MSI Press Blog

  Most people think of language proficiency as a spectrum with two meaningful stops: basic communication and comfortable fluency. If you can hold a conversation, navigate daily life, and get your point across, you’re “good enough.” But in the real world—especially in professional, diplomatic, academic, and cross‑cultural contexts— good enough is often not good enough . There is a level of mastery beyond fluency that quietly unlocks doors: near‑native proficiency . Near‑native speakers don’t just communicate. They belong in the linguistic environment. And that difference opens opportunities that remain closed to everyone else. You Can Go Where Others Cannot There are places—literal and metaphorical—where only near‑native speakers can operate effectively. Sensitive negotiations where nuance matters more than vocabulary High‑context cultural environments where meaning is carried in tone, pacing, and shared assumptions Embedded fieldwork where trust depends on sounding like “one of...

Foreign language proficiency is often framed as an academic achievement, a professional asset, or a mark of cultural sophistication. But there is a quieter, more urgent argument that rarely gets made — one that matters profoundly for millions of people across the world, especially those who are aging abroad, living long-term outside their home country, or navigating life in places where their first language is not spoken. Near‑native proficiency is not a luxury. For many, it is survival. 1. When Age Changes the Equation, age and Young expats can often “get by” with intermediate language skills. They rely on physical resilience, quick adaptation, and the ability to compensate socially. But aging changes the calculus. As people grow older, they face: slower cognitive processing reduced working memory increased difficulty with code‑switching higher stakes in medical, legal, and financial interactions greater vulnerability to isolation Research from scholars like Judith Kroll and teams a...

  When Boris Shekhtman and Betty Lou Leaver were searching for a publisher for their book on reaching ILR 4, Developing Professional Level Foreign Langauge Proficiency , a reviewer for one of the traditional American publishers suggested not taking on the book because "no one needs near-native proficiency." She then pointed to herself as a teacher of French whose proficiency was ILR 2, and she was considered a brilliant and successful teacher. She did not need anything higher than that, and neither did anyone else. Well, she was wrong, and fortunately Cambridge University Press had the foresight to realize that the topic was important, known to few (which is why that French teacher had such low proficiency) and would someday be sought-after information. They wanted the seminal work; they got it. And it has been the go-to work for more than two decades now. The reviewer’s comment reflected a long‑standing and deeply limiting assumption in American language education: that “goo...

  Book review from Issue 8 of the Journal for Distinguished Language Studies -- REVIEW   Dornyei, Zoltan; Mentzelopoulos, Katarina Lessons from Exceptional Language Learners Who Have Achieved Nativelike Proficiency: Motivation, Cognition and Identity Channel View Publications 2022   Series Editors: Sarah Mercer, Universitat Graz, Austria and Stephen Ryan, Waseda University, Japan Psychology of Language Learning and Teaching: 18 Bristol; Jackson: Multilingual Matters, (2022)   Natalia Lord, Learning Consultation Service, School of Language Studies, Foreign Service Institute (retired)   SUMMARY   This book analyzes the findings of a research project that Zoltan Dornyei, a prolific and esteemed contributor to the field of language learning, designed for his students at the University of Nottingham, when his course, the Psychology of Bilingualism and Language Learnin g , moved online. This is unfortunately a posthumous publication, for Zoltan Dornyei passed aw...