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Chris Livaccari

Chris Livaccari is Director of Education and Chinese Language Initiatives at Asia Society. He is a Chinese and Japanese language educator and a former U.S. Foreign Service officer in Tokyo and Shanghai.

Recent publications and appearances on AsiaSociety.org

You Can't Say That in Japanese!
Sometimes what seems obvious isn't obvious at all. About confronting limited understanding of languages.
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On a Day for Languages, Discovering, Celebrating, and Saving Our Mother Tongues
On International Mother Language Day, Asia Society's Chris Livaccari argues that while a lingua franca is important, so is linguistic diversity.
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Breaking and Entering in the “Chinese Room”
Help Students Understand Themselves as Learners
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A Rock By Any Other Name: Asia's Premiere Language Game of 2012
What's in a name? Territorial disputes in the Pacific tap into an older tradition of organizing reality through naming.
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Is Kim Jong Un a Geek, a Nerd, or a Dork — or Perhaps the Sexiest Man Alive?
What's lost in translation can have serious consequences. Or it can just be a lot of fun.
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Students as Diplomats
Recognizing Patterns in Culture and Communication Could Save Your Life
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Teach Students to be Linguists: How to Recognize Patterns
Activities that compel students to apply critical thinking, like linguists do.
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The World’s Most Incredible Alphabet
Hint: it was invented to fit a language that previously used a borrowed writing system.
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The Basics of Chinese Immersion Program Design
How to start a Chinese language immersion program.
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Remembering Professor Jerry Norman
How Chinese can be uniform and ever-changing all at once, and other ideas spread by Norman.
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