Vol/51 No/1 2012FEBRUARY/MARCHTheLinguist27FEATURESto sing along to. Recent topics have includedthe history of Masada, bird migration in Israeland biographies of famous Israelis. Zionism is not in evidence, as the audiencefor this type of course is varied and learnersare not necessarily interested in making aliyah.eTeacher Hebrew offers additional culturalseminars, with topics including the Dead Seascrolls, Israeli cookery and aspects of Biblicalstudies. There is a sister programme ofClassical Hebrew for those interested inreading biblical texts in their original language. Sense of identity The teaching of Hebrew in Israel is a source ofconstant debate, as the language is one of thedefining features of the Israeli identity. Therewere difficulties in the 1990s when almost amillion immigrants came from Russia,prompting a new joke: 'What is the secondmost widely spoken language in Israel?Hebrew!' In 2007, the Israeli Parliament, theKnesset, established an inter-ministerialcommittee to make recommendations for theimprovement of the ulpan system. Severalalternative teaching systems are beingconsidered, among them a system ofaccelerated learning. From 2004, many ulpans were closedfollowing budget cuts by the Jewish Agency.Nonetheless, the Hebrew language continuesto be a source of pride and cohesion amongIsraelis from all walks of life. Israel is also oneof the most satisfying places in the world to bea language student, because many inhabitantseither learned Hebrew as a second languageor have parents who did. This makes themuniversally patient and polite with yourattempts to converse. They often assumelanguage learners are new immigrants andoffer words of welcome and encouragement. Given its history as the language spoken byMoses and the prophets, Hebrew has longbeen a source of fascination as a holylanguage. Along with this historical prestige, inIsrael today it is a dynamic, daily, secularlanguage. One of the first expressions newlearners encounter is the greeting L'Haim?????); 'Here's to life'). This is much moremeaningful than its English equivalent,'cheers', giving a sense of the vitality ofeveryday life in Israel -an energy which isexpressed in the vibrancy and innovation of itsulpan language learning system. Notes1karan `ohr panav ((??? ??? ????2leshon hakodesh ((???? ?????3St John, R, 1952, Tongue of the Prophets,Wilshire Book Company, Hollywood, 12 4Roth, C, 'Was Hebrew Ever a DeadLanguage' in Roth, Personalities and Events inJewish History, 1953, Jewish PublicationSociety of America, Philadelphia, 136-1425Ulpan(?????; plural ulpanim, ???????) means'studio' or 'teaching/instruction' in Hebrew6A Guide to Ulpan Study, 2005, 4th Ed, Ministryof Immigrant Absorption, Jerusalem, 5Israel is one of themost satisfying placesto be a languagestudent. Inhabitantsare universally patientEFFECTIVE STUDYStudying at a Talmudic workshop (left).Michelangelo gave Moses horns in thisstatue in Rome (far left) because of atranslation error from the Hebrewwell as academics studying Middle Easterncivilisation, theologians and seminarians. The ulpan framework's culture-based,intuitive approach to language teaching ishighly innovative. Developed over the last 60 years to great effect, the fast and effectivemethodology has even been copied inWales, where Wlpan offers Welsh languageand culture programmes to thousands ofadult learners. In recent years the ulpan system has comeon apace and it is now possible to study atulpan online from anywhere in the world. I decided to enrol with Hebrew Online (noweTeacher Hebrew) to consolidate myknowledge of the language, picked up onlong trips to Israel. Gadgets such as a specialheadset began arriving in the post and I wassent links to my virtual classroom and studentlocker. A toolbar enabled me to access Israelinews programmes and radio (the army station,Galgalatz, has a surprisingly good playlist). For someone from a traditional linguisticbackground, it took time to adjust to theintuitive method used, but within a fewweeks I became familiar with the dialoguesand question-and-answer exercises. Thevirtual classroom works like a conference callin Skype, with features allowing you to raiseyour hand or even to pass notes to friends,and to replay the entire class at leisure. Myclassmates lived in Australia, Greece, theNetherlands and the United States. The online ulpan is not geared towardsimmigration, but this does not mean that theprogramme skimps on cultural segments. Ireceive a weekly e-zine in English, focusing onvarious aspects of Israeli life, followed by a listof new vocabulary, word games and a song inHebrew, with lyrics and a link to an audio file

