The Language Learning Specialists
The other day, in a moment of idle curiosity, I took an online Spanish test. And it went rather well; when I finished, I was told that I was 87% fluent. This is very funny, because – to my shame – I haven’t spoken Spanish properly for years. And although the test proved that everything I … Read more
We’ve all had that moment, haven’t we? That moment when you’re in another country, you don’t speak the language, and suddenly realise you don’t know which loo is the men’s and which is the women’s. Do you guess, and risk getting it wrong? Or do you just cross your legs and convince yourself you didn’t … Read more
Meet Will. He’s the writer and adventurer behind travel blog The Broke Backpacker, and he just embarked on an epic two-year journey from home in the UK to Papua New Guinea. The twist? He’s not taking any flights. Oh, and he’s travelling on a daily budget of $30. Will’s been on the road already for two … Read more
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
More years ago than I care to remember, I did a degree in Hispanic Studies at the University of Nottingham. I loved the course, but there was one part of it that filled me with terror from the very first day. The Year Abroad. This is a pretty standard element of a modern languages degree – … Read more
The Junior Language Challenge 2015 may be over, but we’re already thinking about next year’s competition. In 2016, we’d love to double the number of children taking part from 1,100 to 2,200, and raise even more money for our brilliant charity, onebillion. Every year, we’re blown away by the enthusiasm and commitment shown by children, parents … Read more
‘It’s all Greek to me’. This is what an English speaker might say when they don’t understand something at all. In this context the Greek language is used as a metaphor for ‘something incomprehensible’. So that got us thinking here at EuroTalk… if an English speaker uses Greek, what does a Greek speaking person use? And … Read more
Blogger Erika Holt is a big fan of languages and learning. In today’s blog post, she tells us why, and explains how knowing a little Greek helped her out in a sticky situation… What made you start learning languages? I have always found myself interested in languages. I have a huge passion for reading and writing, … Read more
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
Happy Halloween! As is EuroTalk tradition, we celebrated the spookiest day of the year (a day early) with fancy dress, pumpkin carving and other Halloween-themed fun. We also took the opportunity to put together this little video of Halloween-themed English idioms, starring members of the (endlessly talented, we’re sure you’ll agree) EuroTalk team. We’re expecting our Oscar … Read more