Toronto Star: Cycling one way to help needy

Letter to the Toronto Star (Wednesday, October 10, 2018) 10 people. 10 solutions for poverty, Oct. 8 Joe Mihevc’s idea to incorporate cycling solutions is fantastic in that it simultaneously tackles poverty, fitness and the environment. However, some people — especially those living in poverty — may not know how to ride a bike. I grew up in poverty and learned to ride as an adult. Unfortunately, if this skill is not taught at home it is unlikely to be picked up elsewhere, and learning after early childhood comes with a lot of stigma and embarrassment. This skill should thus be taught in early elementary school for those not fortunate enough to have already learned at home. It would help overcome the mobility issue that limits the options of the poor, a point that was almost universally mentioned by the 10 people in the article. Kai L. Chan, Montreal © Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. 1996 - 2018 Letter as it appeared online.

G&M: What a ‘majority’ says

Letter to the Globe & Mail (October 3, 2018) The Coalition Avenir Québec won a majority – 74 of 125 seats – in Monday’s election, but the results are a far cry from voters rejecting old-line Liberals and the Parti Québécois. Indeed, the Liberals and PQ together amassed some 41 per cent of the popular vote, more than the about 37 per cent garnered by the CAQ, which won just two ridings in Montreal. If anything, the election demonstrated again the “tyranny of the plurality” in the first-past-the-post system, which not only wastes the votes of many people, but also makes possible inane outcomes. It is time to incorporate some element of PR in our electoral system. Kai L. Chan, Montreal Article as it appeared online. © Copyright 2018 The Globe and Mail Inc. All rights reserved.

Smart robots set to test management skills

Published in MEED 30 SEPTEMBER 2018 11:58 AM In the second part of our series on managing intelligent machines, Aiowala’s Kai Chan looks at the challenges faced in creating a thriving AI ecosystem in the Gulf. Link to article (requires subscription). Click here for full article. © MEED MEDIA FZ LLC Company number 18693 (Dubai Creative Clusters Authority) Registered address: C/O GlobalData Plc., John Carpenter House, 7 Carmelite Street, London, EC4Y 0BS, UK  

U of Aruba: Home languages and higher education

I spoke at the University of Aruba at their "Home Languages & Higher Education" symposium (19-20 Sep 2018). My talk was on the Power Language Index and an assessment of the language dynamics in Aruba, where the island operates seamlessly in four languages (Dutch, English, Papiamento and Spanish). Papiamento is the majority language and along with Dutch is an official language of the island. However, only Dutch has status in official/government interactions and schooling is almost universally in Dutch. Given its geography, Spanish is also widely known/spoken. English is the dominant language for tourism and is globally powerful. Applying a modified version of the Power Language Index to the language scene in Aruba we arrive at a language hierarchy with English at the top, even though it has no status on the island. The presentation can be found: here.

PAW: Living in Dubai

A letter to the Princeton Alumni Weekly (PAW) IN RESPONSE TO: VOICES: ‘A DEEPLY INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE’ There are many misconceptions and a general lack of knowledge of the Middle East by those outside of the region. It was thus refreshing to read Paulette Singley *98's take on her experience at the American University of Sharjah. I spent over five years in Dubai, having recently relocated (back) to Canada. Though the UAE -- of which Sharjah and Dubai are among the seven emirates that make up the federation -- are remarkably different than the rest of the Middle East, living there definitely opened my eyes to gain a better appreciation of that part of the world. Although there are serious issues in the neighboring countries, the UAE, and in particular Dubai, is a modern and liberal society with a highly diverse population that also counts a thriving Princeton alumni community. In my time in Dubai, there was no shortage of boozy parties or women dressed in seductive clothing. Most ironically, and a testament to the diversity and dynamism of the UAE, is that I now play less ice hockey and at a lower level while living in the Mecca of hockey (Montreal)…

Staying ahead of smart robots

STAYING AHEAD OF SMART ROBOTS Published in MEED Business Review Sep 2018 With the advent of artificial intelligence, managers will need to learn how to oversee smart machines. Click here for full article. © MEED MEDIA FZ LLC  

Parlez-vous polyglotte?

