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Multilingual Books October Newsletter

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: Feature Article - New language points to foundations of human grammar Product News - New! FSI Portuguese 2 on CD - Children's Language Product Review - Top 10 Products Featured Site - www.ielanguages.com Language Trivia Contest - Answer correctly and win FREE language products! Newsletter Specials - Special offers only for our newsletter subscribers! Send to a Friend Please send this along to anyone you think might be interested by clicking the link above. Unsubscribe/Subscribe Information This newsletter is intended as a service to language enthusiasts and customers of Multilingual Books. You have received this because our records indicate you have ordered products from us or have asked to join our mailing list. If this message was unwanted, we apologize and offer an automated unsubscribe service: Unsubscribe, or, send an e-mail from the address you want to unsubscribe to multilingualbooks-unsubscribe@topica.email-publisher.com. If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to subscribe, we offer automated subscription: Subscribe, or, send an e-mail from the address you want to subscribe to multilingualbooks-subscribe@topica.email-publisher.com. Thank you.		Featured This Issue
		Trivia Contest! Win Language Prizes! Check out our Newsletter Specials featuring: Save $150 on Platiquemos! Save Over $100 on FSI Portuguese!

Feature Article

New language points to foundations of human grammar
Public release from eurekalert.org

How is a language born? What are its essential elements? Linguists are gaining new insights into these age-old conundrums from a language created in a small village in Israel's Negev Desert.

The Al-Sayyid Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL), which serves as an alternative language of a community of about 3,500 deaf and hearing people, has developed a distinct grammatical structure early in its evolution, researchers report, and the structure favors a particular word order: verbs after objects.

The study – the first linguistic analysis of a language arising naturally with no outside influence – is being published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of Jan. 31 to Feb. 4.

The authors are Mark Aronoff from Stony Brook University, Irit Meir and Wendy Sandler from the University of Haifa and Carol Padden from the University of California, San Diego.

By watching native signers tell stories and describe actions, the researchers found that the language goes beyond a list of words for actions, objects, people, characteristics and so on, to establish systematic relations among those elements. Sentences in ABSL follow a Subject-Object-Verb order, such as in "woman apple give," rather than the Subject-Verb-Object order found in English – or, more significantly, in other languages in the region.

"The grammatical structure of the Bedouin sign language shows no influence from either the dialect of Arabic spoken by hearing members of the community or the predominant sign language in the surrounding area, Israeli Sign Language," said study coauthor Carol Padden, professor of communication at UC San Diego. "Because ABSL developed independently, it may reflect fundamental properties of language in general and provide insight into basic questions about the way in which human language develops from the very beginning."

ABSL arose in the last 70 years and is now in its third generation of use. Remarkably, the fixed word order of ABSL emerged within a generation after the inception of the language.

"Our findings support the idea that word order is one of the first features of a language, and that it appears very early," Padden said.

The research also supports the notion that languages can and do evolve quickly.

"When we first came to Al-Sayyid, I expected to see a lot of gesture and miming, but I was impressed immediately by how sophisticated the language was. This is not an ad hoc, spur of the moment communication. It is a complex language capable of relating information beyond the here and now," said Padden.

Although other new languages such as creoles and Nicaraguan Sign Language have been reported, their unusual social and linguistic environments were not characteristic of typical languages, the study authors observe. Creoles are the product of interactions between existing languages. And Nicaraguan Sign Language, the creation of a group of deaf children, evolved in a school setting.

What distinguishes ABSL is that it grew – as presumably did most languages of the world – within a socially stable, existing community.

The Al-Sayyid village was founded about 200 years ago and today numbers some 3,500 members. Approximately 150 individuals with congenital deafness, all of them descendants of two of the founders' sons, have been born into the community in the past three generations.

For the present study, the researchers focused on the second generation of ABSL signers. Further work will document the evolution of the language in the third generation.

See the entire release at: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-01/uoc--nlp012705.php

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Product News

Foreign Service Institute Portuguese 2 Released on CD
Multilingual Books is happy to offer the latest FSI (Foreign Service Institute) course CD release from Language Associates: FSI Portuguese 2! These exclusive versions have the quality and convenience of a CD along with the top-notch language teaching methods that the Foreign Service is famous for. Each new version has been carefully digitally remastered for greatly improved sound quality as compared to the commonly available cassette courses or other FSI vendors and is exclusive to Language Associates products. We now have FSI or DLI courses available remastered on CD in over 15 languages including: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), Cantonese, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Iraqi, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, and Thai. Find out more about our FSI courses at our FSI page. Find out more about our Portuguese offerings at our Thai page.

Check out our Newsletter Specials to save on FSI Portuguese!

