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OSCE High Commissioner Knut Vollebaek called on states to protect language rights and said they were “a precondition for peace and stability.” States should not promote one language at the expense of another, he said in a press release. Vollebaek continued, “‘such thinking is harmful not just to minorities but also to majorities. 

Truespel is the World’s first “pronunciation guide spelling system” based American English, the world’s most important language.

VerbaLearn is jam-packed with great features to help you study more efficiently, track your progress, score higher and simply save you time! VerbaLearn's patent pending system will automatically remove words as you master them so you don't waste time studying like you used to. You can learn your words by listening to customized mp3 files or practicing examples online, track your progress, and even review all your words from your homepage whenever you need a brush-up.

This is the crux: foreign language ability is not just about converting information from one format to another. It's about human relationships.

A few years ago, while General Abizaid was still CENTCOM commander, I flew a C-17 into Cairo to pick him up after a meeting. While I sat on the parking ramp with my engines running, knocking out checklists for the next takeoff, I looked out the window and saw General Abizaid moving among a circle of grinning Egyptian military officers. He was shaking hands, talking, doing the kinds of things a combatant commander is supposed to do: keeping our alliances strong at a time when the situation in Iraq was critical. Because he is fluent in Arabic, I presume he was doing at least some of this in Arabic. I remember thinking, Wow. This is why language matters.

Language is extremely hard. We need as many language solutions as we can get, and technology certainly can and should help fill the gap. But no matter how good the technology gets, no matter how prevalent English becomes, old-fashioned speaking of a foreign language still matters.