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Thanks for reading the Multilingual Books newsletter, your source for foreign language news, information, and product information and specials from Multilingual Books. This is also available as a web page at our website, www.multilingualbooks.com. In this issue:
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Brains at work: learning a second language may not be as laborious as believed
Public release from eurekalert.org
Adults often struggle trying to learn a second language, but the process may not be as tedious and slow as commonly believed. University of Washington researchers who followed college students learning first-year French have found that the students' brain activity was clearly discriminating between real and pseudo-French words after only 14 hours of classroom instruction. At the same time, however, the students performed at 50-50 levels when asked to consciously choose whether or not the stimuli were real French words. In addition, the researchers found that as the students had more exposure to French, the difference in brain response to words and pseudo words became larger.
The study, which is one of the first to look at how fast second-language words are learned and how the brain responds to words with increasing experience with the new language, was published June 13 in the on-line edition of the journal Nature Neuroscience. The research team was headed by Judith McLaughlin, a UW research scientist, and Lee Osterhout, an associate professor of psychology. "Age and reduced brain plasticity are the classic reasons usually given for difficulty in learning a second language. But almost all thinking about this concerns syntax and grammar, while word learning has been ignored," Osterhout said.
"Our results clearly show there are aspects of a second language that can be learned quickly and with amazing ease. A number of our subjects told us they hadn't been studying that hard because the course had just begun or because they were taking French to simply fulfill their language requirement. What's remarkable, considering those factors and that the language wasn't being taught in an immersion environment, was that we saw this rapid change in brain activity."
The researchers next plan to look at syntax and how quickly students learn the syntax of a second language, again French. Co-author of the paper was Albert Kim, a post-doctoral researcher at the UW. The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders funded the research.
See the full article at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-06/uow-baw061104.php
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Digital Format Saudi Arabic Course |
Top Products for July
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Last month's trivia questions and answers: Below are some foreign language phrases. Tell us what each means and in what language. Schlafen Sie vol - Sleep well; GermanKem bali - You are welcome; Indonesian-Malay Kali-shoo - Farewell on your journey; Tibetan Cuál es su nombre? - What is your name; Spanish Bom dia - Good day; Portuguese Terve, mita kuuluu - Hello; how are you, Finnish Hoe gaat het me jou - How goes it with you; Dutch Igen - Yes; Hungarian This month's trivia question: Please answer a few language trivia questions regarding people and places in the news. Good luck! 1. What are the six official languages for the United Nations? 2. What is the official language of Afghanistan? 3. Besides Arabic, what is another official language of Iraq? 4. What foreign language does National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice speak fluently? The answers and the winner will be in our next newsletter. Winner will receive their choice of one Talk Now or World Talk language CD-ROM! No purchase necessary to enter. E-mail your entry to:
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Language Varieties Web Site
From the site: This site is about varieties of language that differ from the standard variety that is normally used in the media and taught in the schools. Learn about pidgins, creoles, regional dialects, minority dialects and indigenized varieties.
Check it out at http://www.une.edu.au/langnet/.
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Save $53 on Any FSI Course Priced Over $199! Save $53 on any FSI CD course priced over $199! Offer good for one week only, so act now! Use promo code MB-FTM-628 to receive this special. For ordering and more information, please visit our FSI page. |
 
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FREE Shipping on Language Littles Speaking Dolls! We are proud to offer a great selection of language materials for children! See our Children's Books, Courses, and Software page for an overview, plus we have individual children's sections in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Save with FREE standard shipping (US orders only) on Language Littles for one week only! Use promo code MB-LL-628 to receive this special. |
 
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$49.95 Value! Get a free Vocabulary Builder CD-ROM with Muzzy in Gondoland order!
Vocabulary Builder is an interactive flash card system for parents and teachers to help teach basic language, and for children to play games and record their own words and sentences. Help is provided in over 40 languages by a talented talking tiger! Now available for learning Albanian, Arabic, Cantonese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin, Norwegian, Papiamento, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, and Welsh. Windows and Macintosh CD-ROM.
Get a free Vocabulary Builder CD-ROM with your Muzzy in Gondoland order - a $39.95 value! Use promo code MB-MVB-628 to receive this special. |
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