What are the similarities and differences between first languageacquisition (FLA) and second language acquisition (SLA)? Why do allhuman beings acquire their first language so thoroughly, quickly andeasily, while so many struggle long and hard to achieve only modestproficiency in other languages they subsequently try to learn? Thisbook focuses on the development of syntax and morphology inmonolingual and bilingual FLA, and child and adult SLA, against thebackground of the principles and parameters of Chomskyangrammar. A meticulous, critical dissection of research, speculation andtheorising leads the author to the following broad conclusions:FLA proceeds through the successive triggering of clusters ofsuperficially unrelated features, which are nevertheless dependent onthe same underlying components of Universal Grammar (UG). Thesefeatures emerge abruptly and are immediately firmly anchored in thelearner's grammar. The sequence in which clusters of features areacquired is invariable for all learners. SLA, in contrast, is characterisedby trial and error, alternation of correct and incorrect forms, gradualapproximation towards native forms, and considerable individualvariation. Still, SLA does show evidence of universal L1-independentacquisition sequences, though these are different from those in FLA. These similarities and differences are posited to result from differentunderlying mechanisms. In FLA, innate knowledge (UG) is activatedand parameters are set according to the properties of the languagethe child is exposed to. In SLA, even from a very early age, parameterscannot be reset and learners resort to other learning strategies: item-by-item lexical learning, inductive learning, etc. Some such strategiesoperate with surface properties of the input and can result in erroneousforms that violate principles of UG. However, SLA still permits access toprinciples of UG that do not require parameter setting. The result is thatSLA grammars are 'hybrid' systems in which forms that appear native-like may nevertheless represent non-native-like underlying knowledge.The text makes frequent reference to studies of FLA and SLA ofvarious languages, principally German, French and English. Theauthor consistently argues the need for theoretical rigour and soundempirical investigation, and is careful to point out the limitations ofthis book. This is obviously not the last word on the subject, but it iscertainly a convincing interpretation, from one perspective, of whathas been achieved so far and what remains to be done.28 TheLinguistFEBRUARY/MARCH www.iol.org.ukREVIEWSMultilingual Matters, 2011,xii + 324 pp;ISBN 978-1-84769-430-0Paperback £29.95Translation andOppositionEdited by Dimitris Asimakoulas and Margaret RogersThe 17 case studies in this highly-recommended volume illustratetranslation as a process of contextually-determined transformation orevolution in which power struggles, ideological conflicts, censorshipand identity issues motivate various kinds of unfaithfulness to a sourcetext. As one contributor comments: 'Translators or rewriters are notinnocent bystanders.'The studies cover a wide range of geographical, historical andpolitical contexts. Ibsen is introduced to a Chinese audience, throughselective translations and an influential critical essay, as a 'doctor' whodiagnoses the ills of 'our' society; his oeuvre becomes a vehicle forthe translator's agenda. In rewritings of a Turkish folktale, literarymotivation and political stance are intertwined; the author of oneversion is introduced as the 'compiler and corrector' of the story. An ideologically-inspired 19th-century re-adaptation of a classicalGreek drama recasts it as a Romantic melodrama with a happy ending.A modern Turkish novelist describes herself as a translator, not a writer;she 'translates the mute, "tongueless" world of the dispossessed intothe language of this world'. Code-switching in Italian-Canadianwriting functions as a device for expressing inclusion and exclusion,cooperation and non-cooperation, and the migration of identities. The struggle to establish a particular Greek translation of theCommunist Manifesto as the only correct one is also a struggle toestablish ownership of the ideology it contains. Interpreters in theAuschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp do more than interpret in theusual sense; they also intervene in order to help their fellow-prisoners.In post-Yugoslavia, translation becomes 'a political tool for theconstruction of differences'. Many chapters question the boundaries between translation andother text-types. Translating is seen, for example, as a kind ofreporting, and 'the choice between subservience and opposition isnot an issue specific to translators, but one faced by all those who are called upon to report the discourse of others.' Or, in a quotationfrom Theo Hermans, translation is 'direct speech contaminated byindirect speech, an impure mix of direct and indirect discourse inwhich several simultaneous voices have a stake. The margin betweenframe and enactment contains the potential for dissonance as well as consonance.'Reviews by Jonathan Marks MCILCambridge University Press, 2011,xviii + 302 pp; ISBN 978-0-521-55764-1Paperback £22.99 ISBN 978-0-521-55294-3Hardback £65First and SecondLanguage AcquisitionJürgen M Meisel