Group items tagged

This study examines how bilingualism affects the wages of Asian and Hispanic workers using 2000 Census data. In contradiction to the general belief that bilingualism can provide a competitive advantage in the labor market, we find no evidence that 1.5-generation and U.S.-born Asian and Hispanic bilingual workers generally have higher wages than their English monolingual co-ethnics; in some cases, in fact, their wages are significantly lower. In search of specific circumstances under which bilingualism might provide an economic advantage, we also examine interactions of language with such variables as education, employment in the public rather than the private sector, and the size of the population of mother-tongue speakers. With limited exceptions, we find no sign of greater economic returns to bilingualism. Since bilingualism requires considerable effort to maintain across generations in the United States, we conclude that the virtual absence of economic rewards for it creates pressure for linguistic assimilation.

Like the title, this article talks about the future of language, but more specifically it focuses on the future of language through economics. It shares statistics showing each language and the number of native speakers. To know surprise, Chinese leads with 1.39 billion speakers. Yet, the most vastly spoken language is English. English is abundant in 101 countries around the world, almost double of the next leading language Hindu, which is spoken in a respectable 60 countries. English is the most universal language, but researchers have noticed that Hindu and Chinese are two rapidly emerging economies. So, it wouldn't be unwise to learn either of these languages to give yourself a helpful advantage in your career. For example, if you have a business meeting with foreigners who speak Chinese and know Mandarin, you are likely to be successful in your endeavors.

Two graduate economics students from Washington State University used Twitter to analyze how sports pundits' reputation was affected by their confidence and accuracy at predicting the outcomes to sporting events. They analysed tweets in which professional pundits and fans made predictions about the winners of a series of high-profile baseball and American Football matches. Each tweet was given a "confidence" rating depending on its language, with words like "destroy" and "annihilate" scoring higher than "beat", for example. Both the pundits and fans' predictions were worse than chance, with the professional analysts only proving correct 47 per cent of the time and amateurs 45 per cent of the time. Yet pundits' confidence was measured as 50 per cent higher than amateurs, and they gained more followers on the networking website as a result, the researchers said. Presenting their findings at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Economics and Finance earlier this year, the researchers explained that being confident could increase a pundit's following by 17 per cent, while predicting every game correctly only raised it by 3.4 per cent.There was a similar pattern among amateurs, with brash people increasing their following by 20 per cent but correct guesses only raising it by 7.3 per cent. In general, pundits are better served by being brash and making people excited, they claimed.

This article provide the most thoroughgoing analysis to date of how the income kitty - like paychecks, profit-sharing, fringe benefits and food stamps - is divided among the American population.

Languages are now dying off faster than animal species, at a rate of losing a world language every two weeks. Researchers have discovered that the primary threat to endangered languages is economic development. It is now considered a global phenomenon.

A really interesting study combining linguistics and behavioral economics. "To judge a risk more clearly, it may help to consider it in a foreign language: A series of experiments on more than 300 people from the U.S. and Korea found that thinking in a second language reduced deep-seated, misleading biases that unduly influence how risks and benefits are perceived."

CNN has looked at the Penn Center to learn more about the Gullah language and what people are doing to preserve it and its culture. (https://glc.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Gullah%20Language.pdf) Gullah is a creole English based language that has been influenced by African languages. Gullah is also known to be from the "target language" of English. This means that the words they use are what the dominant and economically well group of people often used.

American women who work full-time make, on average, 78 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts. How do we account for this? A 2007 study pointed to a variety of factors, including the industries and specific occupations women tend to choose (or are nudged into).

English has been the dominant global language for a century, but is it the language of the future? Many assume that Mandarin could grow to become the world's dominant global language with the China's economic rise.

Translation is critical for addressing information inequalities in Africa. But could translation also improve economic development, health, human rights, and safety of the citizens of Africa? Findings from a new study reveal that the answer is "yes."

An article about Congress's predilection for making bill titles into acronyms, e.g.: - SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) - PROTECT-IP (Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property) - E-PARASITE (Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation) - REPEAL (Revoke Excessive Policies that Encroach on American Liberties) - BOSS ACT (Better Oversight of Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing)

Much of our recent reporting, especially from New Orleans, has focused on young people who are neither in school, nor working. There are an estimated five and a half million of them, ages 16 to 24, in the United States. But what do we call them? The nomenclature has fluctuated widely over the decades. And each generation's preferred term is packed with assumptions- economic, social, cultural, and educational - about the best way to frame the issue. Essentially, each name contains an argument about who's at fault, and where to find solutions.

The New England Journal of Medicine has a first-person article about the consequences of the language of economics in the doctoring biz . From the article, "A decent medical-care system that helps all the people cannot be built without the language of equity and care. If this language is permitted to die and is completely replaced by the language of efficiency and cost control, all of us - including physicians - will lose something precious."

To pun or not to pun, that is the question. Are puns the lowest form of wordplay, or an ancient art form embraced by the likes of Jesus and Shakespeare? Roman orators Cicero and Quintilian believed that "paronomasia", the Greek term for punning, was a sign of intellectual suppleness and rhetorical skill. Although often seen as annoying by detractors, puns may impart shades of meaning in an economical fashion, perhaps, or render lessons and concepts more vivid and memorable to listeners.

Second Language Learning: Everyone Can Benefit Kathleen M. Marcos* The 1990s have been a decade of renewed interest in language learning. As always, political and economic concerns play a major role in the nation's perception of the value of learning a second language (Met and Galloway, 1992).

JOHNSON is a fan of the Freakonomics books and columns. But this week's podcast makes me wonder if the team of Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt aren't...

China has sharply scaled back, and restricted, the teaching of languages spoken by ethnic minorities in its vast western regions in recent years, promoting instruction in Chinese instead as part of a broad push to encourage the assimilation of Tibetans, Uighurs and other ethnic minorities into the dominant ethnic Han culture. The Education Ministry says a goal is to "make sure that minority students master and use the basic common language." And some parents have welcomed the new emphasis on teaching Chinese because they believe it will better prepare their children to compete for jobs in the Chinese economy and for places at Chinese universities. But the new measures have also stirred anxiety and fueled resentment, with residents arguing that they threaten the survival of ethnic identities and traditions already under pressure by migration, economic change and the repressive policies of a government fearful of ethnic separatism.

This article talks about how the usage of African American Vernacular English, or AAVE can be influenced based on location. This "bidialectal competence - the ability to speak two different dialects - potentially makes them less subject to dialect discrimination on both educational and economic fronts." This is due to AAVE being commonly associated with being of lower class or intelligence.

This campaign, a part of Speak to The Future, aims to urge people to learn at least 1,000 new foreign words because of a decrease in multilingualism throughout the UK. These 1,000 words would allow for simple conversations and are believed to help improve social diversity and increase economic opportunities.

Today's economic environment demands that our children become the very best they can be. A lot of demands are placed upon us as parents, and whether we like it or not, we need to help our children navigate their way in today's fast-paced world and build their skills for the future.