GoGlobalatSNU

LASP Spring 2010 newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:41:00 +0000

Check out the spring 2010 newsletter for the Latin American Studies Program in Costa Rica. This is where SNU students Paul James and Kristin Lege are studying this semester.

Going global in 2010, Part IV: Eating Spanish tapas, Iberian ham and other great stuff in Boston

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:26:00 +0000

At the end of January, I attended a conference in Boston that was sponsored by the overseas commerce office of the Spanish province of León y Castilla. Being a conference sponsored by a government office assigned to attract foreign business to León y Castilla, they treated us right. It was nice to go to an event where the refreshments were more than coffee, tea and cookies...a whole lot more. However, the eats were not the best part of the conference. I went specifically to look for opportunities for SNU students to study in Spain. I was very pleased with the resources and programs I found. It is way too early to start promoting anything definite. Nevertheless, I have some ideas that I hope work out. I have a lot of hope for being able to work out a "traditional" study abroad program, perhaps with a Christian university in the states that already has a program in Spain. What excites me even more is the possibility of working out an 8-week program that would allow students to study on campus for the first part of the semester, taking some intensive 8-week courses that would meet general education requirements, and then spend the second part of the semester in Spain studying Spanish culture and language. If you are a current or prospective SNU student, let me know if something like that would interest you.

A Nicaraguan reflection from Paul James

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 01:22:00 +0000

Paul James has a new blog post from his experience in Nicaragua. You can read it at http://buenviaje-puravida.blogspot.com/. Every semester, I am grateful for the lasting impression that the Latin American Studies Program (LASP) makes on our SNU students who go there. Great program for great students!

Spanish heritage research project

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:50:00 +0000

ACTFL looking for intermediate level Spanish "heritage speakers" between ages of 18-29 for a research project. Participants get $25 and an official OPIc rating. If you are interested, check out http://actfl.informz.net/survistapro/s.asp?id=2065&u=1003679045.

Going global in 2010, Part III: Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, México

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 23:00:00 +0000

[Blog post & Facebook note from http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com/]

As stated on SNU's Morningstar Institute website: "The Morningstar Institute is an international development and poverty alleviation training institute, housed in Southern Nazarene University’s School of Business. Morningstar’s primary purpose is to bring the knowledge of international development and poverty alleviation to students and to provide them with the opportunity to be empowered through receiving academic training in the classroom, analytical training through research as well as practical training on the field during international internships." January 17-20 I was in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, exploring possibilities for SNU students to do an internship there working with Healing Waters International through the Morningstar Institute.

Healing Waters International is a faith-based non-governmental organization that helps provide clean drinking water to poor communities. One of their project sites is located in the southern part of Mexico in the state of Chiapas. The project is headquartered in Tuxtla Gutiérrez and serves Tuxtla as well as surrounding communities. Healing Waters serves over 20 different communities in the area. It do this by locating water purification facilities in churches. The facilities are inspected and licensed by the state health department and produce purified water that the churches sell at below market prices to people in the community. After covering the costs of operation, a portion of the proceeds goes back to the Tuxtla Healing Waters office (called Aguas de Unidad in Spanish) and the church uses the rest for community outreach ministries, such as providing school supplies to poor families or supporting substance abuse ministries.

Dr. Tom Herskowitz from SNU visited the Tuxtla Gutiérrez project last year and came away with the idea of working with Healing Waters by having interns serve for a semester with the program. I went down to look at housing and study options for student interns. We still have a ways to go before anything is set up, but I hope that we can get something going before the end of the year. I think it will provide a great opportunity for SNU students to get first hand experience in addressing issues of poverty in very practical and sustainable ways.

Stay tuned to hear more as this opportunity develops.

Going global in 2010, Part II: LASP, NILI and beyond

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 22:30:00 +0000

[Blog post & Facebook note from http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com/]

SNU does a good job of encouraging and helping students study abroad. There are 13 students studying abroad this semester: 6 @ QERC (I talked about that in an earlier blog post), 3 @ the Australia Studies Centre, 1 in the China Studies Program, 2 in the Latin America Studies Program (Costa Rica) and 1 @ the Nazarene International Language Institute (Ecuador). All of the programs I mentioned are great; however, since I'm a Spanish prof, I'll push the Spanish-language programs just a bit.

Kristin Lege and Paul James are in the Latin American Studies Program (better known as LASP) and Alicia Bland is at the Nazarene International Language Institute (better known as NILI). As far as I know, Paul is the only one of the three that is keeping a blog. You can follow his posts @ http://buenviaje-puravida.blogspot.com/. Kristin and Alicia are using Facebook to keep folks updated about their adventures, so you'll need to be (or become) their Facebook friend to keep up with them.

Students often ask me for advice on which program they should attend, LASP or NILI. My response is that both programs are good, they just take different approaches. In both programs, students are involved in language immersion. In LASP, students live with a Costa Rican family; in NILI, students live in a dorm with a Latin American roommate. In LASP, students study Spanish intensively for a period before moving on to their different concentrations (LASP offers four concentrations). In NILI, students study Spanish throughout the semester except when on trips away from Quito. All LASP students spend a short period in Nicaragua, and depending on the concentration, may go to Cuba, Panama or Guatemala. NILI students spend their entire time in Ecuador and travel to different locations, including the Amazon jungle and the Galapagos Islands. If you are thinking about studying abroad and wondering which program is best for you, I suggest checking out their websites, http://www.bestsemester.com/lasp/ for LASP and http://www.gonili.com/ for NILI. There are also several LASP and NILI alums on campus at SNU. Talk to them and let them tell you about their experiences. (If you need contact info, drop me an email at fjohnson@snu.edu.)

