restaurant, poring over a newspaper, or following directions on a map, reading is a big part of using your target language. Working on your reading skills can also help you develop your writing as you learn about written constructions. Here are a few ideas to help you learn.

Read a Lot
Read anything you can get your hands on in your chosen language. Try to read at least one thing in the language you are learning every day. The more you read it, the more familiar the language will become and the easier reading will be. Reading will help you develop background knowledge about the culture you are studying too, which will help your understanding as well. You can also read about the culture in your own language, so it becomes familiar to you.

Choose Materials You Find Interesting
You can choose a text type you are familiar with, through your work or hobbies, and read an example in your chosen language, such as a magazine article on motorbikes or a recipe for a typical dish from the country where they speak the language you are learning. You will know what kind of words will be used, so you will be comfortable with the task. Choose things you would like to read in your native language. Don’t read things that are boring just because you think you should – it will put you off! Pick your favourite novel and read the translation in the language you are learning. You might like to try graded readers as well, as the structures are adapted to learners of the language but they pitch the story to adults rather than children so it is not boring for adult learners. Reading for pleasure can help your learning immensely – it is not the same as using a textbook which (let’s be honest) can be a bit dry sometimes.

Develop Your Vocabulary – Gradually
The good thing about reading is that you can control how fast you learn. You can give yourself time to think.
When you first approach a text, read for the gist – identify words you know and work out the general subject. Look up a few words if you are really stuck on them but don’t dwell on how many words you don’t know and don’t look up all the unfamiliar words you read – it will slow you down. Instead, underline them to look up later. Remember, you will be able to understand a lot of the text even if you don’t understand every word. You can look up the words you underlined when you finish reading. You can always read the text again once you’ve done that. As you look up words, build lists of vocabulary by theme. For example, list everything you find about cooking, sports, the weather or politics. If you find a verb, look up nouns that go with it, and adjectives. For example: ‘compter’ in French means ‘to count’, ‘comptable’ is ‘accountant’ and ‘comptabilité’ means ‘accounting’. In Italian, ‘rabbia’ is ‘anger’, ‘arrabbiarsi’ is ‘to get angry’ and ‘arrabiato’ is ‘angry’. Most languages will allow you to do this exercise! You can also find lists of vocabulary to learn on the internet, such as the 1000 words challenge (http://www.speaktothefuture.org/1000-words-challenge/). Look up synonyms and antonyms of the words you learn to build your vocabulary even more. If you are a visual learner, draw pictures associated with the words you are learning to help you remember them. Repeat the words as much as you can so they stick in your head.
Of course, one thing to remember is that you don’t read just in order to learn words. If you read a book you are interested in, you will learn words in context and be more likely to remember them anyway.

Give Yourself Different Reading Tasks
Try different reading tasks to build your ease of reading. You can time how long it takes you to read a text a few times – you will see how you get faster as your fluency increases. You can decide to read fast or slow. You can read a text aloud (this will also help with your pronunciation), in a reading group or in a pair (meet up with someone from your class!) Come back to texts you have already read to see how much more you understand the second time round! Listen to the text you are reading – an audiobook or a radio show with a transcript, for example – to hear how native speakers pronounce the words and what the reading aloud style is like in your chosen language.

Bonne lecture! Veel leesplezier! Miłego czytania!

Written by Suzannah Young

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May 18, 2016

Careers Advice: Working as a Translator or Interpreter

When you learn a new language, one way you might like to put your skills to good use is by becoming a translator or interpreter. Translation is turning a text written in one language into a text in another language and interpreting is conveying a spoken or signed message in a different spoken language. In this post we give you tips about how to train for both professions. They are both careers that can take you round the world or can allow you to work from your own home. You will find more tips on how to work as a translator or interpreter in this webinar.

Training as a Translator
There are many different translation genres, such as legal translation, medical translation, technical translation, scientific translation, literary translation – to name but a few – and it is possible to specialise in one or more.

Various universities in the UK and abroad offer translation courses, including the University of Bristol, which offers an MA in Translation and the University of Bath, which offers an MA in Translation and Professional Language Skills.

The Chartered Institute of Linguistics Diploma in Translation (DipTrans IoLET) is a postgraduate diploma available for many language combinations. You can study for it at a school or through distance learning.

If literary translation is your thing, you can go to the British Centre for Literary Translation international summer school in Literary Translation and Creative Writing.

There are also numerous events that allow you to network with other translators and improve your career prospects, including the British Library Translation Day. You can read about the 2015 edition on the British Library website.

Training as an Interpreter
Just as translation takes various forms and translators can specialise in different genres, there are different types of interpreting that require different types of training.

To do public service interpreting, which, in the UK, means interpreting in the areas of law (courts, solicitors, immigration), healthcare (hospitals, clinics, GP practices) and local government (housing, social work, education, etc.), you can train for an IoLET Diploma in Public Service Interpreting (DPSI) for one of the three domains.

To interpret for the police, you can train for the IoLET Diploma in Police Interpreting.

You can also do a BA or an MA in Interpreting (such as this one at the University of Bath) – as long as public service interpreting skills are emphasised – or a Postgraduate Diploma in Interpreting.

Another type of interpreting is conference interpreting, that is used in business and government environments, which can be studied for at universities around the world. Check here for a list of eligible schools. There is also advice on the European Commission website on how to become a conference interpreter; the European institutions are one of the main places that employ conference interpreters, alongside the United Nations, NATO, and other international bodies.

Membership of Professional Bodies
Like other professions, translation and interpreting have professional associations that you can be a member of. Membership of the Chartered Institute of Linguists gives you access to networking opportunities, professional development, a magazine subscription and other benefits as well. Membership of the Institute of Translators and Interpreters is available to individuals and organisations and includes benefits such as subscription to the ITI Bulletin professional journal, discounted events attendance, networking opportunities and access to job adverts.

Written Suzannah Young

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May 11, 2016

Book Review: The Accidental Asian by Eric Liu

Eric Liu is a monolingual American whose Chinese parents emigrated to the USA and lived there for the rest of their lives. In Liu’s memoir, The Accidental Asian, he presents a series of essays on ethnic identity, assimilation and “Chinese-ness ”. He chose topics that are particularly close to him, to his experience and to his unique family and life situation.

I found the extracts devoted to the Chinese language really fascinating. Eric Liu is not bilingual; he speaks and understands some Chinese, but not fluently. In fact, he expresses his surprise in the book at how little he could understand his Chinese grandmother, Po-Po. We also learn that he is unable to read a Chinese memorial book about his father’s life. I suppose his complete assimilation had its price: he lost this common skill binding him to his family and ancestors.

I would definitely recommend this book to any parent who is hesitating as to whether to raise their child multilingually and also to anyone who is interested in multilingualism, multiculturalism and “Chinese-ness”.

Written by Kinga Macalla

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