MSI Press Blog

Aging is not a footnote in my linguistic life—it’s the headline. In my seventh decade, I’ve noticed the shifts: slower retrieval, occasional delays, the need to kick out inappropriate words from other languages before the right one surfaces. But I’ve also noticed something else: the scaffolding holds . The foundation of more than a dozen languages, decades of professional memory work, and a lifetime of linguistic adaptation still supports new acquisition—even when the brain is 73 years old. 🧠 Memory Challenges and Multilingual Compensation Yes, recall is harder now. I feel the delay when I’m not in the right cultural context. I sometimes reach for a word and find three others from unrelated languages elbowing their way forward. But I also know how to filter, sort, and retrieve , because I’ve done it for decades. My memory banks are full—not just with vocabulary, but with patterns, structures, and strategies . That’s what makes new learning possible. 🌍 The Indonesian Challenge Lat...

  Betty Lou Leaver, editor, and Kris Girrell, author Last week, Betty Lou Leaver, managing editor of MSI Press, had the pleasure of meeting author, Kris Girrell, in person for the first time. MSI Press has published three of Kris's books , the most recent being Spiritually Homeless , currently #6 among Amazon's hot new releases in faith deconstruction. They met in York, Maine, where Betty Lou was visiting family on that "other" coast. Kris, who lives in Andover, Massachusetts, was just minutes away, and they met at a York Landing, a locally loved restaurant. For more MSI Press staff doings, click HERE . To purchase copies of any MSI Press book at 25% discount, use code FF25 at  MSI Press webstore . Want to read an MSI Press book and not have to pay for it? (1) Ask your local library to purchase and shelve it. (2) Ask us for a review copy; we love to have our books reviewed. VISIT OUR  WEBSITE  TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALL OUR AUTHORS AND TITLES. Sign up for the MSI Press ...

Psychiatrist Ernest Hartmann introduced the concept of “boundaries in the mind” to describe how permeable or rigid the divisions are between different mental processes—between thoughts and feelings, self and other, waking and dreaming, and even between cultural identities. People with  thin boundaries  are often described as open, impressionable, emotionally fluid, and highly sensitive. They tend to absorb external stimuli easily, blur distinctions between fantasy and reality, and merge with others’ experiences. These traits are often linked to creativity, empathy, and—importantly—language acquisition. By contrast,  thick boundaries  are associated with structure, clarity, and compartmentalization. Thick-boundary individuals tend to maintain strong distinctions between self and other, prefer well-defined categories, and are less emotionally permeable. They may be less prone to spontaneous absorption of new linguistic or cultural cues, and more reliant on deliberate, ...

    Coming soon!  Managing Cognitive Distortions and Mitigating Affective Dissonance  by Salyer and Leaver. Watch for it! Book Description: Unlock the Mind. Empower the Learner. Transform Language Education. Why do capable students fail to thrive in language classrooms? Why do smart learners sabotage their own progress with unproductive thoughts and emotions?  Managing Cognitive Distortions and Mitigating Affective Dissonance  offers educators and learners alike a groundbreaking framework for identifying and dismantling the hidden psychological barriers that block language acquisition. Drawing on decades of fieldwork and research, this unique collaboration between educator Dr. Betty Lou Leaver and psychologist Dr. Shannon Salyer explores how distorted thinking and unresolved emotional tension quietly derail learning success. With insights shaped by extensive experience at premier institutions like the Foreign Service Institute and the Defense Language Insti...