One development at SNU that is just getting underway this semester is the new Center for Global Engagement. As the Center gets up and going, it will become the central location for information on all "credit-earning" international experiences through SNU. Dr. Don Dunnington is heading up the office and Rhea Woodcock (who studied at LASP last semester) is working with him. Stay tuned to hear more good news about the office. Meanwhile, the Center for Global Engagement is holding a couple of informational meetings this week: Monday, February 15, at 7:30 pm and Wednesday, February 17, at 1:30 pm. Both meetings are in the faculty lounge. If you are interested in studying abroad, you should go to one of those meetings and start checking out the opportunities.

And let's keep going global at SNU.

Language & Culture Assistant in Spain

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 02:52:00 +0000

Great (paid!) opportunity for college juniors, seniors and recent grads with at least an intermediate level of Spanish competency: Language and Culture Assistant in Spain. Check it out on the Spanish Ministry of Education website.

Going global in 2010, Part I: QERC

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:43:00 +0000

[Blog post & Facebook note from http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com]

The year 2010 has started off as a super month for going global at SNU. It has also meant a lot of traveling for me. Here are some things that have been going on in January.

Part I: QERC

January 4-9, I was in Costa Rica with 6 students from Southern Nazarene University and 4 students from Northwest Nazarene University (NNU). They are spending the semester at SNU's Quetzal Education and Research Center (QERC) in San Gerardo de Dota, one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The video below is the view from the main building at QERC.

I went to Costa Rica with them to observe and participate in their initial orientation. The students are all life science (biology, bio-chem, etc.) majors and will spend the semester doing field research and taking related courses. They also take a course called Applied Cultural Integration, which is where I come in. Applied Cultural Integration helps the students integrate into the local culture, including learning enough survival Spanish that they can travel about Costa Rica on their own, and reflect on their experiences in Costa Rica and Nicaragua from a wider perspective of studying about all of Latin America. Students can also opt to take a test and receive from 6-12 hours of language credit. I will go back down in April to wrap up their ACI studies and give them their language credit test.

An interesting and challenging part of their initial orientation in Costa Rica is the day they take a bus on their own into San José...without any more Spanish than what they had when they left the U.S. Once in San José, they have two days to complete a list of tasks, working in small groups, that makes them travel throughout the downtown and adjoining areas, find designated places, do assigned activities and meet at a designated meeting place. After those two days, they have to get back to San Gerardo on their own. I think that I would find it somewhat intimidating to do all that they were assigned to do, but they all did it, and I think all of them, or at least almost all of them, enjoyed it. The most important part of their adventure was that it gave them the skills they needed to be able to travel Costa Rica on their own without the need for a sponsor or chaperone to lead them.

QERC is a super opportunity for SNU life science majors to explore a little bit of the world, immerse themselves in a different culture and fulfill course requirements in their majors, all while living in a beautiful environment. It happens every spring. If you are an SNU student, take advantage. If you are not an SNU student but are thinking about coming, it’s just one more reason to make SNU your school.

Coming up...
Part II: Two more SNU students studying at the Latin American Studies Program and one at the Nazarene International Language Institute
Part III: My visit to Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico, to get acquainted with Healing Waters International's (Aguas de Unidad) water purification project
Par IV: Learning about study abroad opportunities in Spain while sampling Spanish tapas, cheeses and Iberian ham

Making College Relevant

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:45:00 +0000

[Blog post/Facebook note from http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com]

Here's another shameless plug for Southern Nazarene University's globally-oriented programs. A recent (12/29/09) New York Times article, Making College ‘Relevant’, commented on the accelerating trend of undergraduate students and their parents focusing their attention on the economic benefits of a college degree. "Consider the change captured in the annual survey by the University of California, Los Angeles, of more than 400,000 incoming freshmen. In 1971, 37 percent responded that it was essential or very important to be 'very well-off financially,' while 73 percent said the same about 'developing a meaningful philosophy of life.' In 2009, the values were nearly reversed: 78 percent identified wealth as a goal, while 48 percent were after a meaningful philosophy." Naturally, this change in focus has resulted in some undergraduate majors, such as business, increasing in popularity while others, such as classics or philosophy, have lost popularity. As the article observes, some majors long considered as foundational for a liberal arts education are being threatened: "The University of Louisiana, Lafayette, is eliminating its philosophy major, while Michigan State University is doing away with American studies and classics, after years of declining enrollments in those majors."

SNU is certainly not immune to such developments. In fact, in my role as an academic advisor I encourage my advisees from the very beginning to think about what they are going to do once they finish their undergraduate degree. SNU is an expensive school. There is no way of getting around that fact. I know what it's like to have a child in an expensive university because my two oldest children graduated from expensive private universities. As a parent footing much of the bill, I was concerned that they come out with an education that would help them earn a living. I did not necessarily want them to become wealthy (although, as a retirement plan, having wealthy children is not such a bad idea). However, I did want them to be employable in a field that would provide a good living and provide them satisfaction. I believe the parents of most SNU students want the same for their children.

On the other hand, many university professors and administrators advocate forcefully for the value of a traditional liberal arts education. "'We believe that we do our best for students when we give them tools to be analytical, to be able to gather information and to determine the validity of that information themselves, particularly in this world where people don’t filter for you anymore,' Dr. Coleman [University of Michigan President] says. 'We want to teach them how to make an argument, how to defend an argument, to make a choice.' These are the skills that liberal arts colleges in particular have prided themselves on teaching. But these colleges also say they have the hardest time explaining the link between what they teach and the kind of job and salary a student can expect on the other end."