Children's Language Product Review
With kids back in school and the holidays approaching, we'd like to take a moment to review some of our best products for children. Multiple studies have established the connection between studying languages when you are young and the ability to speak and understand languages when you are older. When a child is exposed to other languages at a young age, the brain makes permanent connections that facilitate language skills throughout life. Choosing the products can be tough; below are some of our favorites. These items are great for the classroom or as a gift.

Muzzy in Gondoland Video Series (DVD and VHS) This series is centered around the adventures of Muzzy, a lovable dinosaur. This series teaches language through stories that are presented in English and then again in the target language. This allows the child to learn the story and then watch it in the other languages, which is an effective way to practice understanding another language. Muzzy also includes with a vocabulary video/DVD, extra audio material and a work book. It is good for self study, home schooling or as a supplementary product. The best thing about this program is that children will often watch it again and again, which leads to better retention. Recommended for ages 3-13. DVD versions in Spanish, French, German, and Italian; VHS versions in Spanish, French, German,Italian, ESL, Gaelic, and Japanese. $199 - $249. Muzzy information and ordering...

Language Littles Speaking Dolls These soft-bodied, sixteen-inch plush dolls represent children from France, Italy, China, Japan, Israel, Germany, Russia and Spanish-speaking countries, and are expressly designed to represent many ethnic backgrounds, as opposed to the blonde, blue-eyed prototype so often seen on toy store shelves. What makes them unique is their ability to introduce foreign language to children from preschool through grade school. Unlike other speaking dolls, Language Littles have a human recorded voice. Simply press one of the dolls hands and she will recite a series of "kid friendly" phrases. Press the other hand and she will count, recite colors, and/or days of the week; press a heart on the doll's knee and she will respond by saying "I love you". Each doll offers a direct translation from English to her designated language with perfect inflection. They offer such instant rewards that kids will delight in showing off their 'fluency' in a new language, while keeping them gleefully occupied. Language Littles information and ordering... Check out our Newsletter Specials to save on Language Littles dolls!

Musical Spanish Musical Spanish is an innovative language program that offers a series of 10 songs in an interactive format that enables you to truly learn from the music. The songs are a catchy modern pop style of traditional songs such as La Bamba and Guantanamera, and the lyrics have been altered to enhance the teaching value of the song. It integrates right and left brain learning techniques, helping you to remember the words and their meaning. It's proven to help even students who have trouble learning through traditional methods. Musical Spanish is easy to use, and is great for children as well as adults. You don't need to know Spanish to use Musical Spanish as a teaching tool! Musical Spanish information and ordering...

The Twisted Doors The Twisted Doors is a bilingual French-English or Spanish-English illustrated mystery and grammar combined with an accompanying audio CD. Just read along and listen to the captivating mystery and improve or perfect your comprehension of spoken French or Spanish! Suitable for beginners, intermediates, self-learners, it offers educational material as taught at Purdue University's Gifted Education Resource Institute, was among the top 10 French resources picked by Laura K. Lawless for About.com, and received an AATF's editor rating of 5 Fleurs de lis. Each edition includes 46 chapters, 165 pages, 2-sided printing on 8½ X 10¾ high-quality paper, 37 victorian-like ink illustrations, and an audio CD with 46 tracks compatible with PC CD-ROMs, Mac CD-ROMs, car, portable, and home stereos. A package of 10 is also available for schools and teachers. Recommended for ages 8 to adult, beginner to intermediate students. The Twisted Doors information and ordering...

Multilingual Books Young Children's Pack Finding language products suitable for younger children can be especially difficult. This package includes two well priced and effective products; the Vocabulary Builder CD-ROM and the Language For Children book and CD set. The Vocabulary Builder CD-ROM teaches a couple of hundred words in a fun and interactive way. It teaches basic vocabulary, colors, has speak and repeat, games and a talking lion is there to help when needed. The Language For Children series is a fun way to learn some basics. It has a colorful illustrated text and two CDs with instruction and songs. Recommended for ages 4-12. Available for Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Latin. Young Children's Pack information and ordering...

Multilingual Books offers a wide range of children's products; check out our children's page for more ideas. Feel free to email any questions to us at or call us with your questions at 206-328-7922. Get free shipping on any order of children's items over $20 with our newsletter special for one week only! See our newsletter specials for details.

