MSI Press Blog

    Today's excerpt comes from Communicative Focus  by Boris Shekhtman and Dina Kupchanka -  Communication between Native Speakers and Non-native Speakers and the Essence of Speech We are interested in communication between native and non-native speakers for one very important reason: this is the kind of communication for which all teachers are essentially preparing students. Regardless of the level of our students, whether they are beginners or already near-native speakers, if they want to use their second language, they nolens-volens enter this type of communication. We need to help them to participate in this communication with dignity and power and to close the gap between their language skills and those of native speakers. In order for us to prepare our students in this way, we must be knowledgeable about the specific nuances of verbal communication between native and non-native speakers.     The most obvious difference between the language perfor...

  In LREC studies— Language, Regional Expertise, and Culture —language is not simply one pillar among three. It is the connective tissue that makes regional expertise intelligible and culture transmissible. Without language, LREC collapses. With language, it becomes a powerful framework for understanding how people live, think, and interact across diverse contexts. 1. Language as the Gateway to Regional Expertise Regional expertise is never just a collection of facts about a place. It is the ability to interpret a region’s dynamics, histories, and social patterns from the inside out. Language is what grants access to that “inside.” It unlocks primary sources. You cannot understand a region’s political debates, literature, or local scholarship without the language in which they are written. It reveals nuance. Regional idioms, metaphors, and linguistic norms often encode values and assumptions that outsiders miss. It enables participation. True regional expertise requires engaging...

  excerpt from How to Improve Your Foreign Language Immediately by Boris Shekhtman -  TOOL #5: BREAKAWAY There is a second tool which can enable us to say what we really want to say. To understand the functioning of this tool, we have to understand the dynamics of knowing two languages. There is a very interesting relationship between these two languages, determined by the extent of the foreigner’s knowledge of the second language. In fact, if the foreigner knows the second language as well as he or she knows the first, it is possible there will not be any dependency at all between the two languages. These languages can exist independently of one another. Our foreigner can turn on the first language, or the second one, at will. But the relationship between these two languages can become complicated very quickly if our foreigner does not know second language as well as the first. In this case, the foreigner, as he or she encounters deficiencies in speaking the second language,...

Excerpt from Practices That Work by Thomas Jesus Garza.  Be Sensitive to Learning Styles   Betty Lou Leaver (Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center) Madeline Ehrman (Foreign Service Institute) Teachers working with language learners at all levels have for some decades now recognized that learners have specific sensory and cognitive preferences when it comes to learning and specific ways of interacting with classmates. These individual differences can be very important both in positive and negative ways in the language process, the significance of which may change as one progresses up the ladder of proficiency. One phenomenon that has been observed by language teachers and their learners over time is the “tortoise and hare” syndrome. Learners who are painfully accurate—and therefore slow— in the beginning of language study often outdistance their faster peers who can plateau at the Advanced/Superior threshold because they have become comfortable wi...

           Just out! Volume 8 of the  Journal for Distinguished Language Studies . Read the abstracts. See something you like? Explore more! The JDLS is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, other online sellers, the MSI Press webstore -- and, in some (we hope, many) cases your local academic library. (If you want it at your local public library -- just ask the librarian to order it, or better,  subscribe  to it.) Volume 8 Abstracts Beyond the Language: Debating as High-Intensity Cultural Engagement & Leadership Emilie Cleret (French War College) This article discusses the use of debating in senior professional military education (PME) at the French War College in Paris to help officers reach native-like English language competence. In France, senior Professional Military Education (PME) is delivered by two schools – Ecole de Guerre (French War College) and Centre des hautes études militaires, (Centre for Higher Military Studies). Th...

  The real secret isn’t vocabulary, pronunciation, or even cultural fluency. It’s readiness . Toasts are ambush moments—someone lifts a glass, turns toward you with that expectant glint, and suddenly you’re “on.” In that instant, whatever linguistic confidence you thought you had evaporates, and you’re left scrambling for something coherent, gracious, and not accidentally offensive. That’s why the true foundation of multilingual toasting is passive preparation —the quiet, long‑range work you do before anyone ever hands you a microphone or raises a glass in your direction. Formal language, especially in cultures where toasts carry ritual weight, is hazardous to improvise without scaffolding. You can’t build a cathedral in the five seconds between “Would you like to say a few words?” and everyone turning toward you. The role of islands This is where having a few islands —those small, pre‑forged linguistic landing spots you can swim to (described by Boris Shekhtman)—becomes essential...