Alfaro, Ph.D., is associate vice president of international affairs and professor of multilingual and global education at San Diego State University. She lives in Escondido. The visceral and powerful ...

Code-switching is more than just a linguistic phenomenon; it’s a dynamic expression of identity, culture, and survival. Code-switching is a nuanced and multifaceted practice that goes beyond merely ...

Have you found yourself altering how you speak when you find yourself in a more formal situation? Do you tone down your accent or stay away from words that may only be known in the area you are from?

Vice President Kamala Harris ruffled some feathers when she appeared to adopt a different tone or accent with a crowd than she had previously during her recent campaign trip to Detroit to talk about ...

Traditionally linguists have bemoaned the fact that the general public knows little of what we do because the subject isn’t taught in schools. But that has changed over the past 20 years or so, as the ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Curiosity expert improving engagement, innovation, and productivity. Have you ever noticed how your voice, word choice, or even ...

Code switching prevents people from feeling like they can be themselves, but culture coding is a heightened form of situational awareness that taps into the multidimensional nature of our true selves.

My city is home to many languages. It houses several mother tongues. With the largest number of foreign-born residents of any city in the world, London’s streets are filled with a fusion of languages, ...

In sociology, code switching is when a person alters their speech to conform to different cultural norms. For example, marginalized people may use one way of speaking around their community and ...