Beyond bits, bytes, pixels and sprites

Beyond bits, bytes, pixels and sprites Barbara (Bee) Dieu 56th NECTFL "Engaging Communities: The World Is Our Classroom" New York, April 17th 2009

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REALITY “ Only 9% of Americans can speak their native language plus another language fluently, as opposed to 53% of Europeans ” American Counsel of the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)

“ Great cultures (in other words, great nations speaking ‘great’ languages) only too often fall into the collective illusion that they can be self-sufficient. They believe they are endowed by divine right with the mission to enrich the world and enlighten the others. And inasmuch as they are willing to receive something from these others, it is only in dribs and drabs, as some exotic spices which they may use to season their own dishes, something they do not really need, something they could easily do without but, since it gets some talk in polite society and you find it served in good restaurants, well, why not have a taste at it? ” Antonin Liehm, “Du provincialisme” (On Provincialism), in « Lettres internationales », 18, Autumn 1988

“ ... you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. ” (Steve Jobs)