Opinions, statements and interviews of celebrities, business people and students
“This Italian “more is more” attitude shows up throughout Italy.”
In Italy, you’ll find signs about face masks with 40 words in bureaucratic language. No smoking signs consist of 109 words of legal text, and simple toilet signs can be made up of 122 words. What reasons can we find for this in Italian society? READ MORE
A while ago, I came across an interesting article published in The Guardian, entitled: Could language be the key to detecting fake news? The proliferation of deliberately misleading speeches, articles, websites and social media posts has led to many researchers trying to work out what the linguistic characteristics of fake news are. READ MORE
The power of role models and their influence on us cannot be underestimated. This is particularly true for young people. Whether they are a parent, an athlete, a musician, an actor, or someone else, young people are going to latch onto someone and their accompanying philosophy. They will be influenced by that person’s words, because at their young age they lack the experience and wisdom to know otherwise. When it comes to celebrity role models, media and educators can enhance celebrities’ positive or negative influence on teens, so do we then have the responsibility to channel and explain the messages conveyed by the famous? READ MORE
Amir Gwirtzman is an Israeli jazz artist who has mastered over 20 woodwinds from all over the world. Although Gwirtzman demonstrates his genius talent on dozens of instruments from the flute to the soprano sax to the bagpipes, his magnificence lies in his unique live creation of a “band.” What’s better than one Gwirtzman? Five Gwirtzmans. How is that possible? READ MORE
Recently, Verbalists had a very enjoyable interview with Gregg Kofi Brown, Ghanaian musician, who served as a singer and guitarist for the famous African group Osibisa for over two decades before issuing his first solo effort in 2005 with the “Together as One” album. READ MORE
When language schools were forced to suspend in-person classes earlier this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic many switched immediately to online delivery in order to continue teaching currently enrolled students.
Students and agents now face a myriad of online learning programs, many of them with questionable pricing and quality. Should online language learning courses be just a simple Zoom or Skype teaching, or should they be developed into true E-learning systems taught by trained teachers? Would it be better for schools to adjust their online learning pricing according to the current quality of teaching and programs offered, and move forward in stages? READ MORE
We talked to Elina about her music, but also about languages since she sings in many different languages. How many actually? Watch our interview to find out and learn more about this charming Swiss-Albanian vocalist.
Elina Spiro Duni is a jazz singer, born in Tirana, Albania. Elina made her first steps on stage at the age of five. Born to an artistic family (her mother and grandfather were writers, her other grandfather was a singer, whereas her father was an actor and theater director), she was exposed early to different types of art. When living in communist Albania, the only opportunity for her was to sing in the “palace of pioneer” (Albanian: Pallati i Pioniereve). In 1992 she settled in Geneva, Switzerland along with her mother. READ MORE