Who am I?
I am a German professor with an M.A. and Ph.D. in German Language and Literature and 20 years of teaching experience. Besides German, I have also taught English as a Foreign Language and have over the years been a student of Latin, French, Spanish, Polish, and Farsi. As a student, I was fortunate to have studied abroad 5 times. The Vistawide website is a product of my lifelong love of languages and my experience as a language learner and a language teacher and a researcher.
Why a website?
Knowledge of foreign languages is sadly undervalued in the English-speaking world. Language teachers are constantly having to convince others – whether students and their parents, teachers of other subjects, school administrators, or state legislators – of the value of learning other languages. Yet the advantages and benefits just seem so obvious, as do the many deficits and detriments that can arise from not knowing languages. As the fates and actions of nations become ever more intertwined, so too does the need for effective intercultural communication and understanding. The world we live in today makes a knowledge of other languages and cultures is more paramount than ever – not to mention all of the personal and professional benefits that learning a language can bring.
I started the Vistawide website to disseminate information about the importance of language and cultural education in the 21st century. My goal is to support, promote and facilitate the learning of languages and the development of cultural competence, to share useful information and ideas with language lovers and to assist those seeking to use languages in their personal and professional lives.
Copyright information
All information on the pages of this website are copyrighted. Non-commercial, educational uses of the material here are permitted in print or online, provided that Vistawide World Languages & Cultures is clearly cited as the source AND the full URL of the source page is given (with an active link if the material is online). Commercial uses are prohibited without prior written permission.
Privacy policy
The Vistawide website does not collect information about individual users to the site. To bring you offers that may be of interest to you, some of our pages contain advertisements for other companies. As a result of your visit to our site, ad server companies may collect information such as your domain type and your IP address. For further information on the information collected and how it is used, you may consult the privacy policies of the companies we partner with, primarily:www.google.com
amazon.com, amazon.ca, amazon.de, and amazon.co.uk
cj.com
ectaco.com
Disclaimer
Many of the resources and links on the pages of the Vistawide site lead to 3rd party websites. I am not responsible for the content on those sites, but I do carefully review them and only link to sites that I believe offer useful information or a valuable service or useful products for language learners and educators. You should be aware that participating in offers or buying products from those sites may result in me earning a commission. For instance, Vistawide is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
