Why children should learn a second language

The Scottish Government has committed to every child learning a second language at the age of 5. Alongside this, they’ll learn an additional language in P5, which means children will know 3 languages by the time they leave school. It’s called the 1+2 policy and we think it’s a great pledge, as there are so many reasons why … Read more

Stop thinking about it and get going!

In the spirit of ‘Linguists Anonymous’, I am Felicity Jones, 45, and I am mildly addicted to learning other languages. I speak French, German, Spanish, Italian and some Mandarin. I have used uTalk to learn some Danish, and my January challenge is Greek. Even as a child I would listen under the bed cover to … Read more

Baby Crying? Try Sign Language

I recently discovered something fascinating. Here it is: there is such a thing as Baby Sign Language. And it’s a pretty big deal. The idea behind it is very clever: by teaching simple signs to your baby from a really young age, they will be able to identify and sign everyday items, as well as … Read more

Emoji: The New Universal Language?

👋👇👌 – Hi, are you okay? 👍☺️ – I’m good thanks! 👏 – yay! Or something like that. Welcome to the wonderful language that is emojis 😁 And before you express concern that we are confused about what is a language and what is not, hey. Your entire screen staring back up at you currently is composed … Read more

Which language are you learning? The results!

We had a great response to our recent language learning survey; thank you to everyone who took the time to complete it. First things first: we’re delighted to announce that the winner of the iPad mini prize draw is Konstantia Sakellariou. Congratulations, Konstantia – your iPad is on its way! We wanted also to share a … Read more

Will Online Translators Make Language Learning Redundant?

Microsoft have just unveiled the latest version of their Skype Translator, which will enable us to chat with people all over the world even if we don’t speak their language. This story ran in the Daily Mail here in the UK yesterday, under the rather depressing headline, ‘Don’t bother learning a foreign language! Skype will soon … Read more

The benefits of exposing younger children to multiple languages

Today we have a guest post by Stephen Thomas, on behalf of Pearson PTE, on why it’s important to expose children to other languages at a young age. Why expose children to other languages? Communication is fundamentally part of what makes us unique organisms on earth. The way that we have developed language to exchange … Read more

The Art of Interpreting

Kana Tsumoto has just finished her internship with us, translating and recording our maths app into Japanese. In this post, she explains why she’s excited about her chosen career in interpreting. The other night when I stayed at a youth hostel, I had an uncomfortable conversation with one of my roommates. I told her how I … Read more