SNU's International Studies Program (ISP) is an excellent approach to the issue of preparing students who can think and act in a global environment, who are well-prepared to enter the job market or to pursue graduate study after graduation, who develop skills that can be put to use immediately and who have a foundation that will continue to develop for years after they leave campus. The ISP is a multi-disciplinary major that emphasizes developing practical business-oriented skills that are useful across a wide spectrum of organizations, from large, international businesses, to governmental and quasi-governmental agencies, to large and small non-governmental organizations (NGO's) to mission agencies. At the same time, the ISP emphasizes developing linguistic and cross-cultural skills and understanding along with a good foundation in history and political science. ISP graduates are prepared to go in many different directions, and they are doing just that, going on to graduate school, entering the business world or working in the U.S. or overseas with non-profits and NGO's.

Given the global environment into which our graduates go, I do not believe there is a more "relevant" major than SNU's International Studies Program major.

Preparing to do good in deed as well as in word

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 19:17:00 +0000

[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com]

In my first blog post/Facebook note of 2010 (the blog automatically posts to Facebook), I thought I would comment on some interesting online articles that I've come across over the last couple of months. I've already commented on a couple of these articles either on this blog or on Facebook, but I wanted to join them together with another article and see if I can make them relate to each other. The fourth article is one I just read today. It lays some groundwork to argue for the value of an undergraduate education at a teaching university like Southern Nazarene University (SNU). So, here goes for the first for 2010.

"Earning Commissions on 'The Great Commission'" (Wall Street Journal, 11/12/09) describes "missionary" entrepreneurs. In my blog post on 11/14/09, I differentiated missionary entrepreneurs from entrepreneurial missionaries and bivocational missionaries. Missionary entrepreneurs use their entrepreneurial skills in profit-making enterprises to carry out both the Great Commission and the Great Commandments. "Evangelical, and Young, and Active in New Area" (New York Times, 11/27/09) talks about how young, activist evangelicals are turning their activism toward making the world a better place for marginalized people. The article states, "Without disowning longstanding causes for evangelical activists like opposition to abortion or support for school vouchers, these young evangelicals have taken up issues previously abdicated to secular and religious liberals: climate change, AIDS prevention and treatment, Third World poverty." These first two articles are overtly religious in subject matter. The third article, an Op Ed piece by Nicholas Kristof ("How Can We Help the World’s Poor?," New York Times, 11/20/09), is about international do-goodism in general and makes the case that a healthy dose of healthy capitalism (my redundancy is intentional) could be the best hope for world poverty relief. He observes, "I was recently in Liberia, a fragile African democracy struggling to rebuild. It is chock-full of aid groups rushing around in white S.U.V.’s doing wonderful work. But it also needs factories to employ people, build skills and pay salaries and taxes. Americans are horrified by sweatshops, but nothing would help Liberia more than if China moved some of its sweatshops there, so that Liberians could make sandals and T-shirts."

The common perspective I find in all three articles is a focus on pragmatism, on specific, concrete, real world actions that address intractable issues that affect millions of people around the world. As I think about our SNU students and graduates, I see many who are focused on fulfilling the Great Commission and Great Commandments and doing so in pragmatic ways, ways that produce real, measurable, long-lasting results to combat many of those intractable issues. I am proud of those students and graduates. I'm also glad that SNU offers students excellent preparation to go out into the world and make an impact that lasts. As I write this, I think of those students who right now are on Commission Unto Mexico, ministering and gaining practical experience that will help many years into the future. I also think about our students who have just returned from the Latin American Studies Program (LASP) in Costa Rica and those who are preparing to go to LASP in a few days, as well as those who have studied at SNU's Queztal Education and Research Center (QERC) in Costa Rica and those who leave for QERC on Monday, 01/04/10. Add the students who have studied at the Nazarene International Language Institute (NILI) or other study abroad sites as well as those who have done internships in Honduras and Uganda and you start to get a feel for all the ways that SNU prepares students to go into the world do something that makes a difference.

Later on this month, I will travel to Chiapas, Mexico, to help set up an internship under the auspices of the Morningstar Institute, SNU's international development and poverty alleviation training institute. Our goal in Chiapas is for SNU students to contribute to the development of micro-enterprises that will support and help expand an existing ministry already there. The Morningstar Institute is also working to set up micro-enterprise related internships in Swaziland. To any evangelical high school student who is serious about exploring God's call to love the world in deed and not just in word, I would say take a serious look at SNU. I do not believe you will find a school that will help you along your way any better than SNU will.

Finally, another plug for SNU: "The Case of the Vanishing Full-Time Professor" is a New York Times article from 12/30/09 that talks about how more and more top-tier universities are using grad students and adjunct instructors for their undergraduate courses. According to the article, "In 1960, 75 percent of college instructors were full-time tenured or tenure-track professors; today only 27 percent are. The rest are graduate students or adjunct and contingent faculty — instructors employed on a per-course or yearly contract basis, usually without benefits and earning a third or less of what their tenured colleagues make." Many grad students and adjunct instructors are excellent teachers. However, in many cases their primary focus is not on teaching or they teach so many courses in order to make a living that they cannot do an adequate job. (I know that happens. When I was an adjunct, at times I taught so many courses that there was no way I could give my best to any of them.) SNU does use adjunct instructors, and by and large they are excellent teachers. However, the focus at SNU is clearly on undergraduate teaching and the majority of courses are taught by full-time faculty, most of whom hold doctorates in their teaching fields. Another reason for high school students to give SNU a good look.

