Quote of the week: 15 Nov 2014
“Laughter is the brush that sweeps away the cobwebs of the heart.” Mort Walker For more like this, find us on Pinterest.
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
Quote of the week: 8 Nov 2014
“Everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.” Richard L. Evans
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
Language of the week: Thai
This week on the 5th, 6th and 7th November, it’s the Yi Peng and Loy Krathong festival in Thailand, otherwise known as the Lantern Festival. After seeing some pictures and watching some videos, it looks like one of the most breath-taking festivals I have seen. Yi Peng and Loy Krathong Both of the festivals are a … 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
Junior Language Challenge 2014 – the final!
On Friday 17th October, 31 young linguists from all over the country came to London for the final of our national competition for primary schools, the Junior Language Challenge. Since March, they’d learnt Italian for the first round, Japanese for the semi-finals and they’d spent the last few weeks studying the African language of Somali in preparation … Read more
10 reasons to visit… Algiers
I must admit that Algeria does not feature highly among people’s bucket list destinations. While most tourists visiting the region flock to Egypt or Tunisia, Algeria is still very much off the beaten track. Nor does it help that it has attracted a rather bad press over the last year or so: much of the … Read more
Quote of the week: 25 Oct 2014
“When you find people who not only tolerate your quirks but celebrate them with glad cries of ‘me too!’ be sure to cherish them. Because those weirdos are your tribe.”
Why learn Chinese Chengyu?
Today’s guest post is by Joe Paterson, a student at Keats School in China. Joe explains Chinese chengyu, which are absolutely fascinating and a perfect example of why we love languages so much – they’re all so unique and interesting. Do any Chinese speakers have more examples – or does the language you’re learning have an equivalent? … Read more