Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on January 10, 2015

Manhattan Beach resident Sidney Sheres has developed a software program to improve English language skills. Photo by Caroline Anderson

While growing up in the Bronx as a young Jewish boy, Sidney Sheres mother taught him Ladino, a language spoken in few parts of the world today.

The mixture of Spanish, Hebrew and other languages was spoken by Sephardic Jews in medieval Spain. During the Spanish Inquisition, its speakers fled the country, taking their language with them.

Maybe thats why Im so interested in language, the Manhattan Beach resident said on a recent afternoon. It came from my history.

Spheres, a former information technology analyst for Boeing, is developing a new software program he calls Conversation Space to help both native and new English speakers improve their language skills.

We have a large group of people coming to America who all have one thing in common: They need to speak English, he said. Otherwise, they may be relegated to a lower income bracket.

He gave the example of a doctor from another country who moves to the U.S. but cant practice because she cant communicate effectively.

He also thinks his software could help native English speakers who want to improve their public speaking skills.

Conversation Space is really about bringing back the art of conversation, he said.

Sheres began developing the software about two years ago after being laid off from Boeing, where he had worked for 10 years on classified space programs.

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