The Language Learning Specialists
For the past two years, Finland has been named the happiest place on Earth, narrowly beating out fellow close-competitors Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Switzerland. But what is it that makes Finns so happy—and how can you go about achieving this happiness, too? Although they’re living in a country where, in winter, the hours of daylight … Read more
Speakers of the Basque language, a language spoken in self-governing parts of France and Spain, have a tradition of male-only nights out. The evenings take place behind closed doors in specially rented or purpose-bought premises, often basements. But the events, which are called txoko—from the Basque word ‘zoko,’ meaning ‘cosy nook’—are far from questionable; sweetly, … Read more
Like languages? Then you’ll probably know that every year on 26th September, it’s European Day of Languages! Last week, some of us from uTalk went to Europe House for the European Commission’s annual event and learnt a bunch of fascinating new facts about languages from all over the world. The event was supposed to start … Read more
Today is National Comic Book Day, so if you can tear yourself away from stories of superheroes or zombies, then why not check out our very own uTalk origin story? Spoiler alert: there are no angry aliens set on wiping out half of the universe’s population, but there are some comics involved! Way back in … Read more
Every language has its own tongue twisters—words or phrases that are difficult to say without making mistakes. In this post, we’ll show you ten different tongue twisters in ten different languages; can you say them all? How many tongue twisters do you know in English? Red lorry, yellow lorry is a fun one, though perhaps … Read more
Halloween is the favourite holiday of many people all over the world, and its origins can be traced back to ancient traditions. It has, however, been deeply influenced by a traditional Celtic harvest festival: Samhain, where the boundary between this world and the Otherworld could be more easily crossed. In the UK, at least, Halloween … Read more
This week is Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, or Māori Language Week, in New Zealand and around the world. As one of New Zealand’s official languages (alongside English and New Zealand Sign Language), Māori holds an important position and efforts to revitalise the language are proving successful. But what are the consequences of having … Read more
That’s right, the uTalk Junior Language Challenge is back for the 2019/2020 academic year! We’ve got a whole new website with a brand-new look and we’re ready and waiting for your sign ups. But what is the uTalk JLC, and why should you take part? For the last fifteen years, uTalk has been proud to … Read more
In this blog series, we’re going to explore common myths people have about learning a new language so that we can encourage you to give it a try. Today’s post explores the idea of a ‘language-learning gene’—do some people really just have a talent for languages? Making assumptions is never ideal. However, we’re going to … Read more
The Russian people have a long and complicated history with their ursine neighbours. In today’s blog post, learn some bear-y useful phrases to impress your Russian-speaking friends. There’s a reason The Revenant performed so well at the box office, and not all of that was down to Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar-winning performance: people love a good … Read more