Interview with a Polyglot

Interview – Laura Blumenthal
Author: Natasa Dinic

Laura Blumenthal is a polyglot who speaks six languages. She is an English language educator and a teacher trainer at Douglas College, in New Westminster, BC. She has lived and worked in the U.S., Germany, Turkey, and Canada. She is currently learning Serbian and Russian, and is active on the Polyglots Facebook group.

We spoke with Laura about what is means to be a polyglot and how much richer her personal and professional life has been as a result.

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A Reflection on an Excerpt from a Diary of Teaching Serbian as a Foreign Language Online

The world is constantly on the move and everything movable moves together with it. With the ceaseless unfolding of new chapters of life, the human race is moving, slowly but surely, into online reality with everything it brings along.

Two years ago, when I replaced almost all traditional classes of teaching Serbian language as a foreign language with online teaching, I didn’t dream that the time would soon come, when this would become just about the only possible way.

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The Red Poppy

Louise Glück 

The great thing
is not having
a mind. Feelings:
oh, I have those; they
govern me. I have
a lord in heaven
called the sun, and open
for him, showing him
the fire of my own heart, fire
like his presence.
What could such glory be
if not a heart? Oh my brothers and sisters,
were you like me once, long ago,
before you were human? Did you
permit yourselves
to open once, who would never
open again? Because in truth
I am speaking now
the way you do. I speak
because I am shattered.

Evacuation

– So, why coffee from a teapot?

– It’s a long story, my dear, but the shortest answer would be – a joyful habit!

– I’ve never heard of anyone making coffee in a teapot.

– You know, when I moved into this apartment, for a long time, I only had one, worn-out saucepan. I used it to make coffee, tea, an egg once a day, and sometimes soup. I also used it to grab water and rinse my hair when I took a bath. And then I was given a teapot by a friend from work, which soon replaced the saucepan, and now I use it to make coffee and water the flowers. Now, I can finally afford to buy a coffee pot, but somehow it hasn’t happened yet!

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