Isabelle Paré, 24 août 2018 (Le Devoir) Ici, on se brûle la langue régulièrement. La partie de sumo à laquelle se livrent le français et l’anglais sur le ring cosmopolite de Montréal figure toujours, pour tout politicien sensé, en haut du palmarès des sujets à fuir comme la peste en campagne électorale. Là où la polémique du « Bonjour-Hi » est devenue une affaire d’État, le sujet fait invariablement exploser le baromètre de la sensibilité collective et fait l’effet du poil à gratter sur le délicat équilibre du vivre ensemble. Mieux vaut donc tourner sept fois l’organe de l’élocution avant de causer diversité linguistique. Or, il en est que la dualité linguistique n’égratigne pas, ou prou, voire ennuie comme un cheveu sur la langue par sa banalité. Toute une délégation d’ici et d’ailleurs converge cette semaine vers Montréal, une légion entière de poly-amoureux des langues qui auraient volontiers vendu leurs chemises pour être nés aux temps bibliques et se faire citoyens de la tour de Babel. Nouba polyglotte Montréal accueille ces jours-ci le LangFest, un rendez-vous qui réunit pour la première fois dans la métropole des polyglottes du monde entier, des athlètes de la diphtongue qui collectionnent les langues comme d’autres les…

LangFest: The Power Language Index

The below is my presentation at LangFest 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfNaP_ySFrE There are over 6,000 languages spoken in the world today, but some 2,000 of them count fewer than a thousand speakers. Moreover, just 15 of them account for half of the languages spoken in the world. Which are the world’s most influential languages? The Power Language Index (PLI) is a measure of a language’s efficacy by measuring its influence in 5 domains (“opportunities”): (1) geography, (2) economy, (3) communication, (4) knowledge & media, and (5) diplomacy. Altogether the PLI uses 20 (cardinal) indicators to arrive at an assessment of the power of over 100 languages. Dr Kai L. Chan is a Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD. Previously he was a special adviser to the UAE federal government on competitiveness and statistics, where he focused on that country's positioning on global performance indices. Prior to his stint in the UAE, Dr Chan served as an associate and the in-house economist for a consumer finance merchant banking firm in Manhattan. Before that, he worked in the Singapore office of a global management consulting firm. Chan’s expertise/research cover education, income distribution, migration, government & policy, and performance measurement. He is the creator of the Power…

LangFest: Interview with Dr Kai Chan

The below is an interview I did for the 2018 edition of LangFest (a polyglot conference) in Montreal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM-2-xtowvs Bio: Dr Kai L. Chan is a Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD. Previously he was a special adviser to the UAE federal government on competitiveness and statistics, where he focused on that country's positioning on global performance indices. Prior to his stint in the UAE, Dr Chan served as an associate and the in-house economist for a consumer finance merchant banking firm in Manhattan. Before that, he worked in the Singapore office of a global management consulting firm. Chan’s expertise/research cover education, income distribution, migration, government & policy, and performance measurement. He is the creator of the Power Language Index, Gender Progress Index, and Intelligence Capital Index. Dr Chan holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto and PhD from Princeton University. Kai grew up in Toronto, Canada, but currently resides in Montreal. He speaks English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin and German, and is currently learning Russian. Copyright 2018 - LangFest.org

Toronto Star: Let Toronto’s diverse voices speak on TTC

Letter to the Toronto Star (August 6, 2018) Why are Toronto transit users letting Seth Rogen speak for them?, August 2 Instead of importing a monolingual voice for the TTC, Toronto should embrace its diversity by making multilingual transit announcements. To celebrate our bilingualism we could add French as a secondary announcement on, say, the weekends, while on the weekdays we could rotate among the hundreds of languages spoken in the city, perhaps coinciding with cultural holidays. All this could be done using the voices of actual locals. This would be empowering to the many communities that call Toronto home. Kai L. Chan, Montreal © Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd. 1996 - 2018 Letter as it appeared in the Toronto Star.