JLC winner Ella’s Malawi trip

Today we’re very excited to share a presentation from Ella Whittingham, from West Bridgford in Nottingham, who won the Junior Language Challenge in 2013. Ella and her family have just got back from her prize trip to Malawi, and we’re really glad to hear that they had a fantastic time! Read on to see what they got … Read more

Book review: Through the Language Glass

Ever wondered what us language geeks do for fun in our spare time? Reading books about languages, of course! Well, not all the time – but I recently read the very interesting Through the Language Glass by Guy Deutscher, and would recommend it to anyone else who is interested in how different languages work, and … Read more

10 Reasons to Visit… Las Vegas

I was lucky enough to visit one of the most notorious party cities last December; I, however, can not comment on what the nightlife is like in Vegas as I was only 19 and therefore not allowed to step foot into a bar or club! However, even without the partying, there is so much to … Read more

Just how bad was Mark Zuckerberg’s Mandarin anyway?

A couple of weeks ago, Mark Zuckerberg shocked the world by taking part in a 30-minute Q&A session in Mandarin Chinese. And we were all super impressed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr__vZKWdDE It was obvious, even to a non-Mandarin speaker, that he wasn’t completely fluent, but he managed to keep going for almost the full half hour, and his audience at Tsinghua University … Read more

Halloween around the world

Halloween is one of the world’s oldest celebrations, dating back to possibly 500 AD in Ireland. The celebration was originally the ‘Celtic feast of Samhain’, a pre-Christian festival that began at sunset on 31st October and ended at sunset on 1st November. It was meant to be the night when the veil between this world … Read more