Here's to 2010. Let's make it a good one.

Earning Commissions on the 'Great Commission'

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:08:00 +0000

[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com]

"Earning Commissions on the 'Great Commission'" is an article in Friday's (11/13/09) Wall Street Journal that gives an interesting take on missionary-entrepreneurs. As the article describes them, this breed of missionary is not the same as an entrepreneurial missionary. An entrepreneurial missionary is one who takes an entrepreneurial approach or who applies entrepreneurial skills to evangelism and church planting. My observation from research, study and 20+ years of overseas and domestic mission work is that almost ever successful evangelist or church planter takes an entrepreneurial approach to what he or she does. [A little bit of digression at this point: When I was on the mission field in Latin America, I found that the Master of Business Administration work I did before going to the field was as helpful, perhaps even more helpful, as the Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry work I had done. On the other hand, in teaching the occasional business course as I do now, I find that my experience in overseas church planting is about as helpful as anything I studied in my M.B.A. program. Fields of study and practical experience often intersect in surprising ways.]

According to the WSJ article, missionary-entrepreneurs are individuals who use their business expertise to start for-profit businesses in other countries. They differ from the countless missionaries who have started non-profit health and welfare oriented organizations overseas in that the businesses the "business-planters" start are genuine, for-profit enterprises with one of their goals being that of turning a profit. On the other hand, while this "Business as Mission" movement stems from the ever increasing globalization of markets and opportunities in international business, those who start businesses under this new paradigm are as interested in impacting peoples' lives for good as they are in making money. Another contrast with a well-known model is that these mission-minded business people are not tentmakers in the mode of the apostle Paul who gives us the model for bi-vocational ministry (supporting yourself with a "secular" job while you pursue "ministry" in a traditional setting). For missionary-entrepreneurs, their business is their ministry and it opens up to them new ways of being missional.

I first came across the missionary-entrepreneur concept while I was a missionary in Guatemala. A fellow-missionary loaned me a tape (back in the days before CD's and MP3's) of lectures given by Tony Campolo in which he described his vision of newly-minted graduates of bachelor's and master's level business programs taking their skills overseas to start businesses that would have a mission impact. I remember well how I was so moved by one of the tapes that I was listening to as I drove that I had to pull the car over to the side of the road because I couldn't pay attention to my driving and continue listening to the tape.

Campolo's challenge to students went something along the line of instead of going to work for a big, international corporation that really doesn't need your talent, consider going to work someplace that desperately needs the business smarts you can offer. That is the kind of challenge I hope our students at Southern Nazarene University hear from our International Studies Program (ISP) and from SNU's Morningstar Institute. As one of the directors of the ISP, I know that too often I'm so immersed in the details of making sure students are fulfilling course requirements, preparing for their required overseas semester and scheduling the classes they need that I neglect to challenge them directly to consider using their interests in international work and the skills they are developing at SNU in ways that are creative, authentic and clearly missional.

Southern Nazarene University's International Studies Program is a fantastic way for Christian students to prepare to do what Tony Campolo challenged his students to do or to establish the kind of business that Dwight Martin, founder of Thailand-based data processor Pac Tec Asia Co. Ltd. has. Martin "employs Buddhists and Christians in his seven-person company," which converts paper documents into digital ones for Western companies. He then uses his profits “to build digital libraries…for pastors and teachers in Thailand.”

ATA in NYC!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:25:00 +0000

[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com]

As I write this, I am sitting in my room on the 21st floor of the New York Marriott Marquis. The hotel is located on Broadway in the heart of Times Square. My room is not on the Broadway side of the hotel, so I can't look out on Times Square from my window. However, I can see some of the theaters from my window. I'm planning on taking in a show or two while I'm here.

I'm in NY to attend the annual convention of the American Translators Association (ATA), which is also a celebration of the ATA's 50th anniversary. I love attending ATA conventions. For one thing, as I make my way through the mass of people during coffee breaks, I hear more languages than I can keep track of. Often, I have no idea what language is being spoken when I overhear a conversation. It must be kind of like going to a U.N. function. I love it. However, the best part of attending ATA conventions is the abundance of very practical workshop sessions they offer. The downside to that abundance is that you have to make hard choices. Typically there are 14-16 sessions running simultaneously at each time slot. For instance, the sessions start on Thursday and I am already faced with 54 different workshops I could attend just today. Multiply that by 3 (the convention runs through Saturday) and you can see how frustrating it is not to be able to be in two places at the same time. I am skipping the time slots devoted to plenary ATA business sessions so that I can get some other work done (like write this blog post), which leaves me the opportunity to attend 10 sessions over 3 days. (No evening sessions other than opening and closing receptions, which gives time for exploring, seeing shows and generally just getting out and about.) In the past, I usually have concentrated on the Spanish sessions (sessions are categorized by language and by topic). This year, I am focusing all 10 workshop sessions I plan to attend on translation pedagogy or on sessions that in one way or another relate to Southern Nazarene University's B.A. in Spanish-English Translation.

Last night at the opening reception I spoke with a current student and a recent graduate of Kent State's M.A. in translation program. It was interesting to hear a little about that program and listen to the students' responses to some of my questions. One of the insights I walked away with is that real-world internships are very important in translator education. At Southern Nazarene University, we have an internship built into the program. However, I also want to continue exploring ways to involve students in real world translation scenarios from the very beginning of their translation studies. I'm looking forward to the rest of the convention and to what I can get out of it that I can take back to my students.

