Learning Latin with Harry Potter

Just before Christmas, I helped our language producer record Latin, which will be coming to uTalk later in the year. Whilst listening to the Latin speakers I found I recognised some of the words (although I have never learnt Latin before). And then I realised this was due to my love for/slight obsession with Harry … Read more

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Have you put up your Christmas tree yet? Christmas trees are an iconic part of the festive season. It has become a tradition in many towns and cities to place a decorated tree in a central location for all to see, and many people also have a Christmas tree in their own homes. The Christmas tree custom … Read more

Taking the Stress Test: how emphasis can change meaning

One of the hardest things to grasp when learning the English language is emphasis. Emphasising a different word in the same sentence, each time can completely change the meaning of it. Some people make the emphasis on a certain word very clear. This can give you the general feeling of the sentence. Other times it … Read more

10 Years with the JLC – a Teacher’s story!

Here at EuroTalk we love hearing feedback from participants of the Junior Language Challenge! So when runner-up Aalaya Sanjeeva’s teacher Jackie Gliniecka from The Hawthorns School sent us this wonderful message about how she’s found being involved in the competition over the years, we had to share it with you 🙂 10 years ago, in 2005, we … Read more

Junior Language Challenge 2015 – The Final!

On Friday 16th October, our 33 Junior Language Challenge finalists came to London to battle it out to win the trophy. The children have learnt three languages during the course of the competition, with Portuguese being the first language, moving onto Mandarin for the semi-finals and Arabic being chosen as the final language. All three heats at the … Read more

How idioms help you make a language your own

When learning a new language we are happy to pass every little milestone: the first time you address a native speaker, the first conversation… All these achievements mean the world to us, they are the reward of our continuous learning. When becoming fluent in a language you can express almost everything you want to say, … Read more

Arabic: are you up for the challenge too?

After seeing how amazing our Junior Language Challenge semi-finalists were at learning Mandarin, we’ve set our 33 finalists the new challenge of learning… Arabic. Over 250 million people speak Arabic, across 22 countries. There are a number of different dialects within Arabic, including Moroccan, Classical, Lebanese, Gulf and Egyptian. Modern Standard Arabic is understood across the Arab … Read more

Learn Chinese? No problem for our Junior Language Challenge semi-finalists!

As a EuroTalk newbie, I had no idea what to expect when it came to the Junior Language Challenge. I have heard a lot of stories (all good, I promise) over the last couple of months on what to expect at the semi-finals. We did a few practice rounds here at the EuroTalk office and … Read more