Spain Attempts to Increase its Citizens' English Proficiency, Starting with Children

With an unemployment rate of twenty percent, Spain is faring quite poorly economically. According to the New York Times, in an effort to prepare Spanish children to one day compete in this increasingly inter-connected world, the Madrid school system has made "about a third of the primary state schools bilingual [Spanish/English]" and plans to increase that fraction with time. I usually don't like instances where the primary motivation for learning another language is economical; however, so long as a nation or people continue to nurture their language in addition to acquiring and appreciating another, I don't see a problem with this. I don't say this coming from a nationalistic standpoint (that is the last trait I'd use to define myself), but from mentality that highly values linguistic diversity.

Noted Speech Pathologist Passes Away

Sam Chwat, renowned speech pathologist to the stars and regular people alike, died earlier this month at age 57. Chwat helped actors gain use of specific dialects for roles that required such accents through speech training. He also aided clients in losing accents that they believed were hindering their success. With a name pronounced schwa, this guy seems to have been destined for this profession.