On another subject, if you haven't read Erin's and Rhea's latest blog posts from Costa Rica, check them out at http://erin-fitz.blogspot.com and http://rheaincostarica.blogspot.com.

Finally, congratulations to two of our Spanish majors (both double majors in Spanish and another area) who are studying abroad next semester. Paul James is going to Costa Rica and Stephanie Di Pego is going to Russia. ¡Felicitaciones a los dos!

¡Nicaragua!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:23:00 +0000

[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com/]

If you are not following Erin's, Destry's & Rhea's blogs from the Latin American Studies Program in Costa Rica, you are missing out on some tremendous experiences. I just read Rhea's post about her time in Nicaragua. Her post shows how study abroad experiences start changing your life long before you get back to the U.S. Read it at http://rheaincostarica.blogspot.com/.

Are you a nitwitted monolingual boor with overweight kids?

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:24:00 +0000

[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com/]

The question is mine. The quote is from an Op Ed piece by Lisa Degliantoni on Newspaper Tree (http://www.newspapertree.com/opinion/4215-degliantoni-your-parents-not-telemundo-will-make-you-multilingual). In a very personal and opinionated way, which makes for entertaining reading, Lisa states her case that everybody in the U.S. should embrace bilingualism. She jumps on monolinguals who think that neither they nor their children should bother to learn another language, and she compares them to parents who never teach their children that apples and exercise are good and junk food and sitting on the couch all day are bad.

Lisa outlines her own linguistic and cultural heritage involving her maternal grandparents who immigrated from France. Although Lisa's grandmother spoke French at work, home and in her social life, and barely spoke English, she taught very little French to Lisa's mother. Lisa's mother, in turn, did not teach French to Lisa. Lisa says, "[B]y the time my generation came around we knew no French and embraced the culture in only three ways; we celebrated Bastille Day, drank red wine and went to annual parties at the Alliance Francais."

Lisa now finds herself in El Paso and surrounded by people who take speaking two languages fluently as a natural occurrence. It is a natural occurrence for them because they grew up speaking two languages as part of the environment in which they lived. Lisa says that she is trying to rectify her monolingual heritage by studying Spanish at a community college in El Paso. I wish her luck.

One of the most important tasks that I am trying to accomplish at Southern Nazarene University is to be a part of the cure for the monolingualism that infects our campus and campus culture. I say part of the cure because a lot of other people are making great strides forward. The intensive English programs for foreign students help those who want to study at SNU and need to develop the English skills required for university-level study. From my perspective, it is just as important that the intensive English programs make possible a multilingual presence on campus, a presence that challenges English-speaking students to open up to a large part of the non-English-speaking world. The International Studies Program (ISP) attracts foreign students who come to SNU to study and who also make a multilingual and multicultural impact on campus. The ISP also attracts U.S students who want to be part of the global community and are willing to make the commitment to develop the business, history, political science and language & culture skills they need to compete and contribute in that community. I'm also very excited about Dr. Don Dunnington's new role in promoting global engagement by all SNU students. Great things are going to happen as part of that initiative.

We haven't found the cure for SNU's monolingualism, but we're making progress, and its fun to be part of the cure.

JUST SAY "NO" TO MONOLINGUALISM. LEARN ANOTHER LANGUAGE.

Latin American adventures!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:54:00 +0000

[goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com]

It has been a good spring, summer and now fall for Southern Nazarene University students studying in Latin America. In the spring, Rachel Ekdahl studied at the Latin American Studies Program (LASP) in Costa Rica and Rachel Cadwallader, Abby McCrummen, Lindsey Rochester and Mat Wood studied at the Nazarene International Language Institute (NILI) in Ecuador. The students at NILI were joined by Dr. Howard Culbertson who spent a sabbatical semester teaching a class and studying Spanish at NILI. Then Kyle Sides studied at NILI over the summer. Now we have four more students at LASP for the fall semester. Erin Fitzgerald, Destry Howland, Sarah Stocks and Rhea Woodcock arrived in San José, Costa Rica, just a few days ago. I heard that at least one of them had a little bit of an adventure getting there but finally made it.

For any SNU students interested in studying at LASP (or just thinking about it), this semester is a great opportunity to keep up with some first hand accounts of what it is like to study there. Erin and Rhea are writing blogs (http://erin-fitz.blogspot.com/ and http://rheaincostarica.blogspot.com/) and Destry has an open Facebook group going called Destry in Costa Rica. Follow Erin's and Rhea's blogs and Destry's group and keep up with the adventure.

Education with an expiration date

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 11:53:00 +0000

[http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com/]

This morning I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that takes on college rankings (Those Little Lists: What College Rankings Tell Us,). The impetus for the article was U.S. News & World Report's newest rankings of universities and liberal arts colleges. Not surprisingly, Harvard is ranked #1. What I particularly liked about the article is the basic question it asked. What is most important to consider when thinking about the real value of a college or university: social status, starting salary or the content of an education? Of course, the article came down on the side of content. It also came down on the side of a more traditional liberal arts content. The article ended with this: "The irony of modern education is that the faster the world moves the more value there is in the dusty old undergraduate curriculum. Train for a specific technology and chances are it will be obsolete before the ink is dry on the diploma. Indulge in the academic fad of the moment and you may find it hard to change your bell-bottomed intellectual wardrobe when styles shift. Who wants an education with an expiration date?"

