Understanding how native speakers acquire the phonological patterns in their language is a key task for the field of phonology. Numerous studies have suggested that phonological learning is a biased process: certain phonological patterns are easily accessed and learned by the speakers, while others show acquisition difficulties. These differences…

Event-related potentials (ERPs) have become widespread in second language acquisition (SLA) research and a growing body of literature has been produced in recent years. We surveyed 61 SLA papers that use ERPs to study L2 sentence processing in healthy late learners. Our main aim was to provide a critical summary of findings from the decade…

Although the mapping between form and meaning is often regarded as arbitrary, there are in fact well-known constraints on words which are the result of functional pressures associated with language use and its acquisition. In particular, languages have been shown to encode meaning distinctions in their sound properties, which may be important for…

This study aims to examine the challenges in translating Malay cultural terms into English, and to determine practical procedures to overcome these challenges. The translation challenges in translating Malay cultural terms into English raised due to some factors; sound, lexis, grammar, and style. Both English and Malay originate from different…

To date, research into conference interpreting has not produced a definition of the concrete subskills associated with an A, B and C language in interpreters' combinations of working languages. Existing frameworks for performance assessment in foreign languages are not designed to cover the very advanced range of language mastery associated with…

Success and failure are like the two sides of the same coin, and as humans, we tend to find reasons for our successes and failures in life. Doing translations undoubtedly presents a professional environment in which it is quite natural to experience both success and failure. However, how we perceive success and failure, and how we approach them…

Despite a century-old narrative as a monolingual country with quaint regional dialects, Thailand is in fact a country of vast linguistic diversity, where a population of approximately 60 million speak more than 70 languages representing five distinct language families (Luangthongkum, 2007; Premsrirat, 2011; Smalley, 1994), the result of a history…

By means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language families in Europe. We first present the results of a selection of 1833 listeners representing the mutual intelligibility between young, educated Europeans…

Although many online intercultural exchanges have been conducted based on the groundbreaking Cultura model, most to date have been between and among European languages. This volume presents several chapters with a focus on exchanges involving Asian and Pacific languages. Many of the benefits and challenges of these exchanges are similar to those…

This study reports on the impact of 11 West European first languages on the acquisition of Dutch. Using data from nearly 6,000 second-language learners, it was found that the mother tongue had a rather large impact on two language skills--namely, oral and written proficiency--as measured by the scores received by these learners on the State…

This paper focuses on the study of markedness theory in Universal Grammar (UG) and its implications in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), showing that the language learners should consciously compare and contrast the similarities and differences between his native language and target language, which will facilitate their learning. (Contains 2…

The definition of and distinction between two variations of American English, African American English Vernacular (AAEV) and Gullah, the American creole spoken on the coast of Georgia and South Carolina, are discussed. It is argued that while these and other varieties are defined typically by their basilects, the reality encountered in the field…

This handbook supplies a variety of general and specific information concerning career in foreign languages for Americans. The main topics include: (1) general recommendations for language study; (2) a sketch of the principal language families of the world, their genealogy and geographical distribution; (3) foreign language courses and degree…

This revised and expanded version of "Modern Foreign Languages: A Counselor's Guide" discusses questions about foreign language study often asked by high school students. Spanning more than half the guide, the appendixes treat specific topics: (1) languages spoken by more than a million native speakers, (2) programs and publications (exchange,…