The Story of Tea

Why every language in the world uses the same two words for “tea” and why in fact, that assumption is wrong! (There’s actually only one word for tea!) Our friend and language guru Brian Loo Soon Hua explains all: The word “tea”, in almost every language in the world, is ultimately of Chinese origin. Whoever … Read more

The Origins of the name “Canada”

By our multi-lingual friend Brian Loo Soon Hua aka uTalk’s Language Guru   Did you know that Canada was almost named Efisga? Or, even more unusual, Hochelaga? Imagine the jokes Americans would have been making about their Efisgan or Hochelagan neighbours to the north! Thankfully, “Canada” came into official use in 1791 when the Province … Read more

Words to live by

Malaysian steamed buns – what a passer-by might offer you in a rural village.   Brian, who grew up in Malaysia, is embarrassed at any suggestion that he’s a high-achiever.   The 37-year-old, who works as a language translator, educator and blogger, is more interested in helping others learn languages than bigging himself up.   “Where … Read more

What’s the buzz? 🐝

New languages and a faster app are waiting for you when you update to uTalk 2.08.   Languages added in 2018 are Ancient Greek, Southern Saami, Manx, Kinyarwanda, Dzongkha, Lingala, and Xhosa.   Tech improvements – in FULL – are:   *Sound effects now muted when your phone is in silent mode – we’ve listened … Read more

50+ Fascinating Language Facts You Didn’t Know

This week we’re really lucky to have a guest post by the team at TakeLessons. Approximately one language dies every two weeks. Most of the 7,000 languages spoken worldwide are dialects, however that doesn’t make them any less important. Languages are tied to the culture of those that speak them and should be regarded as … Read more

uTalk’s Great Language Adventure

Try out 40 languages free as part of uTalk’s Great Language Adventure We’re off on a round the world trip by (virtual) planes, trains, boats and automobiles to meet and talk to people in 40 different countries celebrating the fact that uTalk goes to more places than any other languages company. Our mascot has started his tour in … Read more

Valentine’s day – a day for declaring your love in any way you can.

Valentine’s day – a day for declaring your love in any way you can. But love can often be more tortured than a simple declaration. As Alfred de Musset said in his book “On ne badine pas avec l’amour”: “We are often deceived in love, often wounded and often miserable; but we love, and when … Read more

New App Helps Save Endangered Language of Reindeer Herders Nicknamed ‘The People of Eight Seasons’

Language learning company uTalk has launched an app to help save the threatened Southern Saami language spoken by reindeer herders in Norway and Sweden. The herders are nicknamed the people of eight seasons because their culture divides the calendar year into eight or more seasons to tie in with the life cycle of the reindeer. … Read more