I think Southern Nazarene University holds up well to an analysis like this. It does a good job of combining a strong emphasis on a liberal arts core curriculum and innovation and responsiveness to changing educational insights and career opportunities. Thinking specifically about our GoGlobal majors at SNU, the International Studies Program provides a strong grounding in three areas that are vital to any student interested in pursuing an international oriented career: business fundamentals, global historical, political and geographical understanding, and language and cultural competency. That is not an education with an expiration date. Our new Spanish-English Translation major is a direct response to globalization and the accompanying demand for global communication. It is an innovative major that up to now is available in only a few schools at the undergraduate level. However, it is also built on a foundation of excellence in the core competencies of developing high-level reading, writing and research skills in both English and Spanish. That is not the kind of intellectual wardrobe that will need changing with shifting styles.

McNair Scholars Program

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 02:14:00 +0000

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A couple of days ago in my GoGlobalatSNU blog/FB note, I wrote about how pleased I was to teach at a university that helps women prepare for leadership roles in society. Southern Nazarene University has created programs designed to help a variety of students, both women and men, achieve all that they can. One of those programs that I think is fantastic is the Ronald E. McNair Scholars Program. The McNair Program is designed for first generation university students. Specifically, it is for students who meet the following criteria:

*U.S. citizen or permanent resident
*First generation and income eligible student OR a member of an underrepresented group: African American, Hispanic, Native American or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
*Must have completed 56 credits by the time of initial entry into the program
*Must have a minimum cumulative GPA of: 3.0
*Must express a desire to attain a Ph.D

McNair scholars enjoy benefits like

*conducting original research under a faculty mentor ($2,800 stipend included);
*having the opportunity to present their research at a McNair Research Conference or a professional conference in their discipline;
*receiving tutoring and academic assistance;
*participating in graduate school workshops and seminars;
*going on graduate school visits;
*receiving help with GRE preparation;
*receiving graduate school fee waivers; and
*participating in special cultural activities.

Nicki Pope was a 2008-2009 McNair Scholar and a May 2009 graduate with a Spanish major. Nicki has been accepted into a master's program in translation and is the first SNU graduate to pursue a graduate degree in translation. The McNair Program was an encouragement for her to go on and pursue graduate study.

Any SNU student who meets the criteria listed above should check out the McNair Program and see if it is right for them. Visit the McNair website at http://www.snu.edu/mcnair.

Bright and capable women

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:07:00 +0000

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Yesterday at our church we heard a powerful testimony from Maziel Dani. Maziel is a Latina from Puerto Rico who is studying at Brite Divinity School in Ft. Worth. In her testimony, Maziel spoke about the support and encouragement she has received from First Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, to fulfill her call to ministry. She contrasted the support from FBC OKC with the lack of support she received from another church where she had been a member. In that previous church, it was made clear to her that a woman’s ministry in the church could only be exercised within narrowly defined limits, limits that did not include pastoral ministry. I am very happy to be part of a church that supports women in responding to God’s call to ministry without the culture-bound, artificial barriers erected by so many other churches.

Thinking about our church’s role in Maziel’s journey leads me to think about Southern Nazarene University’s role in helping women fulfill God’s calling in their lives. I am also very happy to teach at a university that takes women seriously and helps them prepare for the leadership roles to which God is calling them. The women students in my own department at SNU (Modern Languages) are some of the brightest and most capable women with whom I have worked anywhere. I truly believe that God has called them to make significant contributions to society and that under God’s leadership they will make a major difference for good in our world. Some of them will do that within careers that are directly church and mission related. I think most of them will make their contributions outside of traditional ministry related careers. Whatever their career paths, my hope is that SNU will always be a significant part of their response to God’s call to minister wherever they are and whatever they do.

Don't study Spanish at Southern Nazarene University!

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 12:38:00 +0000

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That's right. You read it here. Don't study Spanish at Southern Nazarene University! Studying Spanish will ruin your ability to read with an uncritical eye. For instance, this morning I was reading an online New York Times article about Mexican corridos in Los Angeles (http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/travel/16corridos.html?ref=global-home). At the bottom of the first page was a short corrido with an accompanying translation and I had a hard time getting past the Spanish errors (such as "vez" instead of "ves" and "cayo" instead of "callo"). That's sad because I need to be able to overlook what some would call minor errors and go on to enjoy the rest of the article. Nevertheless, I get stuck on the errors and hear in my mind the accusation, "Surely the New York Times can afford to pay a bilingual proofreader who can catch things like that!"

In our Spanish related majors (Spanish, Spanish-English Translation, International Studies, Latino Ministry/Latino Studies) at SNU we concentrate on producing excellent writers in Spanish who die a thousand deaths when they let grammar errors slip into their writings. (O.K., maybe that's an exaggeration; however, we do concentrate on producing highly competent writers who avoid silly errors like "vez" instead of "ves" and "cayo" instead of "callo".) So, I'm warning you, if you want to be able to speak, read and write Spanish without noticing errors, don't study Spanish at SNU.

P.S. Don't let my ranting keep you from reading the article (follow the link above). It is a good article about "narcocorridos" in some sectors of the Los Angeles Latino community.

