• 3 Tips on Gift-giving for the Holidays

    As Christmas comes to town it is tradition in most parts of the world to give gifts to family and friends. For me, it can be a bit of a struggle to find the right gift for everyone. I have spent a considerable amount of time pondering about what the right gift might be for the people I’m close to. Here are a few tips that have helped me become a better gift-giver: Give something meaningful. What is meaningful for one person may not be meaningful for the next person. What do they want? What do they need? I can’t be too specific because everyone is different; however, one gift that was meaningful to my father was giving him a subscription to lynda.com so that he could learn to use …

  • Motivational Quotes

    Have you ever gotten really excited about a goal or project, such as speaking a new language, just to realize a few weeks or even only a few days later that your excitement and motivation have failed? I have. It’s always such a bummer…and it’s frustrating. We’re ambitious people! We want to be successful and progressive! We should be able to accomplish these extremely reachable goals! Well, one of the best ways I’ve found to overcome this tendency to burn out like a shooting star is to frequently read/say motivational quotes and then do something right away to implement those quotes. There are thousands of motivational quotes out there. My suggestion is to start with a simple search on Google. I have collected a few over the years, and here are some of my …

  • Saving the World One Language at a Time

    In his song, “This Cowboy’s Hat”, the great Chris LeDoux says, “There’s always been groups of people that never could see eye to eye, and I always thought that if they ever had a chance to sit down and talk face to face they might realize they’ve got a lot in common.” I stated in a previous blog post that one of my favorite reasons to learn a new language is to meet new people. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all learn new languages, meet new people, and put all the demeaning, racial stereotypes in this world to rest? That is a large goal for any one person or organization to assume, but together there is no limit to the difference that can be made in this world. …