The Language Learning Specialists
uTalk After months of hard work, we’ve just added our 144th language to the uTalk app—Ladino! In this blog post, we share how we go about adding new languages, as well as the unique issues that arise when it comes to adding languages that are endangered. Way back at the beginning of 2019, two individuals met … Read more
In our ongoing series, we’re busting all kinds of myths that prevent people from learning a new language. We’ve previously looked at whether you need a special gene or talent for languages (you don’t) or if you’re too old to learn a language once you’re past a certain age (you’re not) but today’s myth is … Read more
For a landlocked country, Slovakia has a very nautical way of saying hello. Pronounced ‘Ahoy’ and spelled ‘Ahoj’ in Slovak, the term harks back to the English greeting for people on boats or ships. Experts say the term was originally adopted from English by young people in the 1930s who used it for canoeing and … Read more
Anyone with a passing interest in rugby will probably have heard someone shouting the Welsh motto, “Cymru am byth,”—“Wales forever!”—at some point. It is also, for many, likely to be their first contact with the Welsh language, which is spoken by around 875,000 people and is classified by UNESCO as endangered. Considering its history and … Read more
Greetings are so important that every language on Earth has a different way to say hello. Have you ever wondered what hello actually means and why we greet people with it? What are some more colourful ways to say hello in other languages around the world? Are there languages where greetings don’t exist? Brian Loo … Read more
The Association for Language Learning held their Southern Primary Languages Show this past Saturday in Wokingham, run by language professional Sue Cave, and we sent our uTalk Senior Education Consultant, Susannah, along to take part. She was there to try and promote our Junior Language Challenge and also have a fun day talking all things … Read more
Happy Cappuccino Day! In today’s post, uTalk’s guest blogger Brian investigates the many different ways of saying ‘coffee’—and where the word used around the world actually originates! Forget about tea. Linguistically speaking, coffee is the one beverage whose name sounds the same in almost every language in the world today. Just landed in South Africa … Read more
The sign saying ‘this is a no wang wang zone’ can be puzzling for foreign visitors to Manila International Airport in the Philippines. It’s written in English, one of the two official languages of the country (the other being Filipino, a standardised form of Tagalog), but what does it mean? Well, ‘wang wang’ is used … Read more
India boasts the largest film industry in the world, with nearly two thousand films released in 2017. Despite the recent economic slowdown, Indian Cinema still makes money—with the majority coming via Bollywood. Even if you’re not learning Hindi or Urdu or Tamil, or even any other language spoken in India, watching a Bollywood film can … Read more
Children everywhere look forward to Halloween with glee. And why wouldn’t they? They get to dress up in fun costumes, galavant about town with their friends and have all sorts of sweet treats to look forward to. In this post, uTalk’s guest blogger Brian explores festivals that are similar to Halloween and are celebrated around … Read more