Putting Flemish to good use in Ghent

For me, the big glacé cherry on top of the holiday cake is seizing the opportunity to say something in the local language. There is nothing – nothing! – more dispiriting than shying away from an opportunity to test your language skills, forcing someone else to speak your language instead. When I went to Ghent this month, … Read more

Can You Whistle a Phrase?

A few days ago, Gloria stopped by my desk with a burning question: had I ever heard of the whistling languages? Proudly, I was able to answer that I had, but quickly became deflated when we realised that neither of us had the slightest idea of how they work. Was there a whistling alphabet with … Read more

Lost, drowned, in a shirt… how do you like your eggs?

Happy World Egg Day! English is quite a boring language when it comes to eggs. We boil them, scramble them, poach them, fry them. All very ordinary. Which is why we were delighted to discover that other languages are more dramatic in their approach to eggs! Over to Italy: For Italians, poached eggs are literally ‘eggs … Read more

How Do You Say Llanfairpwll…?

Everyone was blown away the other day when Liam Dutton managed to effortlessly pronounce the longest ever Welsh place name on live TV: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch. Anything He Can Do… I don’t know about you, but here at the EuroTalk office we enjoy a healthy challenge, and this looked like just the sort of thing to get our teeth … Read more