Bilingual babies and beyond

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:51:00 +0000

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This morning, I tweeted on twitter and updated on facebook about an interesting article on examiner.com with the title "Reasons why you should raise a bilingual child" (http://www.examiner.com/x-17553-Denver-Bilingual-Families-Examiner~y2009m7d29-It-cant-hurt). I want to follow up on one statement the author of the article made. In speaking about her desire for her child to be multilingual, she said, "It can't hurt [emphasis in original]." She went on to say, "It hasn't hurt me. On the contrary, being a bilingual journalist has opened twice as many doors as being a monolingual one would ever have!"

This simple statement about doors being opened to a bilingual journalist reinforces one of the points I have been making to students interested in Southern Nazarene University's Spanish-English Translation major. SNU's translation major prepares students for a variety of careers in addition to translation and interpreting. I think the translation major would make an excellent course of study for anyone interested in journalism. What is often not appreciated about translators is that above all else, good translators are good writers. One of our major emphases in the translation major is to make sure our students write well in English and in Spanish. It is not enough to write well in one of the languages. We expect our students to write well in both languages. Also, we do not just want our translation majors to be able to churn out good term papers in Spanish and English and nothing else. They have to be able to write in a variety of styles for many different contexts.

I am convinced that being able to write well in both languages and being able to understand fully and speak competently in both languages will open doors for students in all sorts of fields where highly skilled written and oral communication is an essential element of the job, such as journalism, editing, public relations, international business, international project management, translation (of course) and other fields.

If you're interested in learning more, check out the details of SNU's translation major at http://goglobalatsnu.net/translation.htm.

Another reason to hate spammers

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 17:37:00 +0000

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This morning I posted on Twitter and Facebook a link to a ZDNet article (“Spammers go multilingual, use automatic translation services,” http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=3813) about how spammers are using automatic translation services to go multilingual. Globally, about 95% of spam is in English. Now, with automatic translation services, spammers can produce their spam in English and then translate it into German (46.5% of spam in Germany is in German) or French (53% of spam in France is in French). The ZDNet article shows how spammers are aware that non-English speakers are more likely to respond if the pitch is in their first language rather than in English. Give them credit for a global awareness that is only recently being shown by a lot of others who want to play on the global stage.

The writer of the article made an interesting observation. He said, “Despite the easy [sic] of use and free nature of automatic translation services, their use is prone to decline due to the questionable quality of the translated messages, which could potentially undermine the efforts the spammers are putting in the first place. Cultural diversity cannot be achieved automatically….” I am not too sure about the probability of decline due to concerns about quality. “Phishers” seem more attuned to quality issues. After all, their game depends on the quality being good enough to snare unwary victims. Spammers, on the other hand, seem more focused on quantity. If you can pump out enough of the stuff, someone is bound to click on a link.

I particularly appreciate the last comment of the writer: “Cultural diversity cannot be achieved automatically.” I’ll add, neither can it be achieved easily. It requires hard work and a commitment to keep working at it. It can also be exciting, a little scary at times, and lots and lots of fun. In the end, however, it is all worthwhile.

From QERC to Viva Oklahoma: It's been a good summer.

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:28:00 +0000

It’s been over three months since I’ve done anything with my blog. (By the way, this blog posts to FB as a note. If you read it on FB and want to check out the blog, go to http://www.goglobalatsnu.blogspot.com.) By mid-April, I was so overwhelmed with all that was going on that I decided something had to give or I would go bonkers, and the blog was one of those “somethings” that had to give. Now that the end of summer and the start of the new school year are in sight, I think it’s time I get back to blogging about SNU’s great opportunities for going global.

In April, I went to Costa Rica to spend several days working with SNU students studying at QERC. It was my second visit to QERC. What a great place to spend a semester and what a great opportunity for SNU student! Want to know more about QERC? Check out http://www.snu.edu/qerc.

As soon as the semester was done, I went to Austin for the annual meeting of the Association of Language Companies (http://www.alcus.org), which is a trade association for language service providers. Of all that I learned at the meeting, the one item that will have the most impact on my teaching at SNU is the awareness of the growing impact of technology on the translation and interpreting industry. That means that more of that element must be integrated into SNU’s Spanish-English Translation major. (Dicho sea de paso, which is Spanish for “by the way,” I’m writing this blog post on a MacBook Pro, a first for me. Part of integrating more technology into our translation major means accepting that not every translator prefers a PC. Life would be some much simpler if that were so!) I’ve also subscribed to the trade magazine Multilingual Computing and will have copies of that magazine available for SNU students.

Soon after my Austin trip, I went to Boston to attend the annual meeting of the New England Translator’s Association (http://netaweb.org/cms). Why go all the way to Boston to attend a translator’s meeting? #1, it had some great speakers scheduled. #2, my two daughters live in Boston. (Which reason do you think was the most important?) One of the downsides of being located in Oklahoma is the lack of local professional development opportunities for translators and interpreters. There are enough translators and interpreters in Oklahoma that we should be able to get together and start doing some local continuing education. This is a project I hope to work on during the year. If we get something going, it will provide support for aspiring translators and interpreters as well as for those who are already working in language services.

This past weekend (07/25), the company in which I am a partner (http://www.multilingualservice.com) had a booth at the Viva Oklahoma Hispanic Exposition in Oklahoma City. I have some photos of our booth on my FB wall if you’re interested. I think it was a successful effort for us. We even got to pitch our services to Drew Edmondson, Oklahoma’s Attorney General and aspirant to the governor’s office. Perhaps we’ll get to translate some material for his campaign.