October Top Products

1. Platiquemos Spanish Course 2. Multilingual Books FSI Courses - CD and cassette 3. Talk Now CD-ROM Language Courses 4. Tell Me More Language Software 5. Musical Spanish 6. Language Tree Videos 7. Muzzy Childrens Language Courses 8. Language Littles Speaking Dolls 9. Foreign Language Videos 10. Spanish On The Go Preloaded MP3 Player

Tell Me More Language Software Platiquemos Spanish Course Spanish On The Go

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Trivia Contest

Last month's quiz: As on Sesame Street, this month's quiz was brought to you by the following numbers. Please identify the numbers and their languages. Soixante-dix - Seventy, French Shichi - Seven, Japanese `Ewalu - Eight, Hawai'ian Ceathair - Four, Irish Chunka - Ten, Quechua Our winner is Mel Drum. Thanks to everyone who entered and congratulations to our winner. This month's trivia quiz: In Sweden, Swedish is spoken, obviously, but a native speaker would say "Svenska" rather than "Swedish". Provide the English language names for the following languages. Polski Magyar Suomi Ellinika Kijomba Extra credit: "Almanca" is the word for the ______ language in _______. 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: info@multilingualbooks.com

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Featured Website

www.ielanguages.com
This free and frequently updated site offers tutorials for 14 languages, including French, German, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish, as well as pages on linguistics, English grammar, and the history of English.

Check it out at http://www.ielanguages.com.

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October Newsletter Specials

Save $150! Platiquemos Level 1-8 Complete $499! Platiquemos Spanish Course The world's best Spanish course just got better! Don Casteel, fluent in several languages and a former Foreign Service Officer, is well trained in the FSI method. He has completely revised and improved "the course that works." This 2002 Edition has improved audio with both male and female voices and over 200 illustrations with factoids, and the content is more contemporary than ever. This new version has retained the same grammatical and language content that has made this the most widely sold course on the language market. Eight levels are available to lead you to mastery of Spanish. Once completed you will be able to understand spoken and written Spanish; it will also allow you to actively engage in conversations with an abundant vocabulary of several thousand words. Platiquemos information and ordering... For a limited time, get all 8 levels of Platiquemos for the lowest ever price of $499! Or get started with Platiquemos Level 1 for the lowest ever price of just $49. One week only. Use promo code MB-P499-1026 to receive this special. Order today!

Save $25 on Muzzy in Gondoland! Muzzy in Gondoland Children love the Muzzy series! Muzzy uses a natural approach with the lessons in the target language, so that the child learns easily and naturally. Parents report that their children want to watch it all the time, and teachers say that their students concentrate on learning with the series and quickly master phrases and sentence structure. Each course includes five videos or DVDs, an audio tape with songs, a student book, and a special bonus CD-ROM (for PC), and the course comes packaged in a sturdy case. Available for English (ESL), Italian, French, German, Irish Gaelic, and Spanish. Muzzy in Gondoland information and ordering... Save $25 on Muzzy in Gondoland for one week only! Use promo code MB-MG25-1026 to receive this special. Order today!

Save up to $111 on FSI Portuguese 1 and 2 on CD! Foreign Service Institute Courses Multilingual Books now manufactures the entire line of Foreign Service Institute (FSI) courses, available in over 30 languages. Developed for use by diplomatic personnel, these courses are considered by many to be the best and most complete language courses available. Many courses are now available digitally remastered on CD for greatly improved sound quality as opposed to the commonly available cassette versions. FSI course information and ordering... For a limited time, buy FSI Portuguese 1 on CD for $199 or both Portuguese 1 and 2 for $399 - regularly priced at $510! Save up to $111 on FSI Portuguese 1 and 2 for one week only. Use promo code MB-FSIP-1026 to receive this special. Order today!

Buy 3 Language Littles Speaking Dolls, Get One FREE! Language Littles Speaking Dolls These soft-bodied, sixteen-inch plush dolls represent children from France, Italy, China, Japan, Israel, Germany, Russia and Spanish-speaking countries, and are expressly designed to represent many ethnic backgrounds, as opposed to the blonde, blue-eyed prototype so often seen on toy store shelves. What makes them unique is their ability to introduce foreign language to children from preschool through grade school. Unlike other speaking dolls, Language Littles have a human recorded voice. Simply press one of the dolls hands and she will recite a series of "kid friendly" phrases. Press the other hand and she will count, recite colors, and/or days of the week; press a heart on the doll's knee and she will respond by saying "I love you". Each doll offers a direct translation from English to her designated language with perfect inflection. They offer such instant rewards that kids will delight in showing off their 'fluency' in a new language, while keeping them gleefully occupied. Language Littles information and ordering... Buy 3 Language Littles speaking dolls, get one FREE for one week only! Use promo code MB-LL1-1026 to receive this special. Order today for back-to-school!

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This newsletter is intended as a service to language enthusiasts and customers of Multilingual Books. You have received this because our records indicate you have ordered products from us or have asked to join our mailing list. If this message was unwanted, we apologize and offer an automated unsubscribe service: Unsubscribe, or, send an e-mail from the address you want to unsubscribe to multilingualbooks-unsubscribe@topica.email-publisher.com.

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