Maintaining Your Second Language: practical and productive strategies for translators, teachers, interpreters and other language lovers

by Eve Lindemuth Bodeux

This book is for advanced learners of a second language such as translators, interpreters, teachers, the parents of bilingual children, journalists, international business people, heritage speakers and other language lovers. It contains practical strategies, tips and resources related to maintaining a foreign language. It targets those who are already fluent in a second (or third) language and who are looking for ways to maintain their skills long-term. This book will help advanced foreign language speakers find their path to continued language fluency and linguistic success. It provides innovative approaches to self-study, the benefits of singing even if you can't carry a tune, the role of technology in language maintenance and retention, how to play word and other games, and much more. It also provides links and references to many helpful language-related resources. If you love languages, this book is for you!

Genres: Language, Business

198 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[Brittany Presley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say, it's not a bad book. It's also not very inspiring or unique. There was nothing that gave me an "ah ha!" Moment. Also the book was very focused on European languages, with only a few mentionings of languages outside that realm. However, I can say that while there is nothing new or overly inspiring for me, I did pull a few gems from its pages. It also did help kick me back into gear for my Chinese studies. All in all there are not enough resources for maintaining a second language. So my hat goes off to the author for attempting something in this area.

[Caitlin Peters · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is as advertised! It is about maintaining your second language (or beyond if you are a polyglot) and is user friendly for any language lover! I thought this book was well organized and divided into different sections which you could tailor to your language learning/maintenance goals such as reading, writing, listening or speaking. It also makes it not necessary for the reader to read the entire book at once or in a particular order. Just flip to the chapter that interests you i.e. books in your second language or tips for improving your second language writing skills. I did find some of these activities to be review or things I already do but there is nothing wrong with a refresher. However, there are a lot of things I don't do in my second language or haven't thought of doing like dictation exercises and immediately writing down what you learned in your second after watching a YouTube video. There's so many activities in this book that I can't imagine anyone becoming bored or feeling like they've reached a plateau in their 2nd language acquisition. This will definitely be a resource I will consult again and again as I continue to maintain my Spanish skills with the goal of adding Portuguese to my working languages.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a translator, I both enjoyed reading this book and was pleasantly surprised to find innovative ideas for maintaining one’s second language, some of which I previously had never thought of. This includes, for example, things like learning and playing games in the second language, learning a third language in your second language, and slowing down and repeating different audio sources out loud to work on both listening and pronunciation skills.
The book focuses on two primary aspects of language maintenance: one, language resources, and two, techniques and tips on how to maintain a second language. Each section focuses on one of these two themes: written sources, video content, social media, and audiobooks each have their own chapters, as do improving fluency, self-study techniques, and business-related tips. Bodeux does not generalize, but rather provides specific websites and app names. She also explains aspects of acquiring language resources, including international shipping and DVD regional restrictions. I would recommend this book to not only those who use a second language professionally, but also language learners in general.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent resource, packed with ideas for maintaining your second or third language. I think it’s also very valuable for K-12 and college faculty, as many of its suggestions would enrich and add variety to our classes.