Speaking of translating for prominent events, our company will do some translation for the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s “Arte en la Charerria: The Artisanship of Mexican Equestrian Culture” exhibit, October 10, 2009-January 3, 2010 (http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/events/event.aspx?ID=127). The museum description says, “Arte en la Charrería contains more than 120 examples of the excellent craftsmanship and design distinctive to the Mexican cowboy. The exhibition introduces audiences to the work of talented Mexican artisans who manufacture the articles and costumes that embellish and distinguish the charro tradition.” A great opportunity to see a little of Mexico’s influence on the U.S. cowboy culture.

lolcat Bible Translation project

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:48:00 +0000

One of our Go Global majors at SNU is the Spanish-English Translation major. Most people probably don't think of studying translation as fun, nor do they think that being a translator can be a fun job. After all, all you do is read what someone else wrote and then write it in a different language, right? However, I have proof that translators can have fun too! Check out the lolcat Bible translation of Genesis at http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Genesis_1. There's even an audio version at http://vonkempelen.com/audio/job-16604918-0.wav. Translators just wanna have fun!

Multilingual entrepreneurialism

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 00:38:00 +0000

I recently read an interesting article on the Fort Worth Business Press web site (http://www.fwbusinesspress.com/display.php?id=9962). Catholic Charities in Fort Worth has built up an impressive translation and interpreting capability in response to its refugee and immigrant ministries. A major part of working with immigrant populations is helping them communicate as they navigate various federal, state and local government, legal and social service offices. According to the article, Catholic Charities’ translation/interpretation service handles about 325 appointments a month and is able to provide interpreting in 72 languages. It currently works with about 125 trained interpreters. Now Catholic Charities is using that same resource to help provide financial support for its ministry. The agency recognizes that there is a big demand in the business sector for translation and interpreting services in the Fort Worth-Dallas area. Thus, with a big demand in the market and a well-developed language service capability, Catholic Charities’ Translation & Interpretation Network (TIN) is launching out to become a major language service provider to the business community as well as to immigrant populations. Ninety percent of the fees collected by the service go to support the work of Catholic Charities.

What is happening in Fort Worth is a good example of using entrepreneurial skills and multicultural awareness to support a valuable outreach ministry. I wonder if SNU’s translation major could not also use a little entrepreneurial skill to provide outreach. My experience as a translator in Oklahoma City shows me that there are many immigrants who need simple documents translated (birth certificates, marriage licenses, school diplomas) but who do not have the money that most professional translators would charge for such service. My experience as a translation company owner shows me that translation of personal documents for fees that most immigrants can pay is at best a break-even proposition. However, what if we set up a translation lab at SNU and used advanced translation students, under the supervision of a professional translator, to provide low-priced translations of personal documents? Our students would gain valuable experience and we would provide a much-needed service. Think about it.

Eating empanadas and drinking mate in Oklahoma

noreply@blogger.com (Dr.J.) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 02:20:00 +0000

It seems that the more I think about helping Southern Nazarene University students go global, the more aware I become of the global opportunities on and around our own campus. Just last week while talking with a student who will enter SNU in the fall, I mentioned to her that several of the majors in the Modern Languages Department came from other countries. I was trying to help her see the opportunities she would have on campus to get to know and study with international students. Part of learning to go global locally is learning with and from students who bring completely different perspectives and experiences to SNU because they come from contexts that are quite different from those of most of our students.

The next day, I met for an hour with the Chinese husband of one of our international graduate students. In our conversation, he asked me what I thought about Tibet. My Chinese friend was worried because his father travels frequently to Tibet for work and he had heard about violence directed at Chinese in Tibet. I responded that I only knew what I read in the newspapers and heard on the news, but that it seemed to me that Tibetans were just asking for what most other people want, that is, the freedom to be themselves and to govern themselves. He said that it was a confusing situation for him because all that he knew about Tibet was what the Chinese government allowed to be published. Since arriving in the U.S. in January, he has heard views that give a different side of the story. He is also learning what it means to go global by having to evaluate perspectives that bump up against his own. Later on that same day, I spent forty-five minutes with a student from Honduras and then ended my afternoon by speaking for an hour with a student from Mexico. It was a very international day for me without ever leaving campus.

I attended a meeting tonight (Saturday) that reminded me again of the global opportunities in our backyard. The church of which I am a member is making plans to start a new Hispanic congregation. The new congregation will be led by a bilingual/bicultural couple. The husband is from Argentina and the wife is from Oklahoma, although she has lived in Argentina and speaks Spanish with a decidedly Argentine accent. (I am definitely going to have to learn to speak “argentino” and drink “mate”. I already got a little practice being argentino because the hosts served us Argentine empanadas…very good!) What sets this planned congregation apart from the other new Hispanic church starts in which I have participated is that it is planning to be a bicultural/bilingual work from the start. The group wants to do this because many Hispanic families include family members who are not comfortable using Spanish. They may be children of Spanish-speaking parents or non-Hispanic spouses of Hispanic immigrants or second-generation Hispanic adults who want to maintain their ties to the Hispanic community but who cannot communicate well in Spanish. Thus, when we start our home groups, we are going to be ready to have two groups meeting in the same home at the same time, one group using English and one using Spanish, if we need to.

I am excited about being a part of the new Anglo-Hispanic congregation. I am also excited about being part of a university that offers its students such great opportunities for broadening their understanding of the world while they are on campus as well as when they study or participate in summer programs abroad. What a great place to study! What a great place to teach!

P.S. The NY Times is running an interesting series about an Iraqui translator/interpreter who has immigrated to the U.S. Check it out at http://baghdadbureau.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/leaving-iraq-an-iraqi-christian/.