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There comes a uniquely emotional moment for American Hispanics who register for a freshman year of college: Is it a good idea to sign up for the formal study of Spanish?

Could understanding other cultures' concepts of joy and well-being help us reshape our own? The Positive Lexicography Project aims to catalogue foreign terms for happiness that have no direct English translation. The brainchild of Tim Lomas, a lecturer in applied positive psychology at the University of East London, the first edition included two hundred and sixteen expressions from forty-nine languages, published in January. Lomas used online dictionaries and academic papers to define each word and place it into one of three overarching categories, doing his best to capture its cultural nuances. The glossary can be found here: http://www.drtimlomas.com/#!alphabetical-lexicography/b5ojm

"Researchers identified subtle variations caused by differences in the shape of individual whales' heads. It's the first time that sperm whale vocalizations have been linked to specific individuals. ... While the whales tended to possess the same basic repertoire of "codas" - the technical name for each distinctive series of clicks - one female had a completely different set. ... The question of whether it's appropriate to think of sperm whales as having names is a controversial one. Some scientists think that many cetaceans should be considered persons ..." See also "Sperm Whales Really Do Learn From Each Other" (http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/sperm-whales/) - "Yes, sperm whale culture really is culture."

The University of Hawaii plays a lead role in a major statewide initiative called the Hawaii Language Roadmap, which aims to create a robust, multilingual workforce in Hawaii. This video gives an overview of the project. On June 16, 2015, thanks to the efforts of several stakeholders, including the Hawaii Language Roadmap, Hawaii's Board of Education unanimously voted to approve a Seal of Biliteracy for Hawaii's public school students. The policy adopted by the BOE reads as follows: The Board of Education hereby establishes a Seal of Biliteracy to be awarded upon graduation to students who demonstrate high proficiency in either of the State's two official languages and at least one additional language, including American Sign Language; provided that a student who demonstrates a high proficiency in both of the State's two official languages shall be awarded a Seal of Biliteracy. The purposes of the Seal of Biliteracy are to recognize the importance of: (1) enabling students to be college, career, and community ready in today's global society; (2) establishing an educational culture that recognizes and values the wealth of linguistic and cultural diversity students bring to the classroom; (3) supporting opportunities for study of and increasing proficiency in 'Ōlelo Hawai'i, an official language of the State of Hawai'i; and (4) encouraging partnerships with institutions of higher education and community organizations to increase access to language instruction in a variety of languages. The Department of Education shall implement the Seal of Biliteracy, including developments of criteria that students must satisfy to receive the Seal. Rationale: The Board of Education recognizes that there is personal, cultural, social, academic, and vocational/occupational value in encouraging students to maintain, or develop, proficiency in more than one language.

"The goal of the Lexicalist project is to develop a dictionary that depicts, in real time, the changing demographics of English in the United States, a dictionary that supplements the fundamental meaning of a word or phrase with the current cultural backdrop that's informing its use today."

"The Assyrian Dictionary is not simply a word list. By detailing the history and range of uses of each word, this unique dictionary is in essence a cultural encyclopedia of Mesopotamian history, society, literature, law and religion and is an indispensable research tool for any scholar anywhere who seeks to explore the written record of Mesopotamian civilization"

"According to Christopher Johnson, a branding expert who runs the Web site the Name Inspector, "there's a land grab going on" in the information economy, as "companies are trying to snatch up pieces of our cultural commons." He lays much of the blame on the increasing scarcity of available names, whether for trademarks, domain names or Twitter handles." See also Language Log discussion: http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3055

"From Nazi to Chocolate, words play a vital role in our lives. And each word has its own story. But where do they come from? What do they mean? How do they change? Some of these questions will be answered by "Words of the World" - a series of short videos presented by experts from the University of Nottingham's School of Modern Languages and Cultures."

This article talks about Pelota mixteca, a sport, and how it has been keeping Oaxacan, a native mexican language, alive. The article talks about the stigma and resistance Mexicans and Mexican-Americans face when speaking non-English languages or their local languages.

Research now suggest that speaking a foreign language can change your personality. One of the tests they did was having bilingual speakers of Spanish and English write two papers about themselves. The one in Spanish was more of relation with their friends and family, while the one in English was more about their own personal achievements and accomplishments. Professor Ramírez-Esparza explained it more as a way that people see themselves through the norms and "cultural values" of the language they were speaking in. In another test, they found that another bilingual (Spanish and English) person who viewed French people and their culture as "elegant and admirable" felt more "sophisticated and suave," while speaking French.

This article is about how a child's first language can include more than just words. According to UNESCO, "Mother tongue or mother language refers to a child's first language, the language learned in the home from older family members." A child's language should be allowed and encouraged to be multilingual if their culture has a different language. There is more to a child's first language than just words because it also includes cultural and ancestral history that should and can be passed on to future generations. But since in some households parents don't encourage their children to learn their cultural language many children are losing out on this.

From this source it shows a lot about language and its evolution. Although there are psycholinguistic characteristics that all humans share, language learning and teaching is always embedded in cultural and social structures. Languages die out, their uses in a speech community shift over time, and new languages emerge. An individual may lose or gain fluency in a language, or several languages, over their lifetime.

Learning English as a second language is far from uncommon around the world. Looking more specifically, what is it like learning English as a Chinese first language individual. This paper covers three main topics: 1. The differences between the Chinese and English languages 2. The differences between Chinese and American culture 3. The differences between Chinese and American educational practices When teaching English as a second language, it is important to know the what fits the students particular needs in learning and how your teaching will be most effective. This paper allows teachers to understand more about their Chinese students and their general linguistic and cultural background.

This topic is really similar to what we discussed in class about babble and how almost all languages worldwide share a similar way of talking to their babies. This article talks about how different settlements could have communicated with each other without learning each other's language. They did this by studying "vocal charades," which were vocal noises that could be attributed to different actions. For example snoring noises meant "sleep."

This paper is about the Hawaiian language in the form of education in our islands. It analyzed how attending a Hawaiian language immersion school affects students. After interviewing students who attend Papahana Kaiapuni (a Hawaiian immersion school), they found that students were more invested in practicing traditional Hawaiian values, and influenced cultural pride among family members. Attending the school also positive community views and about both Hawaiian language and cultural revitalization efforts.

This post is about Korean language and the two main sections of speech styles in Korea. It will help you better understand the different speaking styles in Korean and when and how to use them. The two styles of speech, 존댓말 (Polite speech) and 반말 (Informal speech), are spoken based on hierarchy since Korean culture has strong Confucian influence due to the country's history. The hierarchy is mainly based on age and social status. For example, when speaking to a teacher in school, you would speak to them with polite speech because they are older than you and know more than you. Phrases and sentences can be said in different ways depending on the style of speech used, but will still have the same meaning.

Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings. This article explains what homophones are in the Chinese language, how it impacts Chinese culture, and provides examples.

This article, published by BYU, talks about the effects that certain accents have on people's perceptions. Because everyone talks in a different way, some cultures may associate people with certain labels. Many studies are conducted within this article that displays statistical data on the perception of certain accents. Some people perceive certain accents positively while others see them negatively. This article reflects how different cultures act while being combined and the outcomes that come out of that action.