Latin at the Movies

Latin may not be the dominant language of a vast empire any more, but that doesn’t mean you won’t hear it now and again. In this post, we take a look at seven movies that feature Latin in some shape or form and see how popular culture has helped keep Latin alive. Now, it might … Read more

Game of Phones: uTalk at LangFest

Our friendly quizmasters spent a fun weekend chatting all things language, including brief forays into Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), Breton, and Klingon. Everything had been rehearsed. The audience was waiting, phones at the ready, thumbs twitching in anticipation. To be certain that it would all go off without a hitch, there was an ethernet cable plugged into … Read more

The Plains of Essos: The Final Frontier

Find out what Game of Thrones and Star Trek have in common and why fans of both will be living it up in Montreal this weekend! You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Marc Okrand or David Peterson, though it’s likely that you’ve seen some of their work. Both of these gentlemen are going … Read more

🙌 uTalk Release 3.4: More Free Words! 🙌

Our tech guys have been hard at work over here on all sorts of fun stuff and we’ve decided it’s time to give you all a little treat. With this new update, we’re going to almost double the amount of free words available on the app—so alongside such classics as ‘yes’ and ‘no’, you’ll also … Read more

How The World Got Neapolitan Ice Cream

This spumoni day, we explain how Neapolitan ice cream came to exist. Chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla? Or maybe you’d prefer cherry, pistachio, and vanilla instead? When it comes to ice cream, everyone has their own preferences. This is particularly true in Italy, where food is so closely tied to culture that several dishes, including spumoni, … Read more

🎶 This uTalk 3.3 release will be music to your ears 🎶

You’ll now be able to listen to music in the background while learning which, according to the people who know, can ease stress, create a positive mood and aid learning. And, to show we’ve thought of everything, the music turns off automatically when you’re recording. You’ll also be able to adjust the text size from … Read more

Our Javanese Love Letter

The script written above is very special to us.  It’s an example of the original Javanese writing system which, like 85% of the world’s alphabets, is endangered. It also means “I love you” in Javanese. Javanese is the native language of about 40% of the population of Indonesia and is spoken by around 98,000,000 people. … Read more

MODERN SLAVERY VICTIMS THROWN ‘CRUCIAL LIFELINE’

Leading modern slavery charity Hestia teams up with uTalk to launch ‘Project Freepost HESTIA’ requesting public’s old mobiles Hundreds of adults and dependent children to gain access to free language learning on smartphones helping them re-integrate into society More than a thousand victims of modern slavery now living in Britain are being thrown a crucial … Read more

The Fascinating Greenlandic Language

By our multi-lingual friend Brian Loo Soon Hua, a.k.a. uTalk’s Language Guru. “No Smoking” signs in Nuuk, Greenland are often in three languages: Greenlandic (Pujortarfigeqqusaanngitsoq), Danish (Røgfrit Område– literally “Smoke-free Area”) and English (No Smoking). Notice anything special about the Greenlandic version? Greenlandic, like several other indigenous languages in North and South America, allows the … Read more

Happy St Patrick’s Day! ☘️

Pay your respects to St Patrick by learning how to pronounce his name in Irish! (And knowing the Irish for shamrock and whiskey might come in handy too…) Click below to hear: St Patrick – Naomh Pádraig Shamrock – an tseamróg Whiskey – an t-uisce beatha Did you know the Irish for whiskey translates as ‘